Written by Meaghan Walsh
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup ended on Sunday, August 20th as Spain emerged victorious over England. The tournament lasted one month, starting on Thursday, July 20th. As the competition unfolded, impressive plays were abound, such as a roaring 68.8 mph penalty kick from English player Chloe Kelly, an impressive goal against Sweden from U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, and Sarina Bolden scoring the first-ever goal in a FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament for the Philippines. As millions tuned in (with many braving early start times due to the time zone differences), advertisers looked to put their product in front of consumers. Many targeted their ads to women and young girls, and big name advertisers partnered with soccer stars such as Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Sophia Smith to showcase their company. This year, AdImpact tracked nearly 90K ad airings during the FIFA Women’s World Cup on FOX broadcast.
In 2011, Fox secured the broadcast rights to the FIFA World Cup. As such, all referenced data reflects ads aired on Fox broadcast on the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup program. The top 5 advertisers this year by airing were State Farm, Google Pixel, Volkswagen, the U.S. Air Force and Truly Hard Seltzer. These ads were filled with soccer stars and targeted messaging. For example, Google Pixel’s ad features Megan Rapinoe and Volkswagen, a U.S. Women’s sponsor, highlighted U.S. players Alyssa Thompson, Emily Fox, and Andi Sullivan in their ad. State Farm’s ad stars a female athlete, however, Arike Ogunbowale plays on a basketball court rather than soccer pitch. While there are no famous athletes in the U.S. Air Force’s ad, the ad directly targets women, beginning with “let’s go girls” as they feature women in multiple service roles in the Air Force.
The U.S. Air Force emerged as an interesting case study this World Cup, as they were not a top advertiser in U.S. games but dominated non-U.S. game advertising. When looking exclusively at U.S. games during their first airing, State Farm, Volkswagen, Truly Hard Seltzer, T-Mobile, and Google Pixel are the top advertisers. For non-U.S. games, the top advertisers were State Farm, Google Pixel, the U.S. Air Force, Volkswagen, and J.P. Morgan Chase.
The top advertisers by airing also changed as the tournament progressed. In the group stage from July 20th to August 3rd, the top advertisers were State Farm, Google Pixel, J.P. Morgan Chase, Volkswagen, and Panera Bread. In the quarterfinals from August 10th to 12th, the top advertisers were State Farm, Google Pixel, Wells Fargo, Nerd Wallet, and Amazon Prime Video. For the semifinals from August 15th to 16th, Volkswagen, Starbucks, Google Pixel, Geico, and Ally Bank were the top 5. During the World Cup final on August 20th, Nerd Wallet, Outback Steakhouse, Geico, Volkswagen, and Google Pixel took home the top spots. With this data, we can see that as the tournament progressed companies like Nerd Wallet and Geico became more competitive with their advertising campaigns.
Overall, this Women’s World Cup was an exciting tournament with advertisers that capitalized on the themes of athleticism, womanhood, and stardom on display. Although early watch times likely affected ad strategies, many still used the tournament to their advantage to put out engaging campaigns.
For further analysis on previous World Cup advertising, check out our blog on the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup.
