The Ins & Outs of FIFA Advertisements
The World Cup is a shared cultural ground globally. In fact, out of the 8 billion people that exist on earth, NBCSports predicted that “the 2022 World Cup is expected to pull in 5 billion viewers according to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.” The vast majority of people watch the games live, making it the perfect opportunity (if financially an option) to invest in advertisements. Knowing this, news brands are seen to substantially increase their rates. A specific example of this is Fox News: “Fox is seeking $600K per 30-second spot for the highly anticipated Black Friday showdown. That’s roughly double the $300,000 price tag for ad time during other match telecasts.”
Although FIFA has a variety of cost concerns, its intense popularity ensures they make significant amounts of profit during the game season. An article by Forbes explains that “FIFA has the potential to generate $23 billion in revenues from TV ads, billboards, and sponsorships in a month. In other words, this would make FIFA the seventh largest business in the world, after Britain’s BP and before Japan’s Toyota, when compared on an annual basis.” FIFA is then able to further use these funds to continue to gain love from the general public through consistent advertising, popularizing their players, and essentially “hyping” the game.
So what about the country that holds the game? This year, the World Cup was held in Qatar. Every four years, the country holding the game tries to outdo the previous host. Qatar surpassed all previous world cups in terms of cost. As Forbes quantified in another article: “Qatar has reportedly invested approximately $220 billion, debatably much more, to stage this mega-event. It’s a record that soars above the sums spent on previous editions that now appear ridiculously cheap.” Qatar’s general wealth has allowed them the freedom to ‘splurge’ on this momentous event. Though, Qatar is expected to make significant revenue from the game: “Revenue generated by the four-year cycle of the Qatar World Cup (from 2018 to 2022, including an extra five months because of the winter schedule) will reach $7.5bn, compared with $6.4bn for the previous cycle in Russia.” This, of course, does not compare to the amount that was spent in the first place. However, by idealizing conditions, Qatar has gained vast respect from nations worldwide.
Considering the intense funds it takes for a country to host the world cup, it’s no wonder prices are so high when it comes to advertisements. These ads can truly boost a brand — if they are able to afford it, of course.
