Yospace says World Cup drove record 11.6 billion addressable ads
July 23, 2026 13.04 Europe/London By Julian Clover


Dynamic ad insertion specialist Yospace stitched a record 11.57 billion addressable advertisements into live streams during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, underlining the continued growth of ad-supported streaming for major live sports.

The company said the 39-day tournament generated an average of 297 million ads per day across 14 broadcaster and distributor customers streaming the competition. That represents a 41% increase in daily ad volume compared with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Yospace attributed the growth to increasing OTT viewing on connected TVs, as broadcasters seek to maximise the monetisation of live streaming through dynamic ad insertion (DAI).

The expanded 48-team World Cup also created more advertising opportunities, with 40 additional matches and the introduction of hydration breaks in each half. Across the tournament, Yospace recorded 637 ad breaks, compared with 326 during the 2022 World Cup.

The busiest advertising break came at half-time during England’s quarter-final against Norway, when Yospace stitched 13 million one-to-one advertisements within two minutes. The company said its Advanced Prefetch technology helped distribute ad requests to maintain fill rates during periods of exceptionally high demand and unscheduled breaks caused by extra time and penalty shoot-outs.

Audience behaviour also boosted advertising opportunities. A VAR review before Kylian Mbappé missed a penalty for France against Morocco prompted a 37% increase in stream starts, while Belgium’s comeback victory over Senegal in the round of 32 led to a 93% surge in new streams over two minutes.



Tim Sewell, CEO of Yospace, said the tournament demonstrated the scale of ad-funded streaming and the need for dynamic ad insertion platforms to handle rapidly changing audiences during major live events.

Yospace, part of RTL Group’s adtech business, says it now manages more than 2,000 live channels and stitches over 10 billion advertisements every month. Its customers include Channel 4, ITV, RTL, M6, Telia, TV4, DIRECTV, FOX and Tubi.