Ebirly Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Keisuke Nakagawa; hereinafter "Ebirly") has conducted an analysis of YouTube-related videos for the 2026 FIFA World Cup (hereinafter "World Cup") from June 12 to June 28, 2026 (11,403 videos, totaling 9.0 billion views), comparing the findings with its previous analysis of the World Baseball Classic (hereinafter "WBC"). *This analysis is an interim report covering only up to the group stage (Japan's final group match was on June 26). As the WBC analysis covered the entire tournament period, the comparison between the two events includes some inconsistencies due to differing data collection periods. Introduction Even for globally celebrated sporting events, the availability of live television broadcasts significantly influences the nature of content on YouTube. The previous WBC was exclusively streamed on Netflix in Japan, making it inaccessible via traditional TV. As a result, live-viewing and live-commentary formats—where audiences watched together—performed strongly on YouTube. In contrast, the June 2026 World Cup was broadcast live on terrestrial television and DAZN, making it widely accessible through conventional TV. This fundamental difference shaped what content was viewed on YouTube and how it was consumed. We examine these dynamics by comparing the current World Cup with the previous WBC. WBC Analysis Report 1. What Was Watched: Entertainment-Focused Shorts Outperformed Highlights With live broadcasts available on terrestrial TV, what kind of content was consumed on YouTube during the World Cup? When categorized by content type, the most-watched were entertainment and meme-style short videos centered on iconic moments or players, accounting for 32.5% of views. Official match footage and highlights followed closely at 29.6%. Notably, entertainment-focused content surged—approximately 2.9 times higher than the 11.3% seen during the WBC. Football fans particularly engaged with secondary creative