Companies refrain from advertising around Women's World Cup, prefer other sporting events

One week before the start of the Women's World Cup, advertising is hardly present. Special "Oranje ads" are largely absent for the time being. Advertisers seem to prefer other sporting events, according to a survey by ANP.

Inconvenient match times seem to be playing tricks on the Oranje women, notes Ster. The organization sells advertising space for public radio, where the games are broadcast early via the NOS. The World Cup matches in Australia and New Zealand will be broadcast mainly at night as well as in the morning in the Netherlands. The Dutch team will play group matches at 09:00 a.m., 09:30 a.m., and 03:00 a.m. in the coming weeks.

"It's not a storm yet," said a Ster spokeswoman. "We do notice that women's football has become more vibrant in recent years, but this year the match times are a bit unfortunate. As a result, the event attracts relatively few viewers, which also makes it less interesting for advertisers."

According to Ster, the "hype" may increase as the tournament progresses. "A first game is very crucial for that." The Netherlands will play Portugal on Sunday, July 23. The World Cup begins Thursday with games between host countries Australia and New Zealand.

Even outside of public broadcasting, there seems to be hardly any advertising for the World Cup this year. According to TV marketing organization Screenforce, women's football is still far behind men's sports in this regard. "There, more companies advertise with a special campaign. This is out of proportion," knows director Michel van der Voort. According to him, attention to the event is largely limited to public broadcasting.

In fact, companies say they have not developed any special TV spots for this World Cup, except for KNVB's main sponsor ING. The bank is using a campaign on TV, online and social media to "draw attention to the inequalities and challenges in Dutch girls' and women's soccer." KPN and Albert Heijn, also regular sponsors of the KNVB, are sticking with a social media campaign.

Also supermarket chains Lidl and Jumbo are not investing any money at all in special advertising around the upcoming World Cup. Lidl said it has opted for the men's European Championship in Germany next year, while Jumbo will limit its sponsorship to Formula 1 and the Tour de France cycling team this year. Heineken said it will not do any advertising around the World Cup.