Animal Planet has turned the Puppy Bowl into the most social TV show airing on Super Bowl Sunday, besides, of course, the Super Bowl. Now, the network will try to capitalize on the upcoming World Cup by introducing the World Pup.
Beginning Thursday, the network will kick off a single-elimination tournament that pits dog breeds most representative of each country against each other. In the meantime, the stars of Animal Planet L!VE’s Puppy Cam are celebrating (in front of 20+ cameras) the tournament by practicing the other version of football.
Fans can follow the World Pup along at AnimalPlanet.com/WorldPup, where they can make bracket selections. Votes placed on Twitter using the hashtag corresponding to each dog will also count toward the final tally.
The first four matchups taking place include:
* Spain’s Great Pyrenees vs. Netherlands’ keeshond
* Cameroon’s Basenji vs. Mexico’s Chihuahua
* Germany’s Dachshund vs. Portugal’s Portuguese water dog
* England’s Old English sheepdog vs. Italy’s Italian greyhound
The competition ends on July 10, and the winner will be announced on the World Pup microsite. While the World Pup will likely not attract the same amount of attention as the World Cup, Animal Planet has found great social success capitalizing on dog versions of big sporting events.
With the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers battling in the Stanley Cup Finals, I’m not sure why we haven’t yet seen the Stanley Pup.
