Drawing on billions of installs and remarketing conversions, AppsFlyer has launched a report in partnership with Sensor Tower and M+C Saatchi Performance which aims to provide a data-backed framework of opportunities ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
‘Scoring Big: The Complete Marketer’s Guide to the World’s Biggest Soccer Event’, collates insights from the 2022 edition of the tournament to help brands transform short-term spikes in attention into sustained growth, retention, and lifetime value (LTV) across streaming, CTV, mobile, retail, and digital ecosystems.
“With 104 football matches across three countries and 16 cities, the world’s biggest football event will be the largest edition to date, creating a rare five-week window of sustained global attention and commercial intensity. What Scoring Big makes clear is that brands can’t treat 2026 as a five-week sprint – it’s a marketing stress test and an amplifier,” said Sarah Maina, Regional Manager, Middle East & France, AppsFlyer.
The report finds that while mobile demand spikes during football matches, long-term strategy is key for sustained growth. The report highlights clear ‘micro-windows’ of high intent across the tournament where brands can turn attention into LTV.
OTT & live streaming app installs and remarketing conversions during the FIFA World Cup in 2022
Key findings from the FIFA World Cup in 2022:
- Streaming surged at kickoff: Streaming app installs jumped 46 per cent on opening day and stayed 41 per cent higher throughout the first week, demonstrating how live moments can accelerate acquisition when access and onboarding are frictionless.
- Retail saw 2–3 times year-on-year growth: Shopping app installs grew 2 to 3 times compared to 2021, as the tournament overlapped with Black Friday and Cyber Week – amplifying competition and accelerating discovery and short-term purchase intent.
- Food delivery grew fastest in South America: Food delivery installs rose 15 per cent globally on opening day overall, with South America posting the strongest growth ( up 6.7 per cent) during the entire tournament, showing how football culture can drive incremental adoption, not just amplified usage.
- News and gaming became must-watch categories: Sports news installs rose 72 per cent on opening day and remained 56 per cent above average in week one, while sports gaming installs climbed 18 per cent above November averages (holding 9 per cent above average in week one) as fans moved from passive viewing to interactive participation.
“Winning requires the ability to localise at scale, orchestrate every touchpoint across streaming, CTV, mobile, and retail, and measure it all with clarity and confidence,” summarised Maina.
How to prepare for FIFA World Cup 2026
AppsFlyer’s report suggests a three-phase campaign built for measurement and retention for marketers to maximise impact across the full funnel.
- Pre-event: Invest early while costs are lower and attention is building. Treat this phase as the foundation, not a warm-up.
- During the event: Activate in real time around key matches, when attention peaks in predictable waves.
- Post-event: Sustain engagement after the final whistle with a clear retention plan, turning short-term attention into long-term growth.
“Sports fans don’t experience major tournaments on one screen. They move between TV, mobile, and web, and that changes how brands should plan,” said Jonathan Briskman, Director of Market Insights at Sensor Tower.
Food delivery app downloads during the 2022 tournament *
* All figures represent unique installs per user account and gross IAP revenue (inclusive of app store fees). Apps are classified by Sensor Tower’s App IQ Taxonomy as of February 2026.
Building strategies that anticipate this movement to connect them into one seamless journey are the ones that will win according to Briskman. Brands should consider when audiences will place an order for food, book travel or follow real-time scores.
In terms of creative roll-out, “tournament periods bring intense competition and creative fatigue,” said Jonathan Yantz, Managing Partner at M+C Saatchi Performance.
“The brands that perform best are the ones that plan ahead, test localised creative, and activate in ways that feel authentic to fans,” he said. “Especially through language nuance, community-led messaging, and creators who can produce content natively for each platform.”
Finally, the report also emphasises the importance of connecting every physical and digital touchpoint and validating performance using a “measurement trifecta” of attribution, incrementality testing, and media mix modeling (MMM).
