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World Cup Fuels $1.5B in Advertising

The World Cup, which starts in South Africa today, will add as much as $1.5 billion to advertising spending this year as Coca-Cola Co. and Nike Inc. pay top prices for air time during the most-watched sporting event. Commercial air time during the month-long competition is commanding rates as much as 50 percent higher than typical prime time, said Vincent Letang, a senior analyst at researcher Screen Digest, based in London.

World Cup spending is aiding a recovery of the global ad industry, which suffered plunging revenue during the financial crisis and is slowly recouping lost ground. The worldwide ad market may grow 2.2 percent this year as the recession abates, according to ZenithOptimedia Group.

Read the whole story at Bloomberg »

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