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As Qatar prepares to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup scheduled between 21 November and 18 December, a section of brands has chosen to stay away from the big sports tournament troubled by worker abuse and human rights issues prevailing in the host nation.

For instance, ING, an international financial services and banking group that sponsors the Netherlands and Belgium national teams, insisted it will not use World Cup imagery in its advertisements and it will not send representatives to Qatar. Several other partners of the Dutch and Belgian teams also issued statements outlining their plans to ignore what would in normal circumstances be a major marketing platform.

To be sure, brands such as Adidas, Coca-Cola and Hyundai/Kia are global partners with FIFA. Meanwhile, edtech major Byju’s also joined the big league by announcing FIFA sponsorship in March. However, none of these brands have openly taken a stand on the humanitarian crisis at Qatar.

Byju’s declined to comment on the issue.

Sports marketing and advertising executives believe that while globally FIFA might have to face soft boycott from a section of brands, in India there might not be much pushback as a select few brands associate themselves with the tournament.

[caption id="attachment_761" align="alignnone" width="1201"]<img class="size-full wp-image-761" src="https://images.storyboard18.com/storyboard18/FIFA-edited.png" alt="Qatar &amp; FIFA World Cup 2022" width="1201" height="1201" /> Qatar &amp; FIFA World Cup 2022: Snapshot of sponsors and their stance[/caption]

Limited brands associations

“I’m not aware of any Indian brands backing out because of humanitarian concerns from any global sports properties so far. There haven’t been too many Indian brands in the first place that have been associated with global properties. It’s happening now with firms like Byju’s and a couple of others around the World Cup,” says a senior sports marketing executive requesting anonymity.

The executive emphasises that the boycott, if it happens, will be mostly done by international firms.

“I don’t see that happening around the FIFA World Cup primarily because it’s such a big property. In terms of humanitarian grounds, most brands would look at pressing and time bound issues such as a war, climate change which are constantly in the news. The Qatar humanitarian issue is an ongoing crisis so it is a lot more difficult to take a stand. Scandinavia human rights is treated as a big issue hence brands there taking a stand is no surprise,” the executive adds.

Legally not binding

In India, humanitarian issues do not always find their way into sports contracts, says Mathew Chacko, Partner, Spice Route Legal.

“However, it is merely a matter of time before Indian corporations that sponsor sports events start using their leverage to require organizers to contribute to the betterment of work / living / environmental standards,” he adds.

“In terms of sports contracts, there are no grounds to back out from a sponsorship; they can choose not to be a part of the event but they will have to pay the fee. We saw brands doing that during the Winter Games in China,” notes sports marketing executive quoted above.

Limited local advertiser interest

Undoubtedly, the FIFA World Cup is a massive sports property in terms of sponsorship and viewership. For instance, the last edition of the World Cup held in Russia garnered over 3.5 billion viewers. However, in cricket obsessed nations like India there’s limited interest in the tournament garnering viewers from selected markets.

As per BARC India’s data, FIFA World Cup 2018 managed to get a total of 111 million unique viewers and 231 million impressions. The viewership was high particularly in the regional centres. Kerala, Assam, North-east, Sikkim and West Bengal together contributed to 81 per cent of the total viewership for FIFA World Cup 2018.

This is in sharp contrast to IPL 2018 viewership where Star Sports Network with 17 channels managed to get 448 million unique viewers, the impressions of which comes up to 1.4 billion.

Although football’s viewership is increasing each year but the advertiser interest in it remains limited and this year the tournament will happen post Diwali so the interest will be impacted, says Dinesh Singh Rathore, CEO, Madison Omega.

“There is limited inventory to sell in FIFA matches (during mid-break, pre-break and post the match). Unlike cricket and tennis, there’s no live inventory to be sold. Thankfully, it is being held in Qatar so matches will be suitable for Indian audiences however there are only a set of brands that associate with football. Some of them are sponsors with FIFA and have a long standing association with leagues across Europe and they will continue to capitalise on it,” he concludes.

While FIFA might face pushback in terms of soft boycott by global firms, the ripple effect, it seems, is unlikely to be felt in India where football advertising is yet to reach a massive scale.

Will Qatar’s humanitarian crisis impact FIFA World Cup sponsorship?

Advertising in India is set to grow at 16 percent in 2022, led by key sporting events and elections, said a report by Dentsu International. At 16 percent growth, India will stay ahead of the US - projected to grow at 12.8 percent, according to the report - and Brazil (9 percent) as the fastest growing market.

According to the most recent Dentsu Global Ad Spend Forecasts, India is predicted to have an increase in advertising spending of 15.2 percent in 2023 and 15.7 percent in 2024.

Globally, advertising spending would increase by 8.7 percent in 2022. Ad spending in Asia-Pacific is anticipated to reach $250 billion, with digital accounting for much of this amount. Forecast indicates that the Asia-Pacific advertising market will increase by 3.9 percent to reach $259.7 billion in 2023 and a further 4.7 percent in 2024. Looking ahead, Dentsu expects the 2023 global advertising market to increase by 5.4 percent to reach $778.6 billion followed by a further 5.1 percent increase in 2024.

The overall ad spend growth in Asia-Pacific is boosted by key sporting events such as Indian Premier League, FIFA World Cup, Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and country elections in Australia and India.

Prerna Mehrotra, CEO Media APAC, Dentsu international, said that this year, India (+16 percent), Malaysia (+11 percent) and Hong Kong (+10 percent) have all achieved double-digit growth.

“Digital continues to drive growth accounting for 60.7 percent of all spending in Asia-Pacific with social, video and search predicted to lead digital growth. Advertisers increase focus and resources into e-commerce, display, and search budgets to respond to the new consumption habits. Use of first party data to identify the most profitable customers, combined with third-party data to target the prospects in the most efficient channels will help drive efficiency and manage costs,” she notes.

Meanwhile, the report stated that forecasted spending on advertising in China is expected to rise by 4 percent in 2023 and 5.4 percent the following year.

The reforecast of media investment is released in the context of escalating media price inflation, geopolitical tension, upcoming key elections, and one of the most anticipated global sports events of the year, the FIFA World Cup. Due to continued uncertainty, the current and historical comparison data has also been adjusted to remove Russian investment from the forecast, to better reflect the rest of the international ad spend trends and predictions.

The report said that digital continues to be the powerhouse driving APAC ad spend, as the fastest growing medium at 11.5 percent to reach $151.7 billion, a 60.7 percent share of total ad spend. Fuelling this is the double-digit growth of Programmatic (32.3 percent), Paid Social (27.4 percent), and digital display (13.3 percent) in 2022. In SEA, TV spend is still significant, with the largest share (57.2 percent) of total SEA spend (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam), and a growth rate of 4.6 percent.

Globally, Out-of-Home (OOH) and cinema will both see encouraging double-digit growth in 2022 (respectively 11.5 percent and 19.6 percent). Radio is also forecast to grow, much faster than initially considered with a new reforecast of 5 percent for the year, up from 2 percent in the January predictions – which is mainly due to faster return to office working. As with previous predictions, ad spend in newspapers and magazines will continue to decline.

In 2022, the Americas will be the top ad spend region at $329.6 billion and the most dynamic with spend increasing by 13.1 percent. India at 16 percent growth will stay ahead of the US at 12.8 percent and Brazil at 9 percent as the fastest growing market.

Industry wise globally, the greatest growth is forecast for the technology sector (+11.3 percent), which has benefited from people’s greater reliance on digital devices. Retail is one of the key sectors of spend growth at a rate of 11 percent in 2022. The sector is driven by a number of factors including the significant growth of e-commerce, the entry of new players, and the introduction of emerging retail platforms. In Asia-Pacific, technology, automotive and cosmetics and personal care are among the fastest growing sectors.

Peter Huijboom, global CEO, Media and global clients, Dentsu international said that even with everything which has happened in recent months, not least the protracted war in Ukraine and its international repercussions, the advertising recovery remains strong on a global scale.

“And, despite factors such as inflation putting pressure on household budgets, combined with 2021 being a tough comparative year, we have only marginally revised down our 2022 global growth forecast by just 0.4 percentage points. Despite global economic uncertainty, brands are continuing to prioritise their spend in channels which will give them both the digital-flexibility and return they seek,” he adds.

FIFA WORLD CUP 2022