U.S. World Cup rights holders FOX Sports and Telemundo Deportes expect to hit advertising goals with the FIFA tournament set to begin June 14 in Russia, despite time-zone and other challenges that could dampen U.S. interest in the 2018 soccer tourney.
Challenges include the U.S. men's national team's failure to qualify for the quadrennial event and a time differential that places live matches in the morning or early afternoon for the U.S. eastern time zone. The U.S. rights holders, though, scored a golden goal of sorts June 13 when the majority of FIFA's 211 member nations voted for a united bid from the U.S., Mexico and Canada to host the 2026 World Cup.
The U.S. men's team's failure to qualify for the 2018 tourney "was a real gut punch," said Mike Petruzzi, senior vice president for ad sales at FOX Sports. Even so, FOX Sports has sold out key early matches, including the opener, Spain-Portugal on June 15 and Brazil-Switzerland on June 17 and has minimal units left in the knockout round, he said. All inventory in one of the semifinals has been accounted for and FOX has single units left in the July 15 final.
"With 38 matches airing on FOX (US) [the most ever for a FIFA tournament with an English-language broadcaster in the U.S.] and strong interest on the digital side, we're very pleased with the progress we've made," Petruzzi said. He did not disclose the overall sales level.
Spanish-language rights holder Telemundo Deportes had an ad sales goal in the $225 million range. Its Telemundo (US) will air 56 matches, while cable network UNIVERSO (US) televises the other eight.
"The NBCUniversal Hispanic Group has virtually fulfilled its inventory and revenue goals for the 2018 FIFA World Cup," said Laura Molen, executive vice president, Lifestyle and Hispanic Advertising Sales at NBCUniversal, in a statement.
Kantar Media estimated that ESPN (US) and ABC (US) scored $187 million in ad sales for the previous World Cup in 2014, while Spanish-language rights holder Univision Communications Inc. sold $336 million worth of ads. The tournament was held in Brazil that year, meaning the matches played out in more favorable time slots for U.S. rights holders.
U.S. ad sales around the 2018 World Cup could reach $600 million, according to Kantar Media. Zenith Media Services Inc.'s forecast calls for $400 million in the U.S. and some $2.4 billion around the globe, including $835 million in China, whose team did not qualify for the event.
Those watching on FOX Sports will see Verizon Communications Inc. and Volkswagen AG as the respective halftime and post-match sponsors throughout the 64-game tourney.
Petruzzi said adidas AG, an official FIFA partner, is the presenting sponsor of all 48 group-stage linear telecasts and has secured the same position for digital coverage of all the matches, including on FOXSports.com, FOX Sports apps, FOX.com and TV Everywhere platform, FOX NOW.
Additionally, adidas is the presenting sponsor of the social virtual reality coverage of the tourney via LiveLike Inc., encompassing a custom suite and three immersive, multi-angle VR feeds from each game.
Coca-Cola Co., another FIFA partner, is sponsoring "90 in 90," a condensed digital version of the matches in a minute and a half, and is co-sponsor along with Adidas of "Team Channels," the digital home for three camera views of the attendant team's matches and information on each of the 32 sides.
Coca-Cola and McDonald's Corp. also has a strong position with Mexican national team matches. Fox has reserved inventory in the event’s latter stages to capitalize on potentially strong matches and extract premium pricing, Petruzzi said.
Turning to Telemundo's sponsorship base, Coca-Cola will present the postgame show "El Resumen de Partido," while Sprint Corp. is the halftime sponsor and is offering its customers exclusive content through an exclusive portal on the Telemundo Deportes En Vivo app. Volkswagen is the presenting sponsorship deal for Telemundo's World Cup recap/preview show that will air nightly on the broadcast network in the 7 p.m. hour.
Telemundo said that sales are strong among the beverage, auto and technology categories.
The programmer also indicated that the movie business has been especially strong, with all of the big summer movies securing positions, including Universal's latest "Jurassic Park" franchise entry.
NBCU research suggests that one in eight non-Spanish speaking Americans will watch the World Cup on Telemundo outlets. Select matches, including those involving Mexico, also will be simulcast in Spanish on NBCSN (US). The NBC national sports cable network will televise its first-ever FIFA World Cup match in Spanish on June 17, live at 1:30 p.m. ET when Brazil faces Switzerland.
