The news: The FIFA World Cup is turning into a creator-first streaming event, with the Group Stage driving more than 1.1 billion hours of livestreaming globally, per Stream Charts.

• YouTube dominated engagement, accounting for over 94.3% of tracked livestream viewing and pulling in over 1 billion hours alone.
• Brazil emerged as a key market with 994.7 million hours of World Cup-related livestream viewing. South Korea came in second with 42.5 million hours.
• During pre-tournament and Group Stage events, Coca-Cola garnered 103,000 in-chat sponsor mentions across YouTube, Twitch, and Kick. McDonald’s and Hyundai followed with 69,918 and 62,940 mentions, respectively.
• Betting and gambling platform Betano had 23,655 mentions, with most coming from creator campaigns rather than official sponsorship exposure.
• YouTube channel CazéTV led Brazilian World Cup activity on the platform.

What it means: Brands are gaining premium live inventory outside of traditional TV ecosystems as platforms like YouTube—and the creators operating on it—become a primary digital destination for global sports audiences. The additional success of influencer channels like CazéTV proves that creator-led broadcasts can attract large audiences, giving brands new premium inventory outside linear TV.

Licensing could also be determining audience behavior. Countries that have public-platform streaming—like Brazil and South Korea—have significantly different viewing behavior than markets like the US or Argentina, where rights remain more locked up.

• Nearly all (98.6%) content was licensed in Brazil and two-thirds in South Korea, while 100% of content in the US and Argentina was community and creator content.
• With streaming audiences following content wherever rights are available, the US largely generated commentary and watch-along audiences, boosting ad opportunities for second-screen users.

Betano’s surge in chat mentions from affiliate creator campaigns serves as a reminder that the World Cup has multiple ad layers—ranging from major brand sponsorship deals to in-chat livestream ads—and that brands don’t have to own major media rights or advertise on linear TV to participate in events like the World Cup.

Implications for marketers: Live sports are being distributed, monetized, and measured through creator ecosystems and social platforms like YouTube, opening new doors for advertisers.

As global media rights become more fragmented, marketers should build flexible event strategies that account for where audiences are actually watching in each market and diversify across touchpoints, rather than focusing spend on expensive corporate sponsorships or in-game ads.

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