The countdown to the World Cup is on. With just a few days until the first whistle blows, football fans will be making last-minute purchases to improve their experience of the tournament. Think TVs, projectors, barbeques, extra seating and, of course, food and drink to entertain guests.
The opportunity for brands is huge, as evidenced by WARC Media which forecasts that the World Cup will inject a whopping $10.5 billion into the global advertising market. It creates a compression of decision-making akin to Black Friday and Cyber Monday: marketers move early, line up inventory, sharpen offers and be ready for shifting behaviour.
The challenge, though, is how marketers allocate their budgets. By now, we've all as consumers probably been targeted with discounted products, but the World Cup is far more than a sales event. It's a moment of shared experience and social connectedness. Tapping into the buzz of shopping activity demands knowing who is shopping and why, and activating campaigns that speak to distinct groups – in other words, not just committed football fans.
The World Cup's other half
The temptation is to target regular league followers to capture most of the demand. But that is only half the picture, according to Epsilon's Match Ready: World Cup Audiences Report, based on a survey of 1,000 UK consumers. Just 50% of World Cup fans follow a league regularly. Nearly half of the potential market is driven less by sport and more by the occasion.
What's more, fair-weather tournament viewers may actually be easier to convert. They have not had the regular rhythm of league football nudging them towards upgrades and, with a World Cup arriving only every four years, this feels like a justified moment to act. For many households, it is the final prompt that turns a deferred purchase into a decision.
The same research also found that nearly a fifth of UK consumers say the World Cup puts them in more of a hosting mindset, with many planning to invest in outdoor hosting equipment, while others are refreshing furniture or stocking up for gatherings.
The result is a dual dynamic: one audience upgrading a shared viewing experience and another deepening personal engagement with the tournament. Treating these groups as one audience flattens relevance for both and thwarts the impact of otherwise well-placed investment.
How marketers can make their next move
With days now left to act, the conversation needs to move quickly from insight to execution. Consumers are now in-market, so waiting for late bursts means impressions could be landing after decisions are made.
An effective strategy doesn't necessarily default to on-screen placements. In the build-up, people are checking fixtures and line-ups, searching for how to watch, tracking how their team is progressing, watching previews and analysis, and coordinating where they'll be and who they'll be with. Even during matches, 70% of viewers expect to second screen, and almost one in five anticipate actively browsing or shopping while watching.
The challenge is reaching the right people without bombarding them as they move across channels. Prioritise platforms and partners that can manage frequency, deduplicate reach, and tell you who you have engaged, so spend is working smarter across the whole tournament journey rather than repeating the same message, to the same audience, in every moment.
It might seem unmanageable to activate across connected TV, display, online video and within retail category pages at short notice, but it is possible. One TV brand turned to Currys to help it launch an imminent new flatscreen range and, with the right data insights from its customer base, Currys quickly generated more than 56,000 store visits, and a 20% uplift in in-store sales.
Brands can emulate this kind of success if they base their spend around a clear view of the shopper across channels using persistent identifiers wherever possible. This is particularly important when dealing with mass audiences like World Cup viewership.
The bottom line is that this is not simply another seasonal spike to activate around. The behaviours driving it are fundamentally different and brands must adapt. This is a moment where identity, intent, and context converge quickly, and where the brands that recognise and act on those signals will be the ones converting before the final whistle.