Brazil's Neymar grimaces as he is carried off the pitch after being injured during their 2014 World Cup quarter-finals against Colombia at the Castelao arena in Fortaleza July 4, 2014.
Brazil's Neymar grimaces as he is carried off the pitch after being injured during their 2014 World Cup quarter-finals against Colombia at the Castelao arena in Fortaleza July 4, 2014. REUTERS

World Cup fever continues to grip sports fans across the world, especially as the tournament nears the championship stage. Since the games are being held in Brazil, sports fans who are in different time zones and could not watch the games live from their home TV sets because they are at work or in transit have various digital video and audio platforms as options.

In Canada, over 30 million Canadians are viewing the coverage of the FIFA soccer matches since it started on June 12 via CBC/Radio-Canada. The number includes over 5.8 million Canadians who watch the live game coverage on digital platform.

With the games running now for almost one month, that translates into more than 10 million hours that Canadian sports followers spent watching CBC/Radio-Canada's World Cup videos using different digital platforms.

That meant the downloads of the CBC FIFA World Cup app had exceeded one million to enable the Canadians to view the soccer matches. The free iOS and Android apps, in English and French languages, provide live streaming of all matches. It has a special feature in which viewers can select from six different camera angles.

The app also has a statistical analysis feature and on-demand video clips, which are the reasons why that app is one of the most popular in the Apple and Google stores. Another app, Game Connect, provides a second-screen experience and is also a popular feature among sports fans.

In the UK, BBC showed the World Cup semi-final match between Brazil and Germany live on TV and will also air live on Wednesday the second semi-final match between The Netherlands and Argentina.

BBC also provides coverage of all the World Cup soccer matches on radio and online, while live text commentary is available on the network's BBC Sport Web site and app for mobile, tablet and BBC Sport Connected TV app.

Powering BBC's radio broadcast is a digital platform from Audioboom Group PLC (LSE: BOOM.L).

Audioboom has a Software-as-a-Service platform that allows straightforward upload or download of content. It has positioned itself as the global leader in spoken audio content, or the audio equivalent of the YouTube, the most popular video sharing site.

The UK-based publicly listed company is the provider of social media platform for audio producers to record either live or from the studio, upload and share audio by syndication and social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

By tapping these social media sites, audience reach expands dramatically since the popular microblogging site and favourite social media site have millions or even billion of followers in different parts of the world.

At present, Audioboom has about 2,000 content channels from the initial 19 channels during the platform's launch in March 2013, said Rob Proctor, company CEO. Audioboom currently has 2.5 million registered users and 12 to13 million monthly active users across platforms.

Electronic technology has allowed more sports fans to be up-to-date with the World Cup games, whether they hear or watch it on various devices while at work, home, in transit or living their busy daily lives.