How to Reach High-Intent World Cup 2026 Audiences Across Desktop, CTV, Mobile and DOOH devices?

The FIFA World Cup 2026 will be one of the biggest global attention spikes in media, but it will not behave like a single “sports moment.” It is a multi-market, multi-city event running from June 11 to July 19, 2026, spanning 104 matches across host venues in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

That scale changes how audiences move. People will watch on CTV, follow match coverage on mobile, research schedules on desktop, and make real purchases tied to the tournament: travel, tickets, hospitality, merchandise, food delivery, subscriptions, and more. 

FIFA has already reported record demand of over 150 million ticket requests during a ticketing phase, showing how early and how intense purchase intent can be around this edition.

To capture that demand efficiently, targeting needs to be built around intent, not generic sports affinity.

Better Wolrd Cup Performance Starts with Audience Data

Target high-intent fans and maximize campaigns results with relevant data

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Why World Cup 2026 is a high-intent moment 

World Cup demand is predictable, but intent changes fast. The audiences that convert in week one are not always the audiences that convert in week five.

Early in the window, fans research fixtures, host cities, ticket options, and travel logistics. Closer to match days, attention concentrates on live viewing and social engagement. Then behaviour shifts again into local activity: watch parties, food delivery, last-minute travel, and match-day purchases.

That’s why the best-performing World Cup campaigns don’t target “people who like football.” They target people showing fresh signals tied to what they are doing right now: watching, travelling, attending, or buying.

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World Cup 2026 segments from OnAudience

OnAudience provides dedicated World Cup 2026 audience segments designed for programmatic campaigns. These segments help you reach fans, followers, and travelers across the moments that matter most: research, live viewing, and purchase behavior.

World Cup Fans and Followers

Reach people actively consuming tournament content across screens.

• Reading World Cup 2026 news, match previews, analysis, and brackets
• Following national teams, star players, fixtures, and tournament narratives
• Moving between mobile, desktop, and CTV based on match and news cycles

This segment is ideal when the goal is efficient reach, share of voice, and feeding retargeting pools with people who have real tournament interest.

World Cup CTV Viewers

Target fans who watch the tournament in high-attention environments.

• Streaming live matches, highlights, and recap shows on connected TV
• Using OTT sports apps and streaming platforms on big screens
• Watching at home and in social environments such as pubs and bars

CTV is where attention is strongest, but conversion often happens later on another device. 

This segment supports a practical workflow: build impact on CTV, then retarget on mobile or desktop with offers and conversion messaging.

World Cup Travelers and Ticket Buyers

Capture the most commercially valuable layer: people moving into purchase mode.

• Searching for World Cup tickets, hospitality, fan packages, and bundles.
• Browsing flights, hotels, car rentals, and local experiences in host cities.
• Planning trips around fixtures, stadiums, or specific national team games.

This segment is built for performance marketing, especially for travel, payments, retail, telco, and premium experiences.

Live Event Participants

Reach fans planning the logistics of attending matches.

• Researching tickets, seating categories, and entry rules
• Looking for accommodation near stadiums and fan zones
• Planning transport across cities and local transit around match days

This segment supports hyperlocal targeting and time-sensitive offers near venues and travel corridors.

World Cup Segments for Agencies, Brands, Advertisers and Marketers

Agencies, brands, advertisers and marketers come into the World Cup with different priorities. Some need scale across markets, others need efficiency when demand peaks, and many need a clear path from attention on big screens to conversion on personal devices. OnAudience World Cup segments support these goals with audiences built on real behaviours to: 

• Activate quickly with tournament-ready segments that scale across markets and channels.
• Improve efficiency by focusing spend on high-intent fans, viewers, travellers and ticket buyers.
• Run full-funnel plans by separating awareness audiences from conversion-ready audiences.
• Connect CTV impact to performance by retargeting viewers on mobile and desktop with the next best action.

Want to check all World Cup 2026 segments?

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How to Manage Campaigns with World Cup Audiences?

A strong World Cup plan usually works best in three phases, because intent changes quickly.

Pre-tournament: planning and buying windows

Prioritise Travelers and Ticket Buyers, and Live Event Participants. This is when people compare prices, routes, accommodation, and packages.

• Use messaging focused on availability, bundles, and planning support.
• Optimise for leads, booking intent, add-to-cart, and assisted conversions.

During the tournament: attention and momentum

Prioritise CTV Viewers and Fans and Followers, then retarget based on engagement.

• Run match-day creative that fits the moment, and use retargeting to shift from excitement to action. 
• Optimise for incremental reach, engaged visits, and conversion lift from retargeted audiences.

Post-tournament: retention and remarketing

• Retarget engaged audiences with next steps: subscriptions, merchandise, other sports events, and brand loyalty offers.
• This phase is often overlooked, but it’s where the best ROI is extracted from the audiences you already paid to reach.

DOOH for World Cup 2026: where it fits and how to make it measurable

The World Cup is a physical experience. Fans travel, gather, and celebrate in predictable places: airports, transit hubs, city centres, stadium districts, fan zones, and entertainment corridors. 

DOOH screens work well here because it captures attention in those real-world moments, especially around match windows.

To keep DOOH from becoming “nice branding with no proof,” tie it to digital execution:

• Plan placements around movement and fan density, not just high-traffic screens.
• Use match-day timing, with heavier delivery pre-kickoff, at half-time, and post-match when movement and conversation spike.
• Extend DOOH exposure into mobile retargeting in the same locations and time windows, so awareness turns into a measurable action.

For measurement, align your plan to current industry guidance on DOOH standards and attribution frameworks. 

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Who Can Use World Cup 2026 Audience Segments? 

World Cup 2026 segments are useful for any brand selling travel, viewing, match-day needs, or fan-driven products. Typical use cases include:

• Airlines and OTAs: flights, packages, city routes, last-minute deals (Travellers and Ticket Buyers).
• Hotels and accommodation: stays in host cities, stadium-area availability, flexible bookings (Travellers; Live Event Participants).
• Mobility and transport: car rental, rideshare, rail, airport transfers, parking (Live Event Participants; Travellers).
• Streaming, telco and devices: subscriptions, sports add-ons, broadband/5G upgrades, smart TVs (CTV Viewers; Fans and Followers).
• Retail and sports merchandise: team apparel, limited drops, bundles, footwear (Fans and Followers; CTV Viewers).
• Food delivery, grocery and QSR: match-day bundles, watch-party orders, quick commerce offers (CTV Viewers; Live Event Participants).
• Payments and fintech: travel cards, FX, rewards, merchant offers linked to travel spend (Travellers; Fans and Followers).
• Hospitality venues and local experiences: watch-party bookings, event nights, tours and activities (Live Event Participants; CTV Viewers).

Why choose OnAudience data for FIFA World Cup 2026 campaigns? 

OnAudience is built for precision at scale, with technology designed to support consistent activation across channels and markets.

• Global coverage across more than 200 markets.
• Proprietary data platform processing data from more than 25 billion devices.
• A large segment library, including Sports audiences, designed for programmatic activation.
• In-house technology and unified taxonomy to keep audience definitions consistent across environments.
• Create custom World Cup 2026 segments in seconds with AI Audiences, our AI solution for building tailored audiences aligned to your markets and campaign objectives.

Turn World Cup 2026 Intent Into Conversions

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Need a custom audience for a FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign?

Not every campaign fits a standard label. 

If you need a tailored audience such as “CTV viewers who also research tickets” or “fans traveling to host cities,” use AI Audiences to build custom segments quickly and activate them in your platforms.