People in China are watching the World Cup differently this time

BEIJING — Long gone are the days when catching World Cup soccer games on the go meant buying a portable mini television set .

Instead, consumers in China can just whip out their phones. Soccer is popular in China, even if the national team hasn't qualified for the World Cup since 2002 .

"We mostly watch on smartphones, very little on TV," said Faye Jin. "The TV at home is basically not used. Maybe to watch some competitions we will turn on the TV at the last minute, but most of the time it's on our phones."

This year, Chinese social media company Xiaohongshu won the rights to stream the World Cup games for free to all users. The app, also called Little Red Book, is sometimes compared to Meta's Instagram.

Xiaohongshu's deal is a strategic partnership with state-owned China Media Group, which sealed broadcast rights less than a month before the World Cup kicked off last week. The company runs China Central Television (CCTV), which has both mobile and smart TV apps that let subscribers watch matches and replays ad-free.

CNBC spot checks found that locals in Beijing are not as eager to head out to bars for World Cup games this year, and instead follow matches online, often at home.

The games this year tend to fall in the middle of the night or during morning working hours due to the 12-hour-plus time difference. Interviews are translated from the original Mandarin Chinese.

"If my friends are interested in the World Cup they will definitely watch at home," said Xu Wang, who works at Absolut Bar in a tourist-heavy part of Beijing. "It's hard to find a suitable place for people to gather at that time of night, especially because everyone is spread out across the city."