By the time the FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11, 2026, we’ll have the next Knives Out mystery. We’ll (probably) know TikTok’s fate in the US. We might even have the next Rihanna album.

In other words, next June may seem far off—but that’s not stopping Telemundo from rolling out its World Cup marketing now to promote that the Spanish-language broadcast of the competition will air on the network. (Fox has the rights to the English-language broadcast.) As interest in watching live sports continues to explode, the NBCU-owned network is upping the ante on its World Cup promotional efforts a year in advance to help build buzz for the tournament that will be jointly hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico.

It all kicked off last week, one year before the World Cup begins, with a live soccer match held on a floating barge off the coast of Miami, which itself marked the beginning of multiple days of festivities. At Cannes Lions this week, NBCU execs are touting their efforts around the World Cup. And as the tournament gets closer, there will be local marketing, experiential events, and other promotional efforts, including through Telemundo programming, with marketing featured across NBCU platforms to further promote the broadcast.

Planning around the event began over a year ago, Joaquin Duro, Telemundo EVP of sports, said, and the whole operation has been like “building a Lego [set] with 1,000 pieces.”

Continue reading here.—JS

It’s Cannes Lions Day 3! Halfway through. Time flies when you’re drinking rosé by the bottle on the beach.

I think I’m running on about eight hours of sleep total since touching down in France (and my Garmin watch is absolutely furious with me), but the late bedtime was especially worth it last night to catch one of Spotify’s iconic Cannes concerts. Alex Warren, Royel Otis, and sombr put on a great show, so it was worth missing out on some z’s. Sorry, Garmin.

I was back at Spotify Beach by 9am today to chat with a couple of their execs about the company’s partnership with FC Barcelona and some of its latest ad-tech innovations (although to be honest, it was way too early in the morning to hear terms like “programmatic” and “DSP”). Next stop was Stagwell’s Sport Beach, where I camped out for a few hours to listen to Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird do a live taping of their podcast, A Touch More, with Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall. I also heard Mercedes F1 driver (and the most recent winner of the Canadian Grand Prix) George Russell speak about tech and the team’s work with Qualcomm. This just in: George’s hair looks just as incredible in person as it does on TV.

Before that, I caught up with Sebastian Tomich, CCO of The Athletic, who’s been spending his time talking with brand marketers about the publication’s newest products—like The Athletic Peak, a new vertical that covers sports leadership and personal development—and content plans, including for next summer’s FIFA World Cup. While it’s still a year away, some sports execs across media companies, agencies, and brands are already in planning mode.

MVP(s) of the day: Spotify, for taking on first-coffee-provider duty, plus having the most air-conditioned room I’ve ever experienced. Bonus points to Qualcomm CMO Don McGuire and Russell for tossing some autographed hats into the crowd. (I fought someone for one and came out victorious, bringing my combat-sports record to a perfect 2-0.)

Least valuable player: Google Calendar’s Time Insights feature, which is telling me I have 17 hours of meetings and panels on my calendar for the week. That is simply none of my business, Google Calendar. (Also, me, for announcing my deep McLaren fandom yesterday but walking around in a Mercedes hat today.)—AM

Netflix is once again beefing up its ad-tech partnerships.

At Cannes Lions, the streamer announced an integration with Yahoo DSP. Through the partnership, advertisers will be able to buy Netflix inventory through Yahoo DSP in the 12 countries where Netflix operates an ad-supported tier.

It’s the latest integration in a long line of programmatic partnerships that Netflix has struck for its ad-supported tier, which it said last month had 94 million monthly active users. The streamer has preexisting programmatic partnerships with The Trade Desk, Google’s DV360, and Microsoft.

Since Netflix first rolled out its ads tier in 2022, the platform has been steadily building out its capabilities to make the platform more attractive to advertisers. Last year, the platform rolled out an in-house ad-tech stack in Canada, and the tech became available in the US in April; as of this month, it’s rolled out wherever Netflix operates an ads tier.

Read more here.—JS

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