2026 World Cup to be ITV's advertising machine, 30-second slot could hit £300,000

The atmosphere of the 2026 World Cup promotion in Houston, United States. The world's largest football tournament is not only a trophy-winning event, but is also predicted to be a multi-billion rupiah advertising business for the television broadcasting industry. (Photo: Instagram/@fwc26houston)

Jakarta - The 2026 World Cup is not just a football stage. For the television industry, this tournament is also a giant advertising field.

Citing a report by The Guardian, Friday, June 12, British television station ITV said the 2026 World Cup will be the most profitable sporting event they have ever broadcast. ITV broadcast 51 of the 104 matches of the tournament held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

ITV's commercial director Kelly Williams said ITV's advertising revenue from this World Cup was around 30 per cent higher than Euro 2024, when England reached the final.

Williams, as quoted by The Guardian, called the tournament a "six-week summer Super Bowl moment" for television advertising. The Super Bowl is the American football league final in the United States, known as one of the most expensive and most sought-after television events for advertisers.

ITV has been selling advertising packages since last autumn. Google is the main sponsor to promote Gemini and Pixel. However, ITV still keeps premium advertising slots for the final phase matches, especially if England goes far.

Premium ad slots are the most expensive airtime because they appear around big matches and are watched by more people.

According to a media industry source quoted by The Guardian, a 30-second ad in an England match could reach £300,000. Assuming a rate of around Rp24,000 per £1, it is worth around Rp7.2 billion.

In the previous World Cup, an average of 6 million people watched a match. England's match could reach 20 million to 25 million viewers, depending on the phase of the tournament.

According to Williams, such a large audience is even more valuable because viewing habits are now spread across streaming services, social media, and YouTube. Free live broadcasts still have an appeal that is difficult to match.

So far, ITV has sold packages to 220 advertisers. A total of 70 new advertisers have first aired television advertisements in football broadcasts. Around eight brands have even just entered TV advertising.

One of them is Jeremy Clarkson's Hawkstone beer brand. The brand bought an ad slot after the Hawkstone Farmers' Choir received a lot of attention for winning Britain's Got Talent.

The most striking campaign comes from Nike. The six-minute World Cup commercial will be the longest ad ever aired on British television. The ad features a number of football stars and will debut during England's opening match against Croatia.

The UK media regulator, Ofcom, limits the number of advertising minutes that broadcasters can show in an hour. However, the rule is calculated on an average basis, so ITV can arrange ad allocation so that Nike's long ad remains on full display.

Technology and AI companies are also aggressively buying slots. In addition to Google, there are Amazon Web Services, Apple, Dell, Microsoft Copilot, and Meta.

The time difference with North America also benefits ITV. The first English match takes place at 21.00 or 22.00 British time, a time that is more attractive to advertisers than afternoon matches.

The BBC holds the rights to broadcast other World Cup matches in England. ITV set up a studio in Brooklyn with a Manhattan skyline, while the BBC opted for a broadcast from Salford, Manchester.

Former BBC presenter Gary Lineker has reportedly signed a deal worth around £14m with Netflix to host a daily version of his The Rest Is Football podcast from New York.

The strong interest of advertisers shows that the live broadcast of the World Cup is still an expensive asset for television, even though the audience is now spread across streaming services, social media, and other digital platforms.