As the 2026 FIFA World Cup went about its business of smashing every TV ratings record on the books, the tournament’s stateside media partners made a killing with their respective ad sales efforts.
According to Guideline data, the supersized soccer spectacle generated a staggering $1.19 billion in total ad sales revenue across the Fox Sports and Telemundo/Peacock platforms, nearly trebling (2.7x) the dollar volume in Qatar four years ago ($441.9 million). The 170% increase was largely driven by higher rates (which were facilitated by the tourney’s viewer-friendly North American staging ground), the expansion of the field from a 32- to a 48-team format and the introduction of hydration breaks.
The gold standard of ad sales measurement, Guideline captures actual agency investment data from across the six major U.S. holding companies, as well as transactions made across most of the large independent shops.
Traditional TV led the way for FIFA’s stateside media partners, as Fox’s broadcast flagship and Telemundo commanded $1.03 billion in overall spend, good for 86% of their total combined haul. That works out to a 142% improvement compared to the previous World Cup, during which the two networks scared up $424.2 million in sales.
