Published: Monday 10th October 2022

The 2022 World Cup, hosted in Qatar will be the first winter World Cup in the history of the tournament. This new proposition will offer a number of unique and potentially prosperous opportunities as well as disadvantages for both new and seasoned advertisers.

Like the SuperBowl, the World Cup is one of those sporting events which is watched by millions all over the globe. The last World Cup amassed a viewership of 26.5 million in the UK alone (which was 40% of the population) with an average of 24.2 million watching the entire match. However, the actual figure for “eyes on the TV” is thought to be much higher as the recorded 26.5 million viewership doesn’t account for people watching the match in the thousands of public venues which hosted the event across the country.

The World Cup is normally hosted in the summer months which equates to a significant number of UK residents on their summer holidays or taking time off work to watch particular matches (mostly when England, the home nations or tournament favourites are playing). As the tournament will now be televised in winter the historic advertisers during previous World Cup tournaments will have to reconsider their marketing strategy for this particular year. Advertisers who sell summer products like BBQs and Garden Furniture will have to make way for retailers who sell winter orientated equipment such as heaters, boilers and winter clothing.

As the World Cup 2022 will be hosted in Qatar, UK residents have to deal with the time difference issue and when matches will be aired on UK TV. Matches are scheduled to be televised at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm in the UK, with the final round of matches in the group stages scheduled for 3pm and 7pm. So in essence the 10am and 1pm matches may be missed by the majority of working residents in the UK (unless they take time off work to watch the matches) so it is envisaged that the viewership for these matches will be comparatively lower than the games televised at 4pm and 7pm. So advertisers hoping to capture the attention of a working audience would need to consider whether the cost of advertising during peak time is worth the expenditure.

The penultimate element to consider is the significant cost increase which will be applied for advertising during the World Cup matches. Due to the rescheduling of the World Cup the summer revenues for ITV during a World Cup year have dropped significantly and so these numbers need to be recouped this winter. In addition to the seasonal shift there is also the limited opportunity to advert to a large audience to consider. As almost half of the matches will be televised during off peak hours the audience numbers will be lower when compared with viewership in summer and during peak times.

The final element to consider is completely governed by chance, and that is the progression of England and Wales during the tournament. Viewership and tournament interest will drop if England and Wales were to be knocked out of the World Cup but will remain high and increase the further England and Wales progress in the tournament.

England and Wales are in the unfortunate position of being drawn in the same Group and so the likelihood of one of them not making it to the knock out stages at the expense of the other is extremely high, see the groups below:-

Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands

Group B: England, Iran, USA, Wales

Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland

Group D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia

Group E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan

Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia

Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon

Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea

To summarise the World Cup is a great opportunity to expose your brand to not only football enthusiasts but also a patriotic audience. The tournament should amass one of the largest TV audiences this year and is a great opportunity for brand awareness especially in the 4pm and 7pm TV matches. As the tournament will be played in winter it is important to advertise seasonally relevant products and services. The audience numbers will increase the further the host nations progress in the tournament and so if you want more eyes on your advert then it is worth keeping your fingers crossed for positive England and Wales results.