As I’ve explored in my two other pieces in this series, the World Cup presents a moment unlike any other. This is a chance to be a part of a global conversation that spans languages, platforms and cultures. For marketers and advertisers, the challenge is not just about being seen during the match, but being felt during every moment before, during and after — much like the teams developing and broadcasting the matches themselves.
For many American advertisers, though, the Super Bowl ad playbook won’t apply here. Traditional ad buys will still matter, but the increase in adjacent digital will content will unlock a smarter, more strategic opportunity for brands.
The reality is that advertising directly within World Cup programming comes at a premium, often dominated by global brands with the largest budgets. That doesn’t mean marketers have to miss out on the opportunity.
Smart TV platforms offer a different path — one rooted in understanding who is actually watching the tournament. By leveraging viewership data at the TV OS level, advertisers can identify engaged World Cup audiences and reach them in other moments across their daily and weekly viewing journeys.
Whether it’s fans following specific teams or consistently tuning in throughout the tournament, this kind of contextual insight allows brands to tap into World Cup enthusiasm without paying World Cup prices.
Pivoting from one moment to many
If marketers and advertisers are looking for a playbook to pull from, they should take a page out of what the NBA and “Inside the NBA” do in the U.S. The halftime and postgame studio show, “Inside the NBA,” was one of the first shows that took this adjacent content opportunity with NBA games and ran with it, creating a show that draws a significant number of viewers and allows for more advertising opportunities for brands. Brands that are looking to reach NBA fans not only have ad buys for the games, but also with this fan-favorite show, which is arguably more hyper-targeted towards a basketball audience versus a potential casual viewer.
If a brand took this approach to the World Cup, it could tap into local-language pre- and post-game shows on regional news or sports networks, as well as social channels dedicated to soccer fans. Smart brands will use these adjacent content ad opportunities, not just the main-event ads, to build awareness and emotional resonance with their target audience throughout the tournament.
If marketers and advertisers use all of the different levers presented to them, seeing it as a cultural opportunity, not just a media buy, they’ll win in this game and own the conversation across formats, platforms and communications. This multi-moment investment will transform World Cup campaigns into a movement throughout the tournament. By owning the conversation, advertisers can ensure their message isn’t just seen, but also remembered by the fans and viewers of the game.
In this model, the value isn’t just the moment of the match, but in the ability to extend that moment across the entire viewing experience.
