Brussels: The soccer World Cup has lured companies hoping to boost revenues after two slow years but broadcasters will struggle to make a profit and top consumer goods marketers will have as keen an eye on cost as impact.

For the tournament beginning in a few days time, companies from faster-growing emerging markets have come forward as sponsors with money to burn and online and mobile media are expecting large benefits.

The massive viewer ratings make the tournament irresistible to broadcasters, but they have paid $2 billion (Dh7.4 billion) for television rights, up 50 per cent on the last World Cup in Germany in 2006, according to media research group Screen Digest.

"The World Cup is more than ever the biggest show on earth... Advertising sells at a premium, but paradoxically it is not always profitable for many broadcasters," said Vincent Letang, Screen Digest's head of advertising research.

"Many brands have spent enormous amounts to be official sponsors and might bet on online and viral marketing rather than spend millions to outbid competing brands from top [TV] spots."

Surge in advertising sales

French broadcaster M6 did not bid for rights to the 2010 competition and rival TF1 has sub-licensed some matches to Canal+ after neither recouped costs for the 2006 World Cup, according to Screen Digest.

Letang says TF1 might expect a 20-30 million euro (Dh89.7-Dh134.6 million) surge in advertising sales and Britain's ITV a £30 million (Dh160.6 million) boost.

Gains will depend though on the fate of the national soccer teams, given viewers and brands lose interest if the side is knocked out.

Sponsors too have paid more for this World Cup — an 80-per cent increase to some $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion), according to Nigel Currie, a director at the European Sponsorship Association.

Still, the World Cup's allure is clear, even for companies that have suffered two years of crisis and, for many, lower sales.

"It is the world's most valuable media event," said Adam Smith, a director at GroupM, the media management arm of WPP, the world's largest advertising firm by sales.