Overview
About
The Portfolio Anchor: Building a three-year audience strategy
The future of media is built on intelligence, not guesswork. At this year’s Cannes Lions, Nielsen and the IAA are hosting an exclusive, invite-only roundtable of advertising leaders, platforms, and rights holders to redefine how we commercialize global sports fandom.
Every tournament cycle, brands and platforms invest millions in sports sponsorships and activations to capture the attention of a global audience—only to watch that engagement evaporate the moment the final whistle blows. For both advertisers funding these partnerships and the platforms hosting the conversation, treating major sporting events as isolated, one-off moments is a massive missed opportunity for long-term commercial ROI.
Instead of viewing the 2026 World Cup as a standalone sports activation, this session will explore how to use it as the ultimate fan acquisition engine. By treating the 2026 event as the anchor, brands and platforms can build a continuous engagement loop that bridges directly into their existing and developing sponsorship/marketing portfolios.
