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Credit: Fox, Braylon Breeze on X
For the first week of games at the 2026 World Cup, Fox Sports had implemented full-screen advertisements during mandatory hydration breaks. But for Game 28 between Mexico and South Korea, the network finally relented on their full-court commercial press.
Before the tournament, hydration breaks were the talk of the media world as fans wondered what the networks would do with the opportunity. Would they stay true to the continuous flow of soccer and stick with the action on the field or would they turn the beautiful game into a four quarter affair and max out on commercial revenue?
Stateside broadcasters Fox and Telemundo have taken decidedly different approaches thus far.
While Telemundo resisted the temptation to go to full-screen ads, Fox Sports chose to pull the commercial lever. While the dedicated commercial time could result in hundreds of millions of dollars, it was a disappointment to soccer fans used to a game of halves, not the interruption of opportunistic commercial breaks. It was doubly disappointing because Fox was reported to initially be employing a hybrid model where they would approach each game and opportunity uniquely in deciding to keep coverage on the field or depart for advertising dollars.
Fans had gotten accustomed to full-screen ads throughout the first week of the tournament and it looked like that was the direction we were heading for every contest. But then Fox surprised us all by going to a split-screen ad in the second half of Mexico’s 1-0 victory over South Korea late night on Thursday. The commercials got a larger screen and sound while a smaller picture showed replays, fan reactions, and footage from inside the stadium.
After seeing the side-by-side break… honestly there’s not much of a difference between this and going full-screen. There’s no real advantage to staying with a small, silent picture if it’s just going to be replays or fan shots with no context or anything. At least the one good thing is fans know they won’t miss any action. But the true value in staying in stadium is to be able to experience the entire atmosphere, analyze what the players and coaches are doing to make adjustments, and stay with the action.
We’ll see if this was a one-time occurrence for Fox Sports, or even better, if they actually decide to keep the focus on the action instead of continuing to put commercials first.
The post Fox finally implements side-by-side ad for World Cup hydration breaks appeared first on Awful Announcing.
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