July 23, 2026  |  SIGN UP

Jim Cooper
DIGIDAY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

With the 2026 World Cup now concluded, the game for marketers now switches to analyzing how important creators were to brand efforts around the tournament. The answer seems to be comprehensively so – and set to reshape sports marketing forever.

As we report this morning, creators were given incredible access to games and players while sponsors leveraged their huge audiences to push products to young viewers and fans. A report from Nectar found that 10 out of the top 15 posts by earned media value were creator-led and creator content’s median value was $62,000, more than the value of celebrity-endorsed content, which was $56,000. 

And in terms of engaging younger audiences, stats from Lumen by Talkwalker, show most World Cup conversation drivers were young adults, with those aged 25 to 34 driving the majority (52.4%) of the conversation early in the tournament.

Read more World Cup creator stats in the In Graphic Detail story below.

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