Why are 71% of people watching the game here? It's not just because it's free, and the reason might not be what you think.

Xiaohongshu released the "World Cup Group Stage Viewing Report," which contains a very straightforward piece of data from a user survey.

When users were asked why they chose to watch the World Cup live on Xiaohongshu—

71% of them said: it's free, and there are no pre-roll ads.

61% said: it features ultra-high-definition picture quality.

These two factors are what other platforms failed to deliver during this World Cup.

In the past, waiting for ads to finish before seeing a goal was a common experience. During a critical penalty shootout, the screen would go black, and an ad would appear. Going through that once is more than enough to not want to endure it again.

For this World Cup, Xiaohongshu had no ads throughout, all 104 matches were completely free, and it offered 4K high-definition quality. There were no membership restrictions, no need to top up your account; just open the app and the live stream was right there.

Most of the people I know who started watching the game on Xiaohongshu were initially drawn by the promise of "free, 4K, no ads." Once they were there, they found engaging discussions in the comments, a community of fellow fans, and live commentary, so they decided to stay.

Why users come is actually quite simple: they get a better experience here, and it's free.