As FIFA Club World Cup observers fret about ticket sales, Warner Bros. Discovery shares no such concerns about the event’s ads.
TNT Sports has partnered with DAZN on a sublicense for English-language coverage of the event, broadcasting 24 matches on its TNT, TBS, and TruTV channels—with all 63 matches streamed on DAZN from June 14 through July 13.
According to Jon Diament, WBD’s evp of ad sales, ad inventory for the TNT Sports slate of matches is “virtually sold out” heading into its June 14 kickoff between Lionel Messi’s Major League Soccer (MLS) side Inter Miami and Egyptian Premier League team Al Alhy at 8 p.m. ET on TBS.
“The upfront had a lot of live sports increases, and the second quarter of this year has just been terrific,” Diament said. “I think if you’re an advertiser, you’re looking for reach, engagement, the live nature of sports, multiplatform—all those things keep reiterating the value of live sports in the second quarter, and that got us into a sellout position.”
Diament mentioned that TNT Sports already strong ad sales during the quarter from college basketball’s March Madness, both the NHL and NBA playoffs, and the company’s inaugural domestic broadcast of the French Open at Roland-Garros, which not only sold out its ad inventory but saw a 25% increase in viewership from a year earlier.
Some of that second-quarter success came from official partners of professional leagues gravitating toward playoff season, Diament noted, but also from strong scatter demand for live sports. For TNT Sports’ Club World Cup coverage, for example, ad inventory was picked up by FIFA partners including Visa, Bank of America, and Michelob Ultra—which sponsors post-match coverage and the Superior Player of the Match—but also by other brands including Vanda Pharmaceuticals (halftime and half highlights), DraftKings (pregame odds and promo), Verizon (studio club profiles), Lowe’s, Apple, Heinken, Adidas, Nike, Starbucks, Amica, JP Morgan Chase, and even Mas+ by Messi.
“Most of the FIFA sponsors took advantage of the new tournament,” Diament said. “We have a combination of official partners, but also, because we’re TNT Sports and we’re not DAZN or FIFA, we can go to the overall market.”