By Brad Rees, CEO, Mediacells
If you’d have told my 18-year-old Manchester Hacienda self that in 2026 I would be watching a World Cup final half time performance of New York pop goddess Madonna, delivered from a golf cart, driven by Brazilian football legends Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, I would have probably asked a raving Andy Burnham to pinch me.
The FIFA World Cup 2026 ™ has had a lot of ‘pinch me’ moments but one thing we don’t need to be checked for is how huge the appeal of World Cup football events has been to billions of us across the globe.
There are many bellwethers measuring the success of this World Cup; 6 billion people ‘expected’ to have engaged in it, nearly 7 million fans attending 104 matches in 16 stadiums – but the true success metric is more difficult to measure; how many kids are in the park, street, back garden practising Lamine Yamal’s Cut n Curl or his no-look pass.
The official global engagement and audience report will be available in due course with all previous World Cup engagement metrics ‘smashed’, according to FIFA.
The traditional benchmark of success, which sponsors and broadcasters crave, is the vanity metric; that huge number that justifies advertising spend.
In 2022 the ‘total media engagement’ was 5 billion and in 2026 it is set to go up to 6 billion. The metric breaks down as people watching live, features, highlights or curated coverage on any device, platform, location.
Another human success metric is how many of the actual World Cup final audience were from the States, particularly as the USA weren’t in it.
The answer is positive, nearly 63 million Americans tuned in to watch Spain beat Argentina in the FIFA World Cup final.
Fox’s English-language broadcast attracted 38.9 million viewers while Comcast’s Telemundo TV network and the Peacock streaming platform converted another 23.9 million viewers.
A combined audience that has effortlessly surpassed the 22.3 million US viewers who watched the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar.
To put the numbers in the context of the US sports experience, England v Mexico attracted nearly 45 million viewers, well above the 27 million who watched Game 7 of Major League Baseball’s World Series when the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays.
But let’s not get too carried away with the popularity of the beautiful game in US mindshare.
The American Football Super Bowl LX, when the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots, attracted nearly 126 million viewers, meaning that the game played mostly with the feet still probably registers as Soccer in the American psyche.
Events and trends off the pitch can often immortalise the tournament. The viral trend of animal soothsayers, started during the 2010 World Cup with Paul the Octopus. The tradition continued well into the 2018 tournament when Russia used a deaf white cat named Achilles to predict matches using flag-marked food bowls.
Viral fan celebrations and absurdist memes can often depict tournament longevity. In 2010 the “Waka Waka” Craze based on Shakira’s official 2010 World Cup anthem Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) turned into a viral dance craze, inspiring millions of fan dance videos.
Iceland’s Viking Clap was a big hit originally at UEFA Euro 2016 and then FIFA World Cup 2018 Russia. It now firmly slaps as an iconic, synchronised, slow-clapping, booming “Hú!” chant and is arguably the most viral crowd celebration of modern world football.
FIFA World Cup 2026 has stimulated imaginations and ignited passions across a range of off-the-pitch micro events, ranging from the supercute to the downright bizarre. Let’s go through some of them.
Baby Yamal is not an AI-generated piece of nonsense, he’s actually Lamine’s younger brother, Keyne, who stole hearts and minds while cheering his big brother on from the stands, securing 3-year-old Keyne superstardom in Spanish-speaking social media right up to the final whistle of the final.
Harry Kane’s voicebox was done in after the now-legendary battle at the Azteca with World Cup hosts Mexico.
His cooked rendition of Oasis’s Wonderwall reduced the striker’s voice to a pipsqueak, moving Liam Gallagher to comment that it is “hard work” to sing “Wonderwall” in a big stadium atmosphere.
From the usually demure BBC Sports TV studio couch came Wayne Rooney’s blunt verdict on the World Cup final halftime show.
The Coldplay-curated mega-celebrity mash-up was watched by Wayne from his pew at the New York/New Jersey Stadium.
He offered an uncharacteristically articulate, blunt assessment of Chris Martin’s big halftime extravaganza, summing up the show in just one word.
Elsewhere, the tartan army invaded Boston, making it their adoptive home for their three appearances at the World Cup. The bagpipe march of Scotland fans to Fenway Park went viral and left a fleeting impression on Instagram but a lasting one on the entire city of Boston and its residents, apparently quadrupling the takings of every bar, pub and club in the Boston metropolis.
But the biggest viral star by far was a duck called Merlin who sported a full El Tri replica football kit, complete with matching boots, custom made to fit his webbed feet.
Merlin was soon adopted as the unofficial mascot of the tournament, appearing in interviews, generating merchandise offshoots, taking penalties attending games and even winning a personal meet-and-greet with the Mexico President.
The all-Latin 2026 final between Spain and Argentina paves the way for the 2030 World Cup edition.
It will be co-hosted by Morocco, Portugal and Spain with matches also played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
There are serious discussions ongoing as to whether the qualifying team list can extend to 64.
The increase in teams in the tournament would engage more viewers from China, India and parts of Africa, creating new broadcast and digital audiences, not to mention revenues.
Whether the, as yet unconfirmed, move would engage more than 72% of the world’s population, the current official forecast for 2026, is open to debate.
