The 48-team 2026 FIFA World Cup will take place in the USA, Canada and Mexico. It will get underway on June 11. (AP)
New Delhi: What’s common to India, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka? With less than two months to go, none of them has an official broadcaster to showcase the 2026 FIFA World Cup, scheduled to kick off on June 11.The upcoming extravaganza will feature 48 countries and 104 matches, and it will be played across the USA, Canada and Mexico. The biggest sporting event in the world will transfix billions, including those who don’t watch any football between these four years.
India and China, the two most populous countries, however, could miss out entirely if things don’t change quickly.FIFA launched the process to sell media rights for the next two Men’s FIFA World Cups and the 2027 FIFA Women’s Cup in India in July 2025. The initial asking price of $100 million was reportedly slashed drastically to $35 million, yet no buyers came forward.Viacom18, now part of the JioStar fold, paid $62 million for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. In 2013, Sony Sports spent $90 million on the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, the 2016 Euros, the 2017 U-17 World Cup and the Confederation Cup that same year.The merger of Star India and Viacom18 has been attributed as one reason for fewer players in the market. Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI), which holds rights to the Euros, the UEFA Champions League and multiple other football events, has stayed away. A strong dollar against the Indian rupee has been another reason for the cautious outlook.
File photo of the FIFA World Cup trophy. (ANI)
Arguably, the biggest reason is the timing of the matches. The opening fixture, between Mexico and South Africa in Mexico City, will begin at 12:30 am. Only 14 of the overall 104 matches in the upcoming World Cup will begin before midnight in India. Even the final, to be played on July 19 at the New Jersey Stadium, will kick-off at 12:30 am. In 2022 (Qatar), 44 of the 64 matches started before midnight and 63 of 64 in 2018 (Russia).“The timings are odd. US timings will be tough for India. When we [Ten Sports] had rights for West Indies Cricket, people watched highlights more than they watched live matches,” said Neeraj Jha, Head of Sports Business for India and South Asia at Warner Bros. Discovery.The timing of matches makes a big difference. The advertising inventory is limited in football due to fewer stoppages, unlike cricket. Although FIFA have created slots for broadcasters with mandatory three-minute hydration breaks in both halves. In India, where sports broadcasting relies heavily on advertising, not subscriptions, it is an added opportunity.Viewers in the UK get the World Cup on BBC and ITV as free-to-air options, but it’s part of their tax structure. In the US, the World Cup broadcast will cost at least $19.99 on Fox One. In comparison, the 2022 World Cup in India was broadcast for free on JioCinema and for Rs 12 on Sports18 HD. Not surprisingly, linear TV viewers shifted to digital, and ad revenue followed.
The drop is largely because of cricket. It is a function of how the brands want to spend. Brands want to spend where the eyeballs are, and eyeballs are currently on cricket
Rohit Potphode
“India is a low ARPU (Average Revenue per user) market for sports, gaming and anywhere with an upfront subscription. The drop is largely because of cricket’s dominance. It is a function of how the brands want to spend. Brands want to spend where the eyeballs are, and eyeballs are currently on cricket,” said Rohit Potphode, the Managing Partner – Sports, Gaming, eSports & Live Experiences at Dentsu India.“The kick-off times are the major barrier, especially when it comes to audiences. The purists and the crazy ones still log in, but not everybody.“Plus, the (Lionel) Messi – (Cristiano) Ronaldo era seems to have faded a bit. In India, AIFF is recalibrating. So, that is affecting the trade side of things, not the audience side. So these are multiple reasons from the consumer or the trade side,” he explained.Decline in non-cricket spends
An artisan paints a clay model of FIFA World Cup trophy at his workshop, ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Kolkata. (PTI Photo)
Was the writing on the wall, though? WPP Media’s India Sports Sponsorship Report 2025 stated that the sports industry had doubled from 2021 to 2025, but the non-cricket market was worth just 11%.It doesn’t help that the upcoming FIFA World Cup comes less than two weeks after the IPL concludes. By then, many brands exhaust their advertising spends on sports.The English Premier League rights were sold for $145 million for three seasons between 2013 and 2016. The latest rights, for 2025-28, however, were sold for $65 million, a 55.17% decline. LaLiga broadcast rights have bounced off multiple services before landing on Dream11-owned FanCode.
Argentina’s football team fans before the FIFA World Cup 2022 final match between Argentina and France in Kolkata. (PTI Photo)
All said and done, is India’s absence a big blow to FIFA? In 2024, FIFA budgeted $3.9 billion as revenue from broadcast rights of the 2026 edition. If $35 million is the going rate for the region, it amounts to less than one percent of the overall coffers.The impact, though, is on the long-term approach, the reach, and the exposure of the product. “They’re [FIFA] not looking just this year, the next year or the year after that; they’re looking at a 10-year horizon,” said Rohit Potphode.“There might be a potential loss of funds or revenue in the short term. But this is not affecting the bottom line. They are in the green. Money is not a concern. It is about staying strong and building it out for the next 10 years instead of just seeing the next few years,” he continued.What next?
File photo of a broadcast television camera during a Championship match between Bristol City and Watford. (Getty Images)
Potphode explained that FIFA has no intention of underselling its properties and is “absolutely sorted” as far as commercial ambitions are concerned.“They already have FIFA+ as a direct-to-consumer platform, so worst-case scenario, they will go there. But they are very clear that they do not want to dilute the value or the equity that they have built in the market in the last couple of years,” explained Dentsu’s Potphode, an organisation that has the comprehensive media rights mandate for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Japan.Last Friday was the deadline for the final bid or offer, but an extension is not out of the realm of possibility. However, with months turning into weeks before the tournament, any potential broadcaster needs time to finalise the deal and create assets for marketing. Anything later than a week would not make any marketing sense.An industry insider believes JioStar is the prime contender to pick up the rights and is waiting until the final moment when the price seems right. “Their distribution is good, and a lot of money could come through that route. Their streaming business is also strong, so it makes business sense for them,” explained an industry veteran.
India are yet to get a broadcaster for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. (Image created by AI)
A last-ditch Hail Mary involves Doordarshan, the public broadcaster, which broadcast the 1998 World Cup, played in France.For that to happen, a primary broadcaster needs to step in to share rights. It also remains unclear how an entire FIFA World Cup, not involving India, would constitute a sporting event of national importance, which is necessary under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act. At best, the semi-finals and final could be shared.As things stand, India doesn’t have an official broadcaster to showcase the biggest spectacle on the planet. But it is not all gloom; it could change very soon.
