Key Takeaways:
- The 2026 World Cup’s unprecedented scale requires rights holders to build continuous, multi-platform content ecosystems.
- Modern coverage extends beyond live broadcasts, with creators, social platforms, and personalized journeys shaping fan engagement.
- AI-powered content creation platforms enable rights holders to scale real-time, multi-format storytelling across every touchpoint and sustain a 24/7 operation.
This year’s World Cup will be the biggest-ever edition of the global showcase. It will feature 48 teams – 50% more than in the previous format, which was in place from 1998 to 2022. The 32-team tournaments had 64 total matches; the 2026 World Cup will see 104 matches in 39 days. And for the first time, the event will be staged in three host countries (the United States, Canada, and Mexico), making it the largest in terms of sheer physical size.
The size of the 2026 World Cup forced FIFA and Host Broadcast Services (HBS), its long-term host broadcasting partner, to adjust their production plans. The biggest change was the creation of 16 discrete production teams for the tournament’s 16 venues. “We need more crews, because we need to minimize the risk of people travelling across big countries like the US, Canada, or Mexico,” explained Oscar Sanchez, head of host broadcast production at FIFA.
The camera plan is just as comprehensive. There will be premium coverage for all 104 matches, with 45 cameras per match, and things will step up in the round of 32 with additional ultra-motion and super-slow motion cameras. “We don’t just put the broadcast cameras in; we put all of the ones that are going to be creating content, because content comes in so many different ways,” said Paul King, senior producer at HBS.
The Multi-Platform World Cup
World Cup content not only comes in different ways; it’s also consumed through multiple channels. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar, for example, engaged 5 billion fans worldwide across linear TV, streaming services, social media, and FIFA’s owned platforms, according to an official global engagement & audience report. Additional findings included:
- There were 24.41 billion total video views across all platforms during the 2022 WC. 67.6% (16.50 billion) were registered on streaming services, with the remaining 32.4% (7.91 billion) coming from social media.
- FIFA’s social media channels recorded 3.6 billion total video views throughout the tournament.
- The final between Argentina and France drew 1.42 billion viewers globally, the most ever.
- The average global live audience for individual matches was 175 million viewers.
The 2026 World Cup could dwarf these numbers.
“This (tournament) will be even bigger because we will have six billion people watching it,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino. “Look at the Super Bowl, which is fantastic. It has what, 120 million-130 million viewers, right? A World Cup is 104 Super Bowls in one month, which is three Super Bowls a day.”
Building Continuous Narratives
Just like in the Super Bowl, World Cup games are only one part of a much longer story arc. To tell this story effectively, said Dan Holt, strategy partner at media experience agency Havas Media Network, rights holders must understand that “the World Cup match will be the base layer. Meaning will be assembled elsewhere, across social feeds, watch-alongs, creator commentary, group chats, memes, and remixes.”
Some rights holders are already embracing this approach. DAZN, for instance, recently launched DAZN48, a squad of 48 creators who will serve as the streaming giant’s correspondents for the tournament. Each selected creator will represent one participating nation, publishing social‑first content, daily reactions, and cultural storytelling for a global audience across DAZN and social platforms.
To ensure audiences can experience the World Cup from every angle, FIFA announced that YouTube will be a “preferred platform” for the tournament. As part of the partnership, media partners will be able to access a robust library of footage, including the opportunity to publish extended highlights, behind-the-scenes footage, Shorts and video-on-demand content that resonates with viewers on YouTube to extend their overall reach and engagement.
One of the key factors in driving engagement for this World Cup, note industry leaders, will be the user journeys. “What we’ve been doing is trying to understand the types of content people want at different times of the day,” said Andrew Haigh, executive editor at BBC Sport. “Obviously, live is always our number 1 priority, but what we’re also thinking about is after live, especially when people wake up in the morning.
“How are we helping people catch up with highlights and different types of experiences, because quite a lot of people may not stay up and watch the later games. And then, throughout the day, you’re going from catch-up to deeper analysis, into some of the debates, press conferences, before you get to the early evening, where you’re trying to build excitement into that live experience again. So it really is a 24/7 operation.”
Executing such an operation requires the right infrastructure. AI-powered content creation platforms instantly turn live action, behind-the-scenes moments and creator footage into platform-ready assets. Just as importantly, they help sustain momentum through short-form content that keeps fans engaged throughout the day. In a World Cup defined by scale, success will depend on technology capable of making the content playbook scalable, too.
Actionable Insights:
- Build content plans around the full fan journey, including pre-match hype, live reactions, overnight catch-up, and post-match analysis.
- Create platform-specific workflows for creators, YouTube, Shorts, and social feeds instead of repurposing the same asset everywhere.
- Use AI-powered automation to rapidly turn live moments into multi-format clips that keep narratives active between matches.
