TikTok has been named FIFA’s first Preferred Platform for the 2026 World Cup, a designation the company says will enable deeper tournament integration and more comprehensive original coverage. The partnership was announced earlier this year, and TikTok is now making a direct case to UAE advertisers that its platform is where football audiences in the country are most active.
According to GWI data from 2025, 88 per cent of TikTok users in the UAE follow football, making it the most popular sport on the platform in the country.
More than 40 per cent of users there also participate in the sport themselves and are, the data suggests, 66 per cent more likely to engage in football compared to non-TikTok users. Globally, TikTok says 90 per cent of fans take at least one off-platform action after viewing sports content on the app.
The company is pointing to two regional campaigns to illustrate advertiser returns. In Saudi Arabia, Coca-Cola’s UEFA Euro 2024 campaign combined creator content, premium placements and a media partnership with beIN Sports.
TikTok says the campaign delivered a 3.3 per cent increase in click-through rate versus the industry benchmark and a 50 per cent uplift in video completion rates, alongside lifts in brand association and purchase intent.
Unilever ran a separate campaign across its Clear and Rexona brands during AFCON, using creator-led storytelling tied to football culture. TikTok reports the campaign reached nearly 30 million users, generated more than 13,000 pieces of user-generated content, and produced a 5.3 per cent lift in ad recall, which it says outperformed the benchmark by nearly three times.
The platform’s pitch to brands ahead of the tournament centres on a few recurring themes: aligning with cultural milestones rather than just match days, staying responsive to real-time developments, and building campaigns around creator communities rather than around broadcast-style placements. TikTok frames football in the UAE as something beyond sport, noting that football hashtags in Arabic have accumulated significant traction on the platform, with communities gathering around qualifiers, draws and match-day moments.
The data cited comes from GWI, an Ipsos-commissioned study conducted for TikTok, and a TikTok-commissioned survey conducted via Suzy in January 2023. Brands evaluating the platform’s claims should weigh that most of the supporting research was commissioned by TikTok itself.
