Among the many micro-controversies at play in the lead-up to this summer’s World Cup centers on the mid-half mandatory hydration breaks FIFA has implemented for the tournament. (Most World Cup-related controversies qualify as “micro” following 2022 in Qatar.)
The decision by FIFA to mandate these breaks can at least be spun as being in the interest of player welfare. Some World Cup sites will undoubtedly face sweltering heat in the next month-and-change, and there’s no sense in forcing athletes to go without water for 45 minutes at a time.
The controversy stems from the commercial opportunity these three-minute hydration breaks offer broadcasters. In March, FIFA announced it would allow broadcasters to sell advertising during these breaks, so long as they conformed to FIFA’s guidelines. There must be a 20-second buffer between when the whistle blows for a hydration break and the start of advertising, and networks must return to coverage at least 30 seconds before play restarts. That leaves two minutes and 10 seconds per half that broadcasters could hypothetically sell advertising for.
According to a report by Austin Karp in Sports Business Journal, Fox will deploy “some full-screen commercials and promos during the hydration breaks,” while using editorial judgment to determine when to continue game coverage. When staying on the field, Fox could opt to do a split-screen between an on-field camera and a camera for their commentators in the booth.
It’s unprecedented in the sport of soccer, which is famously inhospitable to advertisers, to show advertising mid-game. But that type of commercial real estate doesn’t grow on trees. In fact, FIFA arguably just opened up the most valuable advertising inventory ever created in the sport. Networks, if they sold each 30-second spot available during the hydration breaks of every game at this World Cup, could air 832 commercials that would not have existed at any prior World Cup. It doesn’t take a mathematician to understand that’s a lot of potential dough for broadcasters.
And while Fox is taking advantage of the new World Cup windfall, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language broadcaster in the United States, is taking the opposite approach. The network revealed last week that it would not air any advertising during the three-minute hydration breaks, telling Sports Business Journal, “Our goal is to create an authentic World Cup viewing experience. We think we can do that in a lot of ways, and one of the most impactful ways is by never leaving the pitch once the clock starts running.”
Clearly, the two networks have differing philosophies when it comes to game presentation, and whether a mid-game commercial break takes away from the viewing experience to the point where whatever financial incentive isn’t worth the headache.
Fox is paying a reported $485 million for this year’s World Cup, perhaps two- or three-times under market value according to some industry experts. Even without the extra ad load, the network is positioned to make an obscene amount of money from broadcasting the tournament.
We’ll see how intrusive these commercials become throughout the course of the 104-match tournament.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.