Why the 2026 World Cup will be won on the TV home screen, not during the game

Live sport still delivers scale, but attention no longer peaks only during matches. It builds in waves, rises ahead of key moments and then fragments across screens once play begins.

Using Teads’ internal readership and content consumption tools, he showed how sports interest follows predictable patterns. Football audiences spike around familiar moments such as transfer windows, season finales and tournament kickoffs, then taper as competitions settle into their middle phases. Other sports follow similar arcs, creating overlaps that brands can anticipate rather than chase in real time.

That matters because 2026 will compress those cycles. With a larger World Cup format and an already crowded sports calendar, fan attention will surge early, flatten faster and then spike again toward the final stages. The brands that wait for the “big match moment” risk arriving late to the conversation.

Sotande-Peters described the run-up to tournaments as a kind of cultural warm-up lap. The week before kickoff consistently delivers what he called a “fomo peak,” driven by previews, nostalgia, speculation and shoulder programming. That anticipation phase, he argued, now rivals in-game moments for attention and is far easier to plan against.

The implication is uncomfortable for marketers still organizing their sports strategies around live slots alone. By the time viewers are watching the game, many brand decisions have already been made.

Where those decisions increasingly happen is on the connected TV home screen. Sotande-Peters explained it as the new discovery layer for brands, the first canvas viewers see before content is selected and before attention splinters across devices.

Connected TV, he argued, now plays the role traditional broadcast once did, but with sharper targeting and more room for creative experimentation. Home screens, pause states and in-stream formats offer brands a chance to be seen when viewers are receptive rather than distracted. Miss that window and the second screen takes over.

That second screen is no longer optional context. Teads’ data shows that 57% of people regularly use another device while watching sport, with a meaningful share doing so frequently. Messaging friends, checking scores, reacting on social platforms and shopping in-play all happen alongside live viewing.

For brands, this creates both a problem and an opening. Single-screen thinking breaks down quickly, but campaigns that link big-screen awareness to mobile action perform better on recall and purchase intent, particularly among millennial and Gen Z audiences. QR codes, interactive formats and synced creative are fast becoming table stakes.

Sotande-Peters likened campaign planning to match tactics. Data acts as the scout report, identifying where interest builds and overlaps. Connected TV becomes the field of play, offering premium visibility and creative impact. Second-screen activation works the sidelines, extending attention beyond the initial exposure and into action.

The point, he stressed, is not to overwhelm audiences with more messaging, but to respect how they already consume sport. Fans move fluidly between screens, competitions and conversations. Campaigns that mirror that behavior stand a better chance of cutting through.

As 2026 approaches, the lesson for brands is to understand when attention actually forms. The decisive play may happen before the match starts, on a home screen that viewers barely notice but brands can no longer afford to ignore.