9 Advertising Facts About The 2014 World Cup You Probably Didn’t Know

The 2014 World Cup will add about $500M in ad spend to the Latin American market this year, according to ZenithOptimedia. Another $600M will be added to the US and Western European ad markets ($300M each). The Asian-Pacific market will maintain the same level of spend as the last World Cup at $250M, and an additional $150M will come from Central & Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the rest of the globe.

Last year, FIFA made $404M in marketing rights related to the 2014 World Cup. That’s equal to 29% of FIFA’s annual revenue.

You won’t see World Cup ads on Google. FIFA has trademarked terms like “World Cup,” “FIFA” and even “Brazil 2014.” However, you can still go after terms like “World Cup Gear.”

To be an official FIFA partner, brands such as Coca-Cola, Adidas, Emirates, Hyundai, Sony, and Visa pay between $25M to $50M per year. Additionally, you have FIFA’s World Cup sponsors, who pay in between $10M to $25M per year. Among those are brands like Budweiser, McDonald’s and Johnson & Johnson.

Companies are paying substantially more in 2014 when compared to 2010 for exposure – to the tune of 40% more. Score one for FIFA.

For “only” $75M, you can purchase 1,120 video insertions in one of Brazil’s biggest TV channels. That comprises of 451 :30 TV commercials, and 359 :05 commercials set to run at the beginning and end of soccer games, along with hundreds of quick mentions with visuals. Some of the big spenders are Coca-Cola, Banco Itau, and Nestle.

Just to put it into perspective, the Super Bowl this year was watched by 108 million people. The last World Cup was watched by 3.2 billion people — 715 million on the finals alone.

In the 2010 World Cup, Nike yielded more than double the social conversions as Adidas even though it wasn’t an official sponsor. Adidas, however, set a company record, driving $1.8 billion in soccer-related sales. We are pretty sure Adidas will do even more this time around.

If you are not looking to spend millions for World Cup exposure, for a “bargain” rate of $250,000, you can purchase a 30-second commercial on ABC during the 2014 World Cup final.