Advertisers are already looking ahead to next year’s World Cup

They’re in the middle of planning activity and paid media commitments to ensure they get their share of the enormous audiences (1.42 billion worldwide watched the 2022 final) expected to broadcast, stream, follow and listen in to the second-largest sporting event on the planet.

Great expectations

Tickets are already up for grabs for some games, and brand partnerships inked just in time to take advantage of the tournament’s buzz are being announced. Just last week, for example, Purina signed up to sponsor U.S. Soccer as its official pet food partner alongside brands like Jim Beam, AT&T and Volkswagen.

“We see it as a cultural platform,” said Eric Willis, CMO at Nestlé Purina North America.

Willis said that how Purina activates against the five year partnership, whether via TV buys or other channels, is currently being decided. “We’re down the path now on figuring out what that looks like in terms of activation across the portfolio, what it looks like at retail, what it looks like with the players,” he said. 

Purina’s not alone in that — plenty of brands are still designing their precise approach to the tournament. “We’ve already started having [World Cup] conversations with clients,” said Mediaassociates vp of media activation Alicia Weaver. “They start planning these things well in advance,” she said, adding that one of the agency’s clients had bought a sponsorship-linked out-of-home package as far back as last year (she didn’t name the brand).

Broadcast signals

IPG’s Magna unit projects that global ad sales will rise 6.3% in 2026, spurred in part by the World Cup; U.S. ad spend alone is expected to reach $429 billion. A great deal of that spending will go toward television coverage of the tournament, which lasts the best part of a month.

Fox and Telemundo alone raked in $213.6 million for their coverage of the 2022 tournament. One holding company media buyer, who asked to remain anonymous, estimated that could rise by 30% this year based on media inflation, the U.S. premium, the increased number of games at this year’s Cup and the increased importance of live sports to advertisers.

They said that as much as 80% of Fox’s World Cup inventory (including pre- and post-match ads, halftime slots, pitchside hoardings and presenting sponsor-slots) is already spoken for. (NBCU’s Telemundo will carry Spanish-language coverage.) The broadcaster opened negotiations over tournament coverage as far back as fall 2024, and was taking bookings into the first weeks of upfront season.

“With the World Cup, they had to ultimately take it out of sale at some point,” said another holdco media buyer, who exchanged anonymity for candor.

In some cases, that inventory was bundled with other entertainment properties to help shift less in-demand ad slots in a slower-than-average negotiation season. “It was a crazy marketplace for sports and World Cup and Super Bowl in particular,” the buyer added.

The broadcaster opened negotiations for its remaining World Cup inventory following Labor Day, but brands buying live ad inventory will be paying a premium. “If you weren’t in the market for the World Cup eight months ago, you’re probably looking at a situation that has limited availability and high pricing,” said the first buyer.

What about other channels?

That advertisers are willing to commit to spending on ad inventory they’re indifferent to just to access World Cup slots indicates a high level of interest. But ad spend won’t, of course, just be playing out on the small screen or via sponsorship agreements.

For advertisers in the U.K., the recent UEFA Euros mean there’s already a script. In addition to TV, the last tournament saw spending on creator marketing and paid social come to the fore — a trend that will likely accelerate, given the late schedule of game times broadcast from the U.S.

Unsurprisingly, media buyers predict advertisers in the U.S. to follow a similar pattern. Sponsors are expected to add in secondary channels like experiential and out-of-home to make their partnerships work harder, while advertisers without official association will also be spending to join in with the 70% of fans active on social media during matches (per a We Are Social study). As with last year’s Olympic Games, Meta and video-first platforms like TikTok and YouTube are expected to soak up investment.

Meanwhile creators — both soccer-adjacent influencers and players themselves — will be in high demand. While players are there to compete, there’s fewer restrictions on their work with brands than on athletes at the Olympics. “There’s a huge appetite there, particularly for those brands who aren’t sponsors,” said Alex Brown, director of sport at EssenceMediacom.

Football’s big soccer moment

The first World Cup held in North America since 1994 arrives with the beautiful game riding a wave of popularity. 136.1 million Americans now follow soccer, per GWI, while 45% of Americans say their interest in soccer is increasing and 70% say the Cup’s staging in the U.S. has made them more excited than if it were held elsewhere, according to The Harris Poll.

“It’s an opportunity to be involved with U.S. Soccer at a really exciting time; the World Cup is here, then we’ve got the Women’s World Cup in 2027 and the Olympics back in the U.S in 2028,” said Purina’s Willis.

This isn’t just about scale, but profile too. According to a recent Horizon Media study, U.S. soccer fans are likely to sit in the sweet spot for many advertisers: 56% are aged 35-64, 42% hold a university degree and 62% are either a parent or grandparent.

”The World Cup has the potential to match or even outmatch the Olympics in terms of overall spend and brand opportunities,” said Arthur Perez, managing director and head of strategy, at creative agency Stereo, which numbers Fifa and Nike among its clients.

Soccer’s no novelty outside the U.S., but that doesn’t mean interest is any lower. ”The World Cup is obviously the major cultural moment of next year by far,” said Brown. “Across the agency, it seems to be a fairly hot topic.” Brown aded he’s working on World Cup-related projects for two unnamed EssenceMediacom clients already.

But amid the ad-spend expectations, keep in mind the nature of tournament soccer — a realm of giant-killings and surprise upsets.

If England’s mercurial national side find themselves dumped out at an early stage, British ad investment is likely to tail off. And should the U.S.A. continue its current run of poor form, American viewers may tune out the tournament quicker than advertisers and broadcasters hope.