From the World Cup Final and the return of the NFL to record-breaking political primaries and a shifting summer movie advertising landscape, Q3 delivered no shortage of opportunities for advertisers to reach audiences.
But as viewership continues to fragment across linear and streaming, and political campaigns intensify their fight for advertising inventory, the competition for consumer attention is becoming increasingly complex.
In our latest quarterly television insights report, AdImpact takes a closer look at the viewership data, political ad spending, ad airings and advertising trends of Q3 – and how marketers can prepare for the end of the year and plan ahead for 2027.
Fútbol Before Football
Despite an early elimination of Team USA in the Round of 16, the World Cup posted strong viewership numbers through the end of the tournament.
The Round of 16 game between Mexico and England drew an average audience of 44 million, with Telemundo's broadcast making up more than half of that total.
Following that, the final between Spain and Argentina became the most watched non-Super Bowl sports program in recent history, seeing a total average audience of 49.9 million, 31 million on FOX's English broadcast and 18.9 million on Telemundo/Peacock's Spanish broadcast of the game. Total audience peaked at around 61.2 million.
The tournament also demonstrated the growing importance of reaching audiences across platforms. On Fox, 48% of viewers watched on linear, while 31% watched on streaming platforms and 21% watched through YouTubeTV. Spanish-language audiences leaned even more heavily into streaming, with 54% watching on Peacock, compared to 38% who watched on linear and 8% on YouTubeTV.
For advertisers, these massive audiences presented an opportunity to connect with highly engaged fans. More than 5,000 unique advertisers combined for a total of 198,000 airings during the tournament, with hydration breaks creating additional opportunities for brands to reach viewers.
The top categories during the games were automakers, cable/phone/internet providers, alcohol, fast food and home improvement. This differed significantly from the broader television landscape during the same period, where legal services, household, home improvement, specialty pharmaceuticals and home goods led advertising activity.
Alcohol was one of the biggest standouts, accounting for 6% of World Cup game airings compared to just 0.6% of all airings during the same window. Modelo and Michelob were among the tournament’s top advertisers, alongside Bank of America, Home Depot and Nike. Each of those brands leaned into World Cup-specific creative rather than relying on their typical ads.
Political campaigns also recognized the opportunity to reach viewers during the tournament as AdImpact tracked more than 2,000 broadcast airings targeting the World Cup games across 172 different advertisers.
Republican candidates accounted for nearly twice as many airings as Democrats, with a particularly pronounced advantage on Fox, where Republican candidate ads outnumbered Democratic ads 565 to 245. Telemundo saw a narrower split of 117 Republican airings to 93 Democratic airings.
While the World Cup created a valuable opportunity for political advertisers to reach voters, a major Supreme Court ruling could have an even greater impact on how campaigns allocate their television budgets heading into November.
The Impact of NRSC vs FEC on Political Ad Spending
In late June, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in NRSC v. FEC, eliminating limits on how much political parties can spend in direct coordination with their own candidates.
The decision has significant implications for the 2026 midterms and future election cycles, particularly for broadcasters operating in competitive congressional markets.
Previously, limits on coordinated spending restricted how much party committees could spend directly alongside candidates. With those caps eliminated, significantly more political advertising could qualify for lowest unit rate (LUR) pricing, which provides eligible political advertisers access to discounted broadcast advertising rates during designated election windows.
To consider the potential impact, consider the 2024 election cycle. AdImpact calculated that candidates and independent expenditures (IE) worked together via hybrid or coordinated buys for well over $300 million in broadcast spending. Under the new rules, comparable spending could potentially qualify for LUR pricing.
For broadcasters, this creates a complicated dynamic. Political demand could increase substantially in competitive markets, filling available inventory more quickly. However, a greater share of that inventory could be sold at discounted political rates, putting pressure on station revenue.
If party committees purchase the same amount of ad units as they did in previous years, repricing could potentially drive down revenue nationally, with Portland-Auburn and Bangor in Maine and Anchorage in Alaska being among the most impacted markets.
The implications extend beyond political advertisers. As campaigns compete for limited inventory, core commercial advertisers may face higher rates, reduced availability or displacement from their preferred programming.
This creates difficult decisions for brands heading into Q4, as they will have to decide at what point keeping their campaigns on broadcast TV will remain cost effective compared to other media types such as local cables and CTV.
Advertisers will need to monitor political spending in their target markets closely and remain flexible as inventory conditions evolve.
Q3 Political Ad Spending Roundup:
Total aired: $3.0B
Mediatype breakdown: Broadcast: 51% CTV: 23% Digital: 15% Cable: 9% Radio 1% Satellite 1%
Top races: OH Senate ($232.2M), TX Senate ($187.7M), MI Senate ($159.8M)
Top markets: Detroit ($109.7M), Cleveland ($99.9M), Atlanta ($78.7M)
Top states: Ohio ($360.9M), Texas ($289.8M), Michigan ($273.1M)
Active advertisers: 4.7K
Football’s Triumphant Return
The start of the NFL season gives both fans and advertisers a reason to celebrate.
Few properties deliver the scale, appointment viewing and cross-generational reach of the NFL, especially on linear, where each primetime game during week one delivered more than 20 million viewers.
The kickoff game between the New England Patriots and defending champion Seattle Seahawks drew 35.6 million viewers, 48% of whom tuned in on linear television.
The first Sunday Night Football matchup, which was between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, delivered 28.2 million viewers, with half of the audience watching on linear. Monday Night Football between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos followed with 24.5 million viewers, including a 56% linear share.
For advertisers, the NFL’s ability to consistently deliver large, engaged audiences makes it a particularly attractive opportunity to build awareness and reach consumers at scale.
During Week 1, five subcategories dominated the broadcast inventory: Fast Food, Cable Phone and Internet Providers, Auto and Commercial Insurance, Alcohol and Streaming Services.
Fast-food advertisers were particularly active, accounting for 10.4% of total broadcast airings during NFL games, compared with just 3.6% of all broadcast airings on non-NFL programming during the same window.
Alcohol brands also over-indexed on ads, as alcohol ads accounted for 4% of broadcast airings during the Week 1 games, compared to less than 1% aired on non-NFL programming during the same window. Beer brands advertising during the games included Corona, Bud Light, Coors, Michelob Ultra, Modelo, and Miller Lite.
These differences highlight how brands are strategically concentrating their investments around programming that aligns with their target audience.
Summer Movie Recap
The beginning of the football season also marks the unofficial start of fall, so what better time to look back at the trends that emerged during this year’s summer movie season.
While Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey were big players at the box office, CTV was the big winner in the ad space.
Across movie advertisements aired between May 1 and August 12, 2026, broadcast advertising declined sharply, while CTV impressions climbed.
In summer 2025, movie advertisers generated 192,000 broadcast airings and 15.2 billion CTV impressions. This summer, broadcast airings fell by more than 50% to 93,600, while CTV impressions increased approximately 16% to 17.7 billion impressions.
The Odyssey especially leaned into CTV, generating more than 1.8 billion impressions before its release and another 741 million afterward, the most of any movie released this Summer. In total, The Odyssey's CTV ad impressions make up 15% of total movie CTV ad impressions from May 1 to August 18. On broadcast, the movie logged 9,400 pre-release airings and 2,300 post-release airings.
Even movies aimed at audiences with a strong nostalgia component embraced streaming. The Devil Wears Prada 2, for example, generated more than 92 million CTV impressions before its release.
While the average window between the first broadcast ad airing and theatrical premiere was 95 days, studios took notably different approaches to their promotional campaigns.
Moana had the shortest runway, with advertising beginning just seven days before its premiere. The movie generated 3,100 broadcast airings and 102.6 million CTV impressions during that period. Disney then significantly ramped up its campaign after the premiere, generating 46 million CTV impressions following its release.
At the other end of the spectrum, The Odyssey began advertising 175 days before its premiere, followed by Supergirl at 152 days and 143 days for Minions & Monsters. All three movies invested heavily in building awareness before opening weekend, with their pre-release activity outpacing their post-release campaigns. For example, Supergirl generated 360 million CTV impressions before its premiere compared to 243 million afterward.
Taken together, the data shows there is no single playbook for marketing a summer blockbuster. Some studios are using months-long campaigns to build anticipation well before opening weekend, while others are concentrating their spending closer to release and continuing to advertise aggressively once a movie is already in theaters.
What is clear, however, is that CTV is becoming an increasingly important component of movie marketing, giving studios additional ways to reach audiences throughout the theatrical release cycle.
Beverage Breakout
Movie studios weren’t the only advertisers adjusting their media strategies this summer. Beverage brands also shifted their approach, with CTV emerging as an increasingly important channel for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
Through the end of August, AdImpact observed over one million broadcast airings, marking a return to normal after an unusually heavy 2025, where airings hit 2.4 million.
The split between alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages mirrored previous years, with alcohol accounting for 456,600 ads compared to 552,300 for non-alcoholic ads.
CTV, meanwhile, continued to gain ground. Beverage advertising generated 34.5 billion impressions through August, with non-alcoholic brands accounting for 18 billion and alcoholic beverages generating 16.5 billion.
Despite this growth, the two categories experience different advertising trends.
Alcoholic beverages saw a 23% decrease in broadcast airings compared with the same period in 2025, but CTV impressions increased 51%, highlighting a significant shift in how brands are reaching consumers.
Corona, Modelo, and Michelob were the most advertised alcohol products on broadcast through August. Corona increased broadcast airings by 16% year-over-year, while Michelob saw a 57% increase driven in part by Anheuser-Busch’s World Cup campaign.
In general, alcohol brands made a big play during the World Cup, ranking as the third-most-advertised category with over 10,000 broadcast airings during World Cup programming.
Non-alcoholic beverages also pulled back significantly from on broadcast, with airings declining 44% decrease compared to the same period last year.
Unlike alcohol brands, however, their CTV growth was relatively modest, increasing just 3% year-over-year.
Overall advertising activity lagged behind previous years, although the category experienced a small spike around the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations in early July.
Coca-Cola remained the most advertised beverage brand on broadcast, increasing its airings by 37% year-over-year.
Pepsi took a notably different approach. Its broadcast airings declined 90%, moving the brand from the second-most advertised beverage at this point in 2025 to ninth in 2026.
However, Pepsi’s CTV impressions were up 78%, suggesting a greater emphasis on reaching consumers through streaming.
Across CTV, Coca-Cola led all beverage advertisers with 3 billion, followed by Red Bull (1.6 billion), Gatorade (1.4 billion), Pepsi (1.1 billion) and Monster Energy (1.1 billion).
Together, these trends demonstrate how beverage brands are reassessing their media mix. While some continue to prioritize broadcast exposure around major sporting events, others are increasingly relying on CTV to reach their target audience.
What This Means for You
While the midterm elections will inevitably crowd out the early stages of Q4, there are still plenty of opportunities for brands to advertise ahead of the pivotal holiday season.
The continuation of the NFL season, the return of the NBA and NHL, the MLB playoffs and the fall television cycle give advertisers plenty of windows to be part of the conversation.
Looking ahead, advertisers should closely monitor political spending in their target markets, identify opportunities around major sporting and entertainment events and evaluate how linear and streaming can maximize reach.
However, advertisers can’t afford to wait until political advertising demand subsides to begin planning. Identifying available inventory, understanding audience viewing habits and maintaining flexibility across channels will be critical to navigating the post-election crunch and pre-holiday rush.
In an increasingly competitive television landscape, the brands that succeed will be those that understand where their audiences are watching and can adapt their strategies accordingly.
METHODOLOGY
All viewership data is generated from data collected through AdImpact’s Advanced TV panel of monitored Smart TVs, totaling over 23M TVs. This data includes viewing patterns and devices tracked using automated content recognition (ACR) technology.
The distinction between linear and non-linear content is based on whether it’s viewed via a set-top box, direct cable connection, or antenna (linear) or through a TV native app or OTT streaming device (non-linear). This data specifically focuses on live programming for the event and excludes non-live content.