An estimated $96M in TV sales was more than double a pre-World Cup projection of ad revenueGETTY IMAGES
Advertisers "shelled out" almost $100M on U.S. TV commercials in and around the Women’s World Cup, "exceeding expectations," according to Bruell & Bachman of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The "flood of ad dollars highlights the appeal of the tournament on Madison Avenue and its ability to drive revenue for TV networks." Kantar Media said that the WWC "brought in an estimated" $96M, "more than double the company’s earlier estimate" of $43M. Kantar’s initial projection "did not include ad revenue generated by Spanish-language networks owned by Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal, including Telemundo, which accounted for about 11%" of the $96M. The USWNT "drew massive publicity during its run toward a fourth World Cup title this summer." Kantar said that the men's World Cup in '18 drew $350M in TV advertising in the U.S. Its estimates in both cases "count ads during halftime, pre- and post-match coverage and encore telecasts, plus other peripheral programming." Kantar added that the WWC "spanned 52 matches, compared with 64 for the men’s, and included about half the commercial time." Strong ad sales and ratings for a World Cup can "reflect team popularity and translate into revenue for U.S. Soccer" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/16).
