On May 12th in Beijing, the final round of negotiations between China Central Television (CCTV) and FIFA for the broadcast rights to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in mainland China broke down, with the FIFA delegation promptly returning to Switzerland. This development sparked widespread public concern, particularly for Chinese sponsors who had invested heavily. Companies such as Hisense, Wanda, Mengniu, Lenovo, and POP MART had collectively committed over $500 million in sponsorship rights for the tournament. The failure to secure broadcast rights raised fears that their marketing investments could be rendered futile.
Seventy-two hours later, the situation reversed. On the afternoon of May 15th, a copyright agreement between China Media Group and FIFA quietly took effect, finalizing the broadcast fee for the World Cup at $60 million. Representatives from CCTV's sports channel expressed gratitude for the public's support and pledged to deliver quality coverage in return. Indeed, public sentiment played a role in facilitating the deal's conclusion. However, what is intriguing is that during those 72 hours, the sponsors themselves did not appear to be in a panic.
Hisense issued no anxious statements, POP MART continued with the planned setup of its pop-up stores, and Mengniu's production lines did not halt any co-branded packaging due to the negotiation turmoil. This calm was not feigned; rather, it reflects a silent revolution in the logic of World Cup sponsorship. Whether broadcast rights were secured or not, the impact on these Chinese enterprises was minimal. With the exception of Wanda, which faces its own operational challenges, companies like POP MART, even as a newcomer in the trendy toy sector, have moved beyond the stage of relying solely on major sporting events for global brand exposure.
The World Cup, as a global super IP, has not depreciated. In an era of fragmented information, its highly mature commercial operation system, from top to bottom, has become increasingly rare. The audience engaging with the tournament through short videos, news, and social media far exceeds the number of dedicated football fans. Discussions about a potential decline in the World Cup's popularity ironically serve as another form of recognition for its commercial value.
The World Cup's low barrier to understanding and high emotional intensity make it an excellent opportunity for companies to achieve cultural penetration, establish global brand recognition, complete brand elevation, and translate these into marketing growth. However, precisely because of this, the influence of live match broadcasts themselves is diminishing. What companies value is the topicality and the potential to break through cultural barriers. By securing status as strategic partners or even secondary sponsors, they can launch a series of commercial activities like co-branded products and pop-up stores—a strategy offering far greater certainty than spending equivalent sums on celebrity endorsements.
To understand the shift in the World Cup's commercial model, Hisense serves as a prime example. As an official sponsor for four consecutive World Cups, Hisense has invested over $150 million in the upcoming tournament, making it the largest single sponsor among Chinese companies. A decade ago, Hisense used slogan bombardment at the UEFA European Championship and the World Cup to complete the initial phase of its brand globalization. Overseas fans first encountered the Hisense brand, and indeed Chinese home appliance brands in general, through pitch-side advertising at football stadiums.
At that time, the overseas expansion of Chinese manufacturing was still largely focused on product export and scaling. The prevailing belief was that having good products at competitive prices was sufficient to capture market share. There was little understanding of, or inherent confidence in, building brand premium. Overseas consumers were aware that many low-priced goods were "Made in China," but few recognized specific Chinese brands.
The common solution for Chinese enterprises was to acquire local brands, leveraging their established channels and market share for OEM sales. This approach essentially involved becoming a new manufacturer and owner for a local brand, discreetly capturing value from overseas consumers. Traditional giants like Haier, Midea, and Skyworth followed similar paths, competing on capital strength, cost, and speed to subtly influence overseas consumers. For instance, after Midea acquired Toshiba's home appliance division, it gradually made overseas consumers aware that Toshiba appliances were produced by the Midea Group, before encouraging them to try Midea's own brand and its premium sub-brands.
Hisense, however, chose a distinctly different path, positioning itself directly under the spotlight of world-class sporting events. It used the most straightforward, albeit seemingly blunt, method to tell the world that "Made in China" could not only produce quality goods but also build world-class brands. This very boldness allowed Hisense to pioneer the transformation from "Made in China" to "Chinese Brand." On the fields of the European Championship and the World Cup, the "Hisense" brand name began to be remembered by overseas consumers, moving beyond the generic "Made in China" label. Establishing this brand recognition proved far more valuable than short-term sales growth.
This success stems from Hisense's deep understanding of sports marketing: the World Cup is not merely a 90-minute match but a months-long global cultural event. Pitch-side advertising boards are just the tip of the iceberg. The real value lies in bypassing traditional industrial and commercial barriers to directly reach global consumers across cultural divides, along with the myriad commercial opportunities this creates.
Hisense's success served as a wake-up call for other Chinese companies. There was a collective realization that as global market competition intensifies, product advantages alone are insufficient to sustain long-term development. Brand power has become the key determinant for a company's standing in the global market. Consequently, Chinese enterprises flocked to sports marketing.
The 2022 Qatar World Cup featured over a dozen Chinese sponsors including Wanda, Hisense, Mengniu, vivo, Boss Zhipin, and Yadea. More than half were new faces on this stage, covering various sponsorship tiers, with a total sponsorship amount reaching an unprecedented $1.395 billion. Chinese companies became the World Cup's largest financial backers for the first time.
An interesting case is TCL. Long considering itself a veteran in sports marketing, having engaged in it since 1994 across over 40 sports IPs including basketball, football, esports, rugby, cricket, and the Olympics, TCL was steadily advancing through significant acquisitions of panel factories from established giants like Samsung, Sharp, and LG. However, it found itself outmaneuvered at the brand level by Hisense, using a sports marketing path TCL itself was proficient in.
Consequently, in 2024, across two different continents during the European Championship and Copa América, a war of words erupted in sponsor slogans over who was "second best," while the globally leading Samsung inadvertently benefited.
Returning to the initial question: why were sponsors not panicked when broadcast negotiations broke down, nor overly relieved when they succeeded? Firstly, for companies that have already established global brand recognition, the World Cup is no longer an indispensable marketing channel but a flexible marketing toolkit. They no longer rely solely on live broadcast exposure. Instead, they use diversified marketing combinations to transform sponsorship rights into tangible brand equity and commercial value.
Even a new entrant like POP MART understands this well. As a representative in the trendy toy sector, POP MART's sponsorship goal is not necessarily for global football fans to remember a Chinese toy brand. Rather, it aims to leverage the World Cup as a cultural symbol to enhance brand image and achieve a youthful transformation. Its co-branded blind boxes and themed pop-up stores target young consumers who might never watch football but can be captivated by the World Cup atmosphere.
Ultimately, the logic of World Cup sponsorship has shifted from a traffic-focused mindset to an asset-focused one. Companies are no longer pursuing short-term exposure metrics but are focusing on long-term brand building. In this process, the presence or absence of live broadcasts has become less critical. In this era of information overload, what is truly scarce is not traffic, but brand stories capable of traversing cultural barriers and resonating globally. The World Cup provides an ideal stage for precisely that.
A more telling figure is that the total sponsorship from Chinese companies for this tournament exceeds $500 million, more than eight times the $60 million broadcast rights fee. This in itself is a metaphor: within the World Cup's commercial ecosystem, broadcast rights and the sponsorship system are no longer inextricably linked but operate in parallel worlds. Broadcast rights sell the right to watch the matches; sponsorship buys the license to tell a brand story using the World Cup platform. The former depends on 90-minute live broadcasts, the latter on the months-long operation of a cultural event. On sponsors' balance sheets, the option to withdraw funding due to a lack of broadcast never existed.
Secondly, leading enterprises across sectors have, through sports marketing, developed a methodology for Chinese brand globalization. They have discovered that mere brand exposure is only the first step. True brand power, beyond visibility and awareness, requires robust product and technological strength as its core foundation. The global premium brand image built through rapid exposure is like constructing a magnificent stage at a great height. Without a solid foundation, brand trust can collapse quickly.
Taking Hisense again as an example, technology-driven enterprise has replaced brand exposure as the core of its brand strategy, with sports marketing now viewed merely as one stage to showcase technological prowess. During the 2024 European Championship, Hisense not only continued advertising but also introduced viewing experience upgrades based on RGB-Mini LED and AI technology, transforming sponsorship into a demonstration of product capability. In the opening match between Germany and Scotland, Hisense's VAR technology directly assisted the referee in issuing the tournament's first red card. This shift from paying for exposure to creating value with technology and products is the core of modern corporate sponsorship logic. It is the optimal path for companies to use technological and product strength to elevate awareness and achieve brand leapfrogging.
While major home appliance brands may differ in their brand-building approaches, their direction is aligned. Haier, through its acquisition of GE Appliances, gained not only market share but also brand premium capability, shifting its strategic focus to building its own premium brand, Casarte. Midea, via its acquisition of KUKA Robotics, achieved a brand transition from home appliance manufacturer to technology group, while deeply engaging in cutting-edge sectors like building technology, medical devices, and humanoid robots. TCL has also moved beyond an obsession with capacity expansion and mergers, attempting to overtake leading brands like Samsung and LG through breakthroughs in printed OLED technology, while partnering with the Sony brand to rapidly enter the high-end market.
The common thread among these companies is their recognition that in global competition, brand power is the most critical competitive advantage. The World Cup is merely a tool for brand building, not the end goal itself. The real contest happens off the field.
When CCTV's broadcast signal finally lights up, companies like Hisense might glance at the screen before returning to their own tasks. Their battlefield lies on the shelves of co-branded blind boxes, in the queues at pop-up stores, within the production parameters of RGB-Mini LED lines, and behind every refrigerator in a Casarte showroom. The final whistle of the World Cup will eventually blow, but the story of Chinese brands was never confined to those 90 minutes.
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