How Brands Can Win During Global Sporting Moments

By George Castrissiades, Head of CTV, North America, Teads

Tournaments like the World Cup are a precious moment in time, uniting global audiences. This year, a record-breaking 50 million viewers from all over the globe tuned in, attracting more than $10.5 billion in global ad spend, according to WARC.

Such unrivalled reach means that sporting tournaments can offer an alluring platform for brands seeking to target a broad range of audiences, from casual to highly engaged sports fans.

These are six lessons from this year’s World Cup that brands can apply to upcoming tournaments including the US Open, which starts on 23 August, and the NFL, which kicks off on 9 September.

Lesson 1: don’t forget the second screen

The first lesson from this year’s World Cup should be not to put so much emphasis on big-screen ads that second screens are missing from media plans. Our phones rarely leave our sides, and are certainly never far away while we’re watching a big, action-packed sporting event.

We found that two-thirds of the audience – 63% – second-screen during a match. This is according to research that we conducted with Censuswide where we surveyed 9,000 fans across nine countries (the US, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Japan, Australia, and Mexico).

So if you’re a brand spending money around a sporting event, forget the second screen at your peril.

Lesson 2: include the casual sports fans

Due to second-screening, opportunities to reach casual sports fans multiply. And these casual fans are incredibly open to brands; not just tolerant of advertising but actively receptive to it. More than half of this audience – 56% – say that seeing a brand advertise during a big sporting event actively strengthens their connection to it. Advertising in an event like a World Cup can bring a brand not just visibility, but also kudos across a broad range of audiences.

Lesson 3: CTV is increasingly where audiences are

So many of us now watch live sports via streaming that CTV is closing in on linear TV’s lead, growing at 8.3% year-on-year. While linear TV may still lead all viewing – at 76% – CTV is catching up, with 51% penetration for live sports. The most engaged audiences are migrating to CTV, and brands are too. They’re excited by new formats, new targeting opportunities, and a new creative canvas on which to create a consistent multi-touch journey for viewers across their devices. While some brands may still be paying premium prices to appear on what they deem to be the most prestigious platforms during tournaments like The World Cup, they may well be missing key targeting and effectiveness opportunities if CTV isn’t on their media schedule.

Lesson 4: Go beyond the conventional and avoid ‘big bets’

Brands need to start looking beyond traditional game advertising, like 30-second spots. The cost alone may be prohibitive for many: a 30-second World Cup ad slot cost between $200,000 and $300,000, rising to $750,000 during US matches and the final stages.

To make the most of their budgets, brands could instead consider themed homescreens that capture pre-match excitement. Brands need to think about diverting spend away from big bets such as expensive in-game placements and instead to go broad and stand out. Untapped opportunities for consumer connection lie in executions that run across both CTV and publisher sites.

Lesson 5: The shopping ‘window’ offers a chance to convert

Those who second-screen during a big game tend to be active across three “windows”. These include social channels where they chat with friends about the game; the game window, where they seek out information related to the action on the big screen, and online shopping, where they purchase related products, like takeaways. Our research shows that 30% of second-screening happens in the shopping window. So ad placement across CTV and publishers – sports sites, news sites – during the games are even more likely to convert into sales.

Lesson 6: Consistency is key

Fans who see consistent brand messaging across CTV and digital publishers show higher recall and stronger purchase intent than those exposed on a single channel. Omnichannel is a key performance driver.

As this year’s World Cup highlighted, there’s a huge spectrum of opportunities for brands in the sports ecosystem. It represented so much more than a one-off sporting occasion targeting only die-hard fans. To get the most from these events as a brand, think about switching up your approach, embracing execution across CTV and publisher sites to identify new opportunities to forge a connection with audiences, whatever device they’re on.