Live Sports Strategy: Show Up Big In the Big Games
Live sports remain one of the last true mass-reach media environments. Earlier this year, Nielsen predicted that 2026 would be one of the biggest sports years in recent memory, driven by the Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup, and sports being the one thing that can still truly bring Americans together in real-time.
We recognize that this presents a significant opportunity for the brands we work with. But more than that, it requires a shift in how brands think about sports advertising strategy. Sports aren’t just a top-of-funnel awareness play anymore. When planned strategically across CTV, streaming, and linear TV, they can influence the entire customer journey, from awareness through consideration and to conversion.
Our media team is constantly monitoring the sports landscape, across streaming, linear, and app-specific programming, to understand not just where audiences are watching, but how they’re engaging. The rise of ad-supported streaming tiers, second-screen behavior, and platform-specific viewing habits has made live sports advertising more measurable and addressable than ever before.
In many cases we see live sports act as an accelerant and lift performance across search, social, and direct web traffic. Recently The Nebraska Masonic Home, for example, had a commercial in the Super Bowl postgame show, perfectly placed between the end of the game and the trophy ceremony. The placement provided a spike in website traffic immediately.
As 2026 unfolds, brands that lean into live sports advertising thoughtfully, aligning placements with audience, context, and creative, will have a distinct advantage.