As ad prices rose during the World Cup, small businesses struggled to compete with global brands. Now when the prices will get back to normal, Billo expert says the answer isn’t spending more; it’s creating authentic, creative ads that connect with the right audiences.
The World Cup final took place on Sunday, closing out the most expensive advertising period in years. New data from creator marketing platform Billo shows advertisers’ price of a single video ad rose 17%, compared with the average from July through September 2025. There was an increase in 13 of the 15 e-commerce categories tracked.
Billo, a marketplace connecting brands with video creators, analyzed more than 13,000 ads across 15 categories on Meta, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. The data points to what small businesses should do now that the tournament premium is lifting: spend on relevance, not volume.
The analysis showed that, unsurprisingly, the category that benefited from the World Cup the most was Sporting Goods. Their relevance helped them to achieve a 28.9% hook rate, making it the highest of 15 tracked categories. Purchases tied to those ads rose 26% over the 2025 monthly average, while click-through rates climbed about 31%.
Donatas Smailys, CEO of Billo, says rising costs and global campaigns leave small businesses with few good options.
“The World Cup creates a battle for attention that goes far beyond the matches themselves,” said Smailys. “Big brands can run campaigns across TV, social media, sponsorships, and creators all at once. Small businesses are chasing the same customers, but they can’t respond by matching that budget.”
Billo isn’t the only one tracking rising ad costs. According to Common Thread Collective, Meta’s cost per thousand impressions, what it costs to show an ad to 1,000 people, hit a four-year high this summer, above $17, up from roughly $12 in summer 2024. WARC expects the World Cup to add $10.5 billion to global ad spending this quarter.
“When advertising gets this competitive, a business really has three choices,” Donatas Smailys added. “Spend more, reach fewer people, or find a more relevant way to get noticed. The third option is what we saw play out in Sporting Goods.”
Sporting Goods Beat Reach with Relevance
Relevance is exactly what saved sporting goods, the category most connected to the tournament. Billo’s data shows sporting goods ads had a hook rate of 28.9%, the highest of all 15 categories tracked, meaning more viewers kept watching past the first few seconds instead of scrolling past. Purchase numbers tied to those ads rose 26% compared with the category’s 2025 monthly average, and click-through rates climbed about 31%.
Sporting goods advertisers also got roughly 15% more revenue per dollar than the overall average, while spending about 16% less per ad than average in other categories.
However the ads for this category were still more expensive than last year. Spend per ad in the category still rose, about 37% above if we compare it to the sporting goods 2025 benchmark.
“Sporting goods matched what people were already watching and talking about. However, the lesson for smaller brands isn’t to bolt a football reference onto every ad,” said Smailys. “It’s finding a real connection between the product and the moment – getting ready for a match, hosting friends, whatever people are already doing.”
The Post-Tournament Playbook
Billo’s advice for the weeks ahead: don’t put everything behind one big ad. Build several shorter versions with different hooks and different faces, test them, then move budget to whichever performs. Target communities that already care about a sport or a team rather than the whole tournament audience.
“Prices drop once the final’s over, and that’s your chance to make back some of what this month cost,” Smailys said. “Post a few ideas organically first and let the audience tell you what’s landing. That signal is free. Give creators a clear brief and let them run with it, then put money behind the one that’s already working.”
Methodology
Billo’s analysis compares advertising performance in June 2026 with the average monthly performance from July–September 2025, the most recent consistent dataset available. The 2026 dataset covers more than 13,000 creator-made video ads across 15 e-commerce categories, compared with 79,347 ads analyzed across the three-month 2025 comparison period. Spend-per-ad figures reflect media costs on advertising platforms, not Billo’s fees. Sporting goods changes were measured against the category’s 2025 monthly average; cross-category comparisons were made within June 2026.
