Who won the 2026 World Cup on social media
We pointed a Scolto analyst at the 2026 FIFA World Cup and let it read the tournament on Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube from June 7 to September 21, 2026. The posts it collected drew 32.4 billion views and 2.2 billion engagements. For every post, it recorded which brands appeared and how - in the picture, in the text, or said out loud - and added up the views behind each brand. Here is what the data shows about sponsor exposure.
Key findings
- Adidas led brand exposure with 21.7%, almost twice the next brand, Coca-Cola (11.4%).
- Nike and Puma took 8.3% each - the only two brands in the top 12 without a FIFA sponsorship, ahead of five paying sponsors.
- 82% of brand appearances were visual: logos on kits, boards and products in the image. 17% were in the post text and 1% were spoken.
- Instagram (52%) and TikTok (40%) carried 92% of all views.
- Creators, not brand accounts, made the biggest posts. @ishowspeed averaged 7.0M likes a post; @adidas averaged 658.6K.
World Cup 2026 brand exposure leaderboard
Exposure is the total views of the posts in which a brand appeared. Share is each brand's exposure out of the combined exposure of these 12 brands. A post that shows two brands counts for both.
| # | Brand | FIFA status | Exposure (views) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adidas | FIFA Partner | 8.08B | 21.7% |
| 2 | Coca-Cola | FIFA Partner | 4.25B | 11.4% |
| 3 | Visa | FIFA Partner | 4.00B | 10.7% |
| 4 | Puma | No FIFA deal | 3.09B | 8.3% |
| 5 | Nike | No FIFA deal | 3.08B | 8.3% |
| 6 | Aramco | FIFA Partner | 2.75B | 7.4% |
| 7 | Hisense | Tournament sponsor | 2.62B | 7.0% |
| 8 | Qatar Airways | FIFA Partner | 2.41B | 6.5% |
| 9 | Hyundai | FIFA Partner | 2.39B | 6.4% |
| 10 | Lenovo | FIFA Partner | 2.21B | 5.9% |
| 11 | McDonald's | Tournament sponsor | 1.35B | 3.6% |
| 12 | Verizon | Tournament sponsor | 1.03B | 2.8% |
82% of brand exposure was visual
Of 71,386 brand appearances the analyst found, 58,657 were visual: a logo on a shirt, a pitch-side board, a can in someone's hand. 11,910 were written in the caption or text, and 819 were spoken in a video. Most of the time, a sponsor was seen but never named.
That matters for anyone measuring a sponsorship. A tracker that searches post text for the brand name sees roughly one appearance in six. The rest only shows up when the image and video are read too - which is how the numbers on this page were produced.
Nike and Puma: exposure without a FIFA deal
Nike and Puma are not FIFA sponsors at the 2026 World Cup; Adidas is FIFA's sporting goods partner. Both still took 8.3% of exposure, more than Aramco, Hisense, Qatar Airways, Hyundai and Lenovo. The reason is on the players: Nike and Puma make the kits for many national teams, so their logos are in the match photos, goal clips and celebrations fans share. The tournament's most-viewed moments carried the kit makers' logos whether or not they paid FIFA.
Where the World Cup views were
| Platform | Views | Share of views |
|---|---|---|
| 16.9B | 52.2% | |
| TikTok | 13.0B | 40.0% |
| X | 1.7B | 5.4% |
| YouTube | 780.6M | 2.4% |
Short video on Instagram and TikTok carried the tournament. A sponsor report built on X mentions alone would describe about 5% of the views.
Creators drove the biggest posts
Ranked by average likes per post, the top accounts were creators and players, not brands: @ishowspeed (15 posts, 7.0M average likes), @erling (4 posts, 6.8M), then @dazn_futbol (3.8M) and @psg (3.0M). @adidas, the brand with the most exposure, averaged 658.6K likes on its own posts. Most of a sponsor's exposure lives in other people's posts, which is why a report that counts only the brand's own channel measures the smallest part of it.
Methodology
- Period: posts collected June 7 to September 21, 2026, covering the build-up, the tournament (June 11 to July 19) and the weeks after the final.
- Platforms: Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube.
- Brand detection: an AI model read each post's image or video, text and speech, and listed every brand that appeared, with how it appeared (visual, textual or spoken).
- Exposure: the sum of views of the posts in which a brand appeared, using the view counts the platforms reported at collection.
- Sponsor status: FIFA Partners and 2026 tournament sponsors as publicly announced.
The full interactive report, with exposure over time and the top posts, is public: FIFA World Cup 2026: Brand Exposure Analysis.
Measure your own sponsorship or campaign
The same analyst works for any event, sponsorship or launch. Name the brands and the moment, and it collects the posts, reads the images and video for your logo and your competitors', and reports exposure before, during and after - see campaign tracking and social media competitor analysis.
Frequently asked questions
Which brand got the most social media exposure at the 2026 World Cup?
Adidas, with 21.7% of the exposure among the 12 leading brands: 8.08 billion views of posts in which it appeared on Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube. Coca-Cola (11.4%) and Visa (10.7%) followed.
Did brands that were not FIFA sponsors get World Cup exposure?
Yes. Nike and Puma, neither a FIFA sponsor at the 2026 World Cup, took 8.3% of exposure each - more than five paying sponsors - mostly through the national team kits they make, which appear in match photos and clips.
How is brand exposure on social media measured?
Here, as the total views of the posts in which a brand appears. An AI model reads each post's image or video, text and speech to find the brands, so a logo on a shirt counts even when the caption never names the brand.
Which platform had the most World Cup views?
Instagram, with 52.2% of the views in this study, followed by TikTok with 40.0%. X had 5.4% and YouTube 2.4%.
How much World Cup brand exposure was visual?
82% of the brand appearances were visual - logos and products in the image or video. 17% were in the post text and 1% were spoken.
Can I measure my own sponsorship this way?
Yes. Scolto runs the same analysis for any brand, event or campaign: it collects the posts, reads images and video for your logo and your competitors', and reports exposure over time. Plans start at $49/month.