July 15, 2026 | SIGN UP
Ronan Shields
SENIOR REPORTER, AD TECH
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is reaching its climax, reinforcing soccer's commercial rise in the U.S., offering advertisers one of the few remaining opportunities to reach mass live TV audiences.
However, this booming demand for premium sports inventory, particularly in connected TV, is also exposing weaknesses in the advertising supply chain, according to Digiday Sources.
While sports continue as one of the last bastions of live TV audiences, the scarcity of live sports inventory has created opportunities for unauthorized resellers to market inventory that appears legitimate but may lack rights-holder authorization.
The issue was also raised as the Trustworthy Accountability Group said it blocked ad spend across more than 1,300 piracy sites illegally streaming World Cup matches, highlighting broader concerns over ad dollars funding unauthorized content.
Executives said buyers
should verify not only whether impressions are genuine, but also whether sports inventory originates from authorized rights holders before committing media budgets.
However, the rush to fill I/Os may mean this is all overlooked.
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