Podcasts Poised To Score As World Cup Ad Dollars Shift Beyond Broadcast.

As the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaches, brands are increasingly shifting ad dollars toward the conversation surrounding the games — with podcasts emerging as a key part of that strategy. WARC projects the tournament will inject a $10.5 billion boost to global ad spend but warns its overall impact is diminishing as media consumption fragments across platforms. Instead of concentrating spending around broadcast rights, advertisers are now building campaigns across multiple touchpoints tied to fan engagement — a shift that stands to benefit podcasters.

“This World Cup is no longer just about live matches — brands will engage with fans across touchpoints before, during and after matches have concluded,” said Alex Brownsell, Head of Content at WARC Media. “Media plans will include platforms that benefit from the conversation about the World Cup without the burden of bidding for rights — from creator content to podcasts, turning conversations around the games into powerful opportunities for connection and impact.

That shift reflects a broader change in how audiences consume major sporting events. While global reach remains massive — 2.87 billion people watched at least one minute of the 2022 World Cup — broadcast TV audiences are declining as digital and multiplatform viewing expands.

As a result, attention is increasingly moving beyond the matches themselves. “The match will be the base layer. Meaning will be assembled elsewhere,” Havas Media Network partner Dan Holt says in a new report.

Podcasts are becoming a central part of that “elsewhere.” WARC says media plans now routinely include platforms “that benefit from the conversation about the World Cup without the burden of bidding for rights — from creator content to podcasts.”

Consumption trends suggest why. Sports podcast listening surges around major events, with Spotify data showing a 358% increase in listening in the days following a major competition and a fourfold year-over-year rise overall. It’s not just men. Spotify says sports podcast listening is also broadening demographically, with female listening up 353% year-over-year.

The growth is also extending into video. The report highlights Goalhanger’s “The Rest Is Football,” which generated 19.6 million YouTube views in a single month during Euro 2024. That led Netflix to ink a deal with the show to offer daily video episodes during this year’s World Cup in a deal worth a reported $18 million. It’s a sign that podcast formats are increasingly competing with traditional sports media without owning rights.

For advertisers, podcasts offer both flexibility and credibility. The report notes brands are leaning into podcast integrations for “host-read trust,” pairing them with creator partnerships and social activations to reach audiences outside the live match window.

“By building their ability to create reactive content, brands can respond to tournament moments without rights clearance, thereby capturing organic reach that may outperform paid placements in the same window,” the report says.

At the same time, the economics of sports rights are becoming harder to justify. As rights costs rise faster than the ad revenue they generate, brands are increasingly weighing whether to invest in live coverage or shift spending to surrounding content ecosystems like podcasts and creator media. The result is World Cup advertising is no longer concentrated solely in the TV broadcast but spread across a wider network of platforms. In that environment, podcasts are moving from a supporting role to a primary way for brands to capture attention and monetize the global conversation around the games.

That dynamic is especially evident in the U.S., where the World Cup’s advertising impact has historically been more muted. The report says soccer still competes with dominant domestic sports, and even in strong years the tournament typically contributes 0.4% to 1% of total ad spend.

Yet momentum is building. WARC notes that 37% of Americans expect their interest in soccer to increase over the next 18 months, suggesting a growing audience base ahead of the 2026 tournament, which will be hosted in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

But that rising interest does not necessarily translate into outsized ad growth. In large, mature markets like the U.S., WARC says the World Cup tends to be “commercially visible, but rarely decisive,” with gains often reflecting shifts in where dollars are spent rather than net new spending.