American Football is in danger on all fronts. From a legal standpoint, concussion and injury related lawsuits are putting pee-wee, high school and college team participation in jeopardy. From a demographic position, less and less people in the United States are playing the game. In cities such as Washington and San Francisco, larger and larger audiences are tuning in, not to watch the Redskins or 49ers but to watch Manchester United and FC Barcelona. In 25 years, American Football may no long exist while Fútbol will likely have conquered the world…..including America. Advertisers are starting to take notice.

Once a year in the United States and in a few other countries, friends and family gather to watch two American football teams battle for the opportunity to call themselves ‘world champions’. The Super Bowl, which includes a regulation length, 60 minute game, often lasts over three hours. During the extra 2 hours of coverage, television audiences enjoy an array of clever and entertaining advertisements. Brands pay a handsome premium to be part of the spectacle. You can see from this graph how much ($millions), on average, companies paid over the last few years per 30 second advertisement slot during the game:

In 2014, companies spent almost $300 million on commercials during the Super Bowl and several brands invested over 30% of their yearly marketing budget on just one 30 second commercial. However, there is another sporting event that far and away eclipses the American Super Bowl both in terms of audience and ad dollars spent. The FIFA World Cup.

To put the comparison in perspective, approximately 1 billion people watched the 2014 World Cup final compared to 111 million people who watched the 2014 Super Bowl. Marketers spent over $4 billion dollars globally on television advertisements during the World Cup and another $1.7 billion on other forms of marketing and sponsorship. The final match generated almost 4X as much ad revenue as the Super Bowl. Companies with global aspirations may CHOOSE to advertise during the Super Bowl but they HAVE to advertise at the World Cup. It is the single best advertising moment to reach the largest and most heterogeneous audience on offer. Here is a sample of how television audiences from different countries engaged with the grand finale of the Cup:

Germany: an all-time-high audience of 41.89 million viewers tuned in to watch their national team with the World Cup. An additional 12 million cheered the game in a public space.

United Kingdom: 21 million households tuned in for the World Cup final.

Argentina: 75% of the country watched their national team being defeated by Germany in the finals.

Poland: The final achieved the biggest Polish TV audience in nearly 2 years with 64% of household watching the game.

China: Over 150 million people watched the final match between Argentina and Germany despite taking place in the middle of the night in Beijing and Shanghai.

Looking at the brand value of individual players, you only need to do a dollar-to-dollar comparison of the top stars from each respective sport. Take Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona/Argentina) and Peyton Manning (Denver Broncos) for example:

So if your company has global aspirations, which sport would you spend more ad dollars on…Football or Fútbol? While many companies have caught on to the trend, the cost per 30 second slot (as identified above) has not adjusted accordingly. Despite larger appeal to global audiences and mega stars such as Lionel Messi, the average 30 second ad during the 2014 World Cup sold at 55% of the cost of a comparative Super Bowl ad (price/per 1,000 viewers). While not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, these figures demonstrate significant growth opportunities for global brands at discounted prices for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Check out some of the brands that advertise and sponsored the 2014 World Cup and 2014 Super Bowl:

Justin Kersey is Co-founder of Cake Cause Marketing, a digital cause marketing and advertising platform for nonprofits and businesses. Cake leverages communities of nonprofit members, followers and fans to drive sponsorship deals with companies that align social objectives with business, financial and marketing goals.