9 Ads per Minute: FIFA Cup 26 – "the price of the beautiful game"

KellyCriterion

- 9 ads per minute - approx. 1 logo per each 6,7 seconds

chistev

And it seems the "hydration break" has been adopted by La Liga.

Muhammad523

I think people simply ignore the banners and logos all around so its not that much of a problem

brendanfinan

For many this was their first opportunity to invest in binary event contracts, so this is a win for financial liferacy

serial_dev

I'm actually surprised it's only that many ads? How can people even take a screenshot of the screen without a bunch of ads on it? You can't even take a look at a player, their jersey has basically ads on it, the ball, the shoes, the names of stadiums... Or do they not count the adidas/nike/reebok logos?

rob74

> Our findings reveal the sheer scale of branding embedded throughout tournament broadcasts, making exposure to unhealthy food, alcohol and gambling brands both omnipresent and unavoidable for viewers. Do we really need an academic study to tell us that yes, there were ads on the sides of the football pitch at the World Cup, and that FIFA's choice of sponsors is questionable (but hey, questionable sponsors pay better than less questionable ones)?

boesboes

Marketing, the great value siphon. Marketing adds NOTHING of value of the world.

hnisjafx40

Worked on the ad insertion side for a league feed once, and hydration breaks exist because they're the only reliably schedulable stop in a 45 minute half.

wateralien

It's not only the World Cup, it's everything, everywhere, all the time. We are drowning in marketing messages. It's gross.

gps372

Most comments may have ignored this so far, but this is an interesting AI based research. At the end of the article is this excerpt >> Results from this research were generated using an AI computer vision model developed by the research team on Bristol’s Isambard-AI, the UK’s most powerful AI supercomputer. Isambard-AI powered the analysis of 172.6 hours of live match footage from all 104 games played between 11 June and 19 July 2026. So, basically now merchandizers, auditors, compliance monitors, etc. have a tool using which they can quantify whether broadcaster complied with contractual requirements of showing their ads/merch/logos as per contract. And if they missed, then they can quantify the delta - to sue the broadcaster for the balance as well. Also, it can enable many countries, where certain content is not allowed, then this tool can simply give them data points without having to employ someone, or have someone review the output of the AI tooling.

justincormack

TIL that Fifa made a movie that had the worst US box office of an movie ever, taking $918 in its opening weekend.

shevy-java

If I were to watch FIFA-controlled content, I would be annoyed about this. Also, if I were not use heroic ad-blockers. But as I neither watch FIFA's money laundering scheme nor its ad-pester business (all gets blocked here without mercy), it does not affect me in the slightest. Hopefully these clowns pay proper taxes to aid everyone, but I bet they park their money in offshore areas anway.

holoduke

A bit of topic. But noaways even when having no time at all you can instruct your AI to setup DNS adguard at home and get rid of all (most) ads on any site or app. It took me literaly 10 minutes to set it up.

diego_moita

So what? Did anyone expect it to be different? There is no "beautiful game". This show is only about manipulating people by exploiting their most basic and stupid instincts: aggression, tribalism, etc. Sports entertainment has always been like that since the Coliseum and Circus Maximus were the main attractions in town. The very expression "beautiful game" was born out of it. From the late 60s to the 70s, Brazil was one of the strongest contenders in the World Cup. They achieved that because they were able to select a roster of very skilled athletes among an huge national league. Because the country was ruled by an extremely nationalist military dictatorship, the government fully supported and promoted wrapping the country around the national team. Then the subservient sports press invented the name "jogo bonito" (beautiful game) to typify this game based on individual skills. From there, the propaganda term caught on. A similar thing happened in other countries ruled by dictatorships by then: Argentina, Chile, Portugal, Greece, Turkey,... My point is that football's tribalism (like the Roman circus) was always at the service of some power. Before, it was autocratic nationalism in dictatorships. Now, it is just bets, alcohol and junk food.

Tycho

It was funny a few years ago when the English Premier League was all moralistic, having players “take the knee” before matches in solidarity with social justice, meanwhile all the stadiums and team shirts and television broadcasts were abound with online gambling ads and sponsorships.

ekianjo

which brand is non harmful?

onaclov2000

I've been wondering about building counter ad technology. I think we recall their being some patents I saw sometime in the last handful of years that talked about swapping items out in a live show during reruns. But like why couldn't we just do that on our side and removing the items I assume we just pipe the HDMI in run some algorithms and then pipe it out. And I know I'm saying it as if it's trivial but if someone can write an algorithm to find existing things and swap them out it's the exact same thing except you just swap them out with a patch of the original scene for the original scene without whatever product placement I suppose.

sailfast

This isn’t awesome generally but I don’t understand how this study is novel in the slightest? Ban goods or expect advertising for them, full stop. Seems like a perfect useless academic exercise to watch the World Cup and say you’re working. Bonus points for judgment on the health of the goods just for giggles.

MWParkerson

At least it's not like the NFL, christ the constant interruptions to the broadcast are way worse than a spot on a jersey or on a barrier

tancop

As a socialist I think advertising is one of the few good parts of capitalism. Not because it's useful for society or sometimes produces artistic value, but because it adds a sort of chaos and texture. It's a lot like graffiti in the streets. Most of it is ugly when you take it by itself but a place without it looks empty and soulless. I know it's ironic saying corporations add soul to public spaces but sometimes it's true. Imagine a world where football kits are solid colours with nothing but the team crest. It would look incredibly boring. Same with people on the street, if you banned branding what would everyone wear? Plain shirts or random graphics like something from Temu? Political messages? I'll take the most annoying ads ever made over that.