FA Cup: Viral clip from Wembley shows how far behind 'live' TV coverage is | OneFootball

Footage of the time delay during live football matches that are being shown on television has gone viral and fans are stunned at the difference.

While broadcasters around the world will advertise their sports coverage of specific events as being 'live', it turns out that viewers will see the action that unfolds sometime after those lucky enough to be in attendance.

Let's be honest, almost everyone has experienced the pain of finding out a goal's been scored in the match you're watching, before actually seeing it on screen.

And sports journalist Zakaria Taibi has now shared footage from Manchester City's FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United, showing just how long it takes for this professed 'live' footage to actually be shown on screen.

Footage shows time delay during live football matches

For those lucky enough to be inside the Wembley press area, journalists are fortunate enough to have TV monitors in front of them, to assist when it comes to watching replays.

In a now viral TikTok, which has been viewed more than 1.5 million times, Taibi films City's Riyad Mahrez taking a corner.

At the same time, Taibi's monitor is visible and he decides to showcase the exact time it takes for the same pictures to come up on screen.

In total, there were seven seconds between the Algerian sending in the corner and viewers on ITV seeing it happen.

Fans react to footage

A number of football fans found the video fascinating.

"Nah, because I just wondered about this today," said one TikTok user.

"Can confirm, I live next to a football stadium. I hear them scream, then see the goal on TV," said another.

A third added: "That explains a lot. I always wonder why some websites already know [about] goals before [anyone] even scores on my TV."

Why is there delays?

While many have found out the hard way that there are often delays between live games and television coverage, some may be unaware of why such delays come about.

It turns out, the main reason is that digital TV signals have to be encoded and decoded before you see a picture – leading to a small delay.

The gap will vary depending on which network you're watching on, but it often ranges from a few milliseconds to minutes.

Added to this, with online streaming becoming far more prevalent nowadays, the time delay can be based on a number of factors, including internet speed and the number of people trying to view the stream at once.