Big global events like the Fifa World Cup create unmatched opportunities for brands to gain relevance and share of voice when audiences are most engaged. A 2024 survey indicated that 81% of South Africans express interest in football and watch the Fifa World Cup on TV or digital platforms, making it the biggest sporting moment in the market. But showing up isn’t enough. To truly win, brands must stand out and connect with audiences in the right place, at the right time.
Powered by Vicinity Media’s first party location data, collected over more than a decade across premium publisher and brand environments, Vicinity Media has built one of the most robust behavioural datasets in the market. Users opt in to share their location on trusted publisher sites such as News24, TimesLIVE, Soccer Laduma, and BusinessLIVE, enabling Vicinity Media to continuously build rich audience profiles based on real-world movement, browsing behaviour and contextual engagement.
While many marketers still rely on survey-based research where consumers report their behaviour, these insights are often based on what people say rather than what they actually do. Vicinity Media’s dataset is significantly larger, 300 million data points captured monthly, and built from real observed signals rather than survey responses.
This allows Vicinity Media to understand how audiences move between digital environments and physical locations over time. The result is a living, constantly expanding audience ecosystem that allows brands to move beyond broad or demographic targeting and instead reach a more intentional audience profile.
Own every screen. Dominate every fan zone
World Cup moments don’t live on one screen. With dynamic omnichannel capabilities, brands can connect with users on mobile and extend campaigns to DOOH screens within the same geofences, reaching audiences near fan parks, sports bars, retail hubs, and commuter routes.
With our Occasion IQ solution, brands can map key Fifa World Cup hotspots and match them to their ideal audience segments, ensuring contextual relevance when it matters most.
Furthermore, Vicinity Media’s dynamic omnichannel technology empowers brands to create experiences as dynamic as the tournament itself. Through its Game-On technology, brands can serve campaigns that are integrated with Vicinity Media’s live-score API feed, on DOOH and mobile, delivering real-time match updates across the build-up, group stages, knockouts, and finals.
This means brands can create real-life engaging experiences throughout the tournament with countdown kick-offs, interactive gamified penalties and live score triggers, ensuring brands remain relevant, engaging, and in sync with every match moment.
Measure the roar. Optimise the win
Exciting creative is powerful, but measurable performance is essential. All user engagements are measured through Vicinity Media’s global first Omnichannel Analytics™ dashboard, tracking website, search and store visit uplifts and cross-channel impact benchmarked against brand and industry performance. With real-time optimisation, brands can refine audiences, prioritise high-performing screens and maximise ROI.
The World Cup is more than an event, it’s a cultural moment. With Vicinity Media’s advanced targeting, dynamic omnichannel execution and measurable insights, brands don’t just run campaigns around the World Cup – they win it.
#Omnichannel #DOOH #Programmatic #Fifa2026 #RetailMedia #LocationIntelligence #MarketingStrategy
Around the World: The Sports Market in South Africa.
