There will therefore have been no secondary market for TV rights for the 2026 World Cup. M6, which acquired the rights for the 54 free-to-air matches of the competition in March 2024, has decided to keep its entire lot and has already published its commercial offer for advertisers and advertisers.
Consequence: TF1, which has broadcast all or part of the World Cups since its creation in 1975, will for the first time watch the competition take place on another channel. Co-broadcaster with France Télévisions between 1978 and 1998, La Une has since been the only free-to-air broadcaster (with the exception of 2010, co-broadcast with France TV).
For this XXL competition, the first World Cup with 48 teams, M6 has announced a major system which will extend across all of its group’s channels (M6 and M6+ for broadcasting matches, but also W9, Gulli and RTL for coverage of the competition). The chain will now have to make this massive investment profitable: 120 million euros.
Up to 450,000 euros for 20 seconds of advertising in the event of a final with the Blues
To do this, the group has published its commercial offer, with the price of 20 seconds of advertising for all matches in the competition. Advertisements will notably be broadcast during Power Breaksthe refreshment breaks which were introduced during each of the two periods. Valuable prizes, since they are right in the middle of the match.
For the opening match of the competition (Mexico-South Africa, June 11 at 9 p.m.), it will cost between 40,000 and 155,000 euros for 20 seconds of advertising, the most expensive lot concerning precisely the Power Breaks.
For the first group match of the French team against Senegal (June 16 at 9 p.m.), the prices go up: from 90,000 euros before the match to 315,000 euros on Power Break. For the final, if the Blues are present, count between 135,000 and 450,000 euros per 20 seconds.
It now remains to be known the identity of the private broadcaster of the competition, which will broadcast all 104 matches of the competition to its paying subscribers. In recent weeks, a behind-the-scenes battle has been going on between BeIN Sports, which has held these rights since 2014, and… Ligue 1+.
