Fox Corp’s Fox channel is cutting to commercials during the hydration breaks added to the FIFA World Cup for this first time, potentially creating hundreds of new ad spots.
The network, which has the English-language rights to the tournament in the United States, aired four commercials lasting about two minutes in total during a hydration break in the tournament’s first match between Mexico and South Africa. Fox declined to comment.
The hydration break came about 25 minutes into the match, with the announcer saying it was sponsored by Powerade. Then, ads for AT&T, Michelob Ultra, Lowe’s and FanDuel played.
Comcast Corp’s Telemundo, which holds the Spanish-language rights to the World Cup in the US, has said it will not run ads during the hydration breaks. The breaks disrupt the match and are seen by some as a potential money-grab for advertising dollars. During its broadcast of the match, Telemundo didn’t cut away from the action and thanked Coca-Cola for enabling it to stay with the game, while showing players getting hydrated and displaying a Coke banner.
If Fox continues to air commercials during the breaks at this rate, that would open up more than 800 additional spots, with about four commercials per half for each of the 104 matches.
Bloomberg