The World Cup’s hydration breaks are lucrative. Are they worth frustrating fans?

This summer, the beautiful game has gotten a little bit ugly.

During every World Cup match, FIFA has mandated “hydration breaks,” aka three-minute pauses midway between each 45-minute half, a first that essentially breaks the game up into four quarters. In addition to dividing the halves, they’ve also divided stakeholders, including fans, players, and networks.

For soccer purists, the breaks change the nature and the flow of the game they hold dear. Some argue they’re necessary for the safety of athletes playing in high temperatures, but they happen regardless of weather and venue.

For Fox Sports, the network that paid an estimated $400 million to $500 million for the English-language rights to the tournament, ad revenue generated by hydration breaks could reportedly total “at least $250 million,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

For brands like Powerade—the official hydration sponsor of the World Cup, which is powering the hydration breaks—the scale of the reach, impressions, and overall brand value of the asset are undeniable, according to measurement companies. But could fan ire outweigh the rewards?

Size advantage

If there’s one thing that’s undeniable about the World Cup, it’s the sheer reach of the tournament. The USMNT’s defeat of Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 1 was the most watched English-language soccer telecast ever in the country, having clocked more than 26 million viewers. The same game had a total audience of 9.8 million on Telemundo, a record for a Team USA World Cup match, according to the network.

Monday’s USA v. Belgium averaged 32.4 million viewers on Fox and 13.7 million viewers on Telemundo and Peacock, according to AdImpact.

Powerade seems to be reaping at least some rewards. During the USMNT’s first game, when the team played Paraguay, Powerade totaled 30 seconds of screentime across four exposures before and after each break, amounting to 16% of the brand’s total airtime during that game, according to data shared with Marketing Brew by partnership measurement company Zoomph.

Those breaks also resulted in 27 million logo impressions for Powerade, aka 23% of its total exposure from the game, as well as $88,000 in brand value, or 28% of the total brand value Powerade earned during the match, per Zoomph.

In addition to the hydration break sponsorship, Powerade also has other World Cup assets, such as TV ads and LED signs at field level. Between one 15-second and one 30-second spot, Powerade had claimed about 15% of the total engagement with ads from the CPG category as of June 29, according to TV measurement company EDO.

“You could worry about a negative perception around some of these things, but I think the size of the World Cup is so big that it’s hard to turn down,” said Brendan Hannan, managing partner at boutique agency Skylark, who’s worked in marketing for soccer organizations including MLS, Chicago Fire FC, and the LA Galaxy.

Experience matters

Hannan also pointed out that for some American sports fans, four quarters of play might be more digestible than two longer halves—more akin to an NFL or NBA game. On the other hand, there’s been vocal criticism of the experience, and especially Fox Sports’s decision to run ads during the breaks.

“Soccer is not new to having sponsors,” said Ashley Shaffer, CMO of Stagwell-owned brand consultancy Redscout, who previously served as fractional CMO of NWSL club Seattle Reign FC. “We can’t be mad that another brand is entering the sport. We can’t be mad that there’s another thing that costs money that someone’s willing to pay for. What we can be mad at is…it’s not really for the players’ benefit; it’s definitely for someone else’s.”

Fox Sports declined to comment. Powerade did not comment on the record.

Telemundo, which has the Spanish-language rights to the games, has largely kept its cameras on the pitch during hydration breaks or cut to its commentators for analysis, though the NBCUniversal-owned network has run some ads during the breaks. The division of the English- and Spanish-language rights has reportedly resulted in “some tensions” between Fox and NBCU, as Telemundo and Peacock have been drawing some English speakers.

Gina Waldhorn, SVP of marketing and advertising for sports tech and AI company Genius Sports, said some of the company’s research has indicated that fans prefer content that feels like a “natural fit” during game interruptions.

“It’s game first, brand second,” she said. “Are you in the right place, doing the right thing, and then are you the right person to do it?...In this example, it went straight to No. 2, and I think that’s a miss.”

Better with time

Despite the reach and engagement data, the jury’s still out on whether Powerade will come out on top. There’s no denying that some fans are angry now, but almost any change in sports invites criticism in the immediate aftermath, and audiences tend to have short memories.

“We get used to things very fast as fans, so this is going to be the loudest moment it’s ever going to have,” Shaffer said. “Powerade has an opportunity to entertain…To me, the sky’s the limit for how much fun they could have with what a break means, what hydration actually means.”

And while some soccer supporters may be booing the breaks, Hannan said he thinks it’s unlikely the vitriol will spill over into Powerade sales.

“You would have to be a real soccer purist to say that you won’t drink Powerade because they are a sponsor of the hydration break,” he said. “But if you are that pure of a fan and believer of the rules of engagement around the game, more power to you.”