NBCUniversal's World Cup Ad Inventory Nearly Sold Out 100 Days Before Kickoff

Despite being just under 100 days until the 2022 FIFA World Cup, NBCUniversal has already sold approximately 90% of its advertising inventory for the tournament. NBCUniversal and Telemundo have the exclusive Spanish-language broadcast of the soccer competition, kicking off on Nov. 20 in Qatar. “We're approximately 90% sold, pacing way ahead of where we were for 2018,” Peter Lazarus, evp, advertising and partnerships, NBCUniversal, told Adweek. “We've had really successful sales. We got into the market early.” This marks the first time the World Cup will take place in the fourth quarter versus the summer months, something Lazarus said is beneficial to NBCUniversal regarding the advertising market. “[It] was an advantage for our marketers going into that retail season, particularly when we look at the Thanksgiving weekend and the strength of schedule we have over that weekend,” he said, which includes matchups between England and the U.S., Argentina vs. Mexico and Spain vs. Germany. Jon Hamm Plays a Mad Santa as Fox Sports Kicks Off 2022 World Cup Campaign “What we've seen is people coming into the market earlier because of the sales period,” Lazarus added. “That’s why our pacing is ahead of where we were a year ago because advertisers saw that as an advantage in the high sales period going into that retail season, so it was really just a seasonal play versus the summer play.” The strongest categories include wireless, auto (both foreign and domestic), quick service restaurant (QSR) and retail, and new categories include tech and streaming. “Fourth quarter being the highest spending quarter lent itself to advertisers leaning in and spending early against this core property,” said Lazarus. “This will be the number one property for Hispanics this year. It'll be incremental reach to everything that these guys do in the fourth quarter, whether that be primetime NFL, college football and an unduplicated audience to help them sell more products to those consumers.” The 2022 World Cup marks the first time that NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock will be involved, as well as Telemundo’s content brand Tplus. “All 64 games will be not only on Telemundo but also on Peacock,” Lazarus said. “So every advertiser you'll see across all platforms, and they're excited by that.” Kicking things up a notch This year, the U.S., Mexico and Canada will all see teams competing in the tournament, which NBCUniversal believes will be an added attraction for both consumers and advertisers. “It will be great for both Telemundo and Fox and the World Cup and the soccer movement in general,” Lazarus said. “It's what we've seen both in the upfront and in the World Cup, is the movement of advertisers supporting the Spanish language broadcasts. We’ve seen money flow to Telemundo in the upfront.” Last November, with over a year to go until kick-off, NBCUniversal and Telemundo sold out the competition’s major sponsorship spots, which include the presenting sponsorships for the pregame, halftime and postgame shows. The company sold its pregame sponsorship to Ford, the halftime to T-Mobile and the postgame to Coca-Cola. “These are advertisers that are usually in the World Cup, but we're happy to see them back and happy to see them back early and in a large way supporting this community,” Lazarus said.