The 2026 World Cup was, by all commercial metrics, a resounding success.
FIFA recently announced it exceeded $15 billion in revenue, significantly above the $11 billion it projected in April. And Fox, which paid $485 million for the English-language rights, proclaimed it had a record 38.9 million average viewers for the Final between Argentina and Spain.
“I had a chat with some of our partners, and they are extremely happy about the numbers, about the engagement, about the TV ratings,” FIFA chief business officer Romy Gai told ADWEEK.
Controversies around the high match ticket prices, the hydration breaks, and President Donald Trump’s influence on refereeing did not seem to deter audiences from tuning in or attending.
