Social Rocket
The football boom following the World Cup does not automatically mean more advertising budget for the Premier League in the USA. Several media buyers interviewed by Digiday report that demand for Premier League inventory has remained stable, but has not jumped.
That is notable, because the English league has recently grown clearly in the USA. For the 2025/26 season, NBC Sports reported an average of 535.000 viewers per TV match window on NBC and USA Network, five percent more than the previous year. A match between Manchester City and Arsenal even reached 2,6 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, Telemundo and digital platforms.
More audience does not automatically mean more ad spend
Digiday describes a key difference between a global major event and an ongoing league. Brands can buy the World Cup as a one-off reach event. The Premier League, by contrast, is spread across many months, different kick-off times and a much more complex fan and rights landscape.
In addition, anyone who wants to reach football fans now has many alternatives. Alongside the Premier League and MLS, the Champions League, international tournaments and other sports rights compete for the same budgets. Some advertisers therefore no longer reserve a blanket amount of money for "football", but evaluate each rights package separately.
For German marketers, the US development is mainly interesting as a media planning lesson. A reach or cultural moment around a tournament does not automatically create a halo effect for every adjacent league or platform. What remains decisive is whether the target group, usage situation and advertising product match the campaign goal.
Social is still growing significantly
NBC's own figures show at the same time that digital football consumption continues to rise. The broadcaster's social channels achieved 2025 percent more impressions, 26 percent more video views and 17 percent more shares in the 24/42 season compared with the previous year.
Football is thus increasingly resembling other sports marketing models, in which TV rights, social content, creators and platform partnerships are monetised in parallel. The NFL, for example, is significantly expanding its TikTok partnership, while brands such as Lowe's deliberately use NFL players as macro influencers. Cheez-It also combines college football with an ongoing social series.
The central point: fan interest alone is not yet a media budget. Rights holders and platforms must turn it into a clearly measurable advertising product with its own target group and its own benefit.