Taking advantage of the momentum from the 2026 FIFA World Cup , Itaú BBA assembled its team of analysts to produce an extensive report on a topic that has been a major highlight of the tournament outside the pitch: the shift in focus of sports and live media towards the streaming format.
Within this trend, Brazil is not merely a spectator. Proof of this is the fact that CazéTV will be the only platform in the country to broadcast all 104 games of the competition, breaking the historical monopoly of linear TV.
The investment bank provides other data as background to this context. Starting with the growth of advertising budgets in the Brazilian market, which jumped from US$11.2 billion in 2021 to US$15.8 billion in 2025. And with the projection that they will reach US$24.4 billion by 2030.
"Almost all of this growth is driven by digital, which has been gaining market share from all traditional formats, especially linear TV," emphasizes Itaú BBA. "In practice, almost all additional advertising investment in Brazil over the next five years will be digital."
According to the bank, TV's share of this pie is expected to fall from around 33% in 2021 to 20% by 2030. On the other hand, the projection is that the share of digital advertising will increase from almost 50% to 67% in that period, as advertisers continue to follow the online audience.
The report also shows that the share of streaming platforms and YouTube in home video consumption grew from 26% in 2023 to around 37% in April of this year. Meanwhile, linear TV fell from approximately 74% to 63%.
In April, YouTube alone accounted for 21.3% of this entire audience. In other figures, the platform reaches 144 million users in Brazil, representing 78.6% of the country's internet user base.
"For advertisers, this means that audiences are increasingly focusing on digital platforms that are funded by advertising and, crucially for sports, capable of broadcasting live, simultaneous events on a national scale," analysts say.
In this context, the report draws attention to the fact that traditional broadcasters are trying to advance in this field. The biggest example is the Globo group, which for years dominated this arena. And which, in 2025, launched Ge TV, its sports channel on YouTube. Today, it has more than 17 million subscribers.
On the other hand, Itaú BBA highlights the "CazéTV phenomenon," a sports channel on YouTube controlled by LiveMode , with over 31 million subscribers. And which, in addition to the World Cup, has already secured the broadcasting rights for competitions such as the 2026 Winter Olympics, 100% free to the public.
“This model makes traditional broadcasters irrelevant in emerging markets. By leveraging influencer engagement and digital storytelling first, CazéTV has gained massive audiences with advertising support,” the bank notes.
Analysts also point out that, with this format, the channel reached 56 million viewers during the Paris Olympics in 2024. And that this direct-to-air model represents a serious long-term threat to traditional regional television networks.
The bank also points out that LiveMode illustrates the role of specialized media operators in the next phase of monetizing broadcast rights, since its model combines capabilities such as rights aggregation, content production, and distribution on its own or partner platforms.
According to Itaú BBA, CazéTV, the "crown jewel" of this machine, adds a layer of digital monetization and expands the range of formats for advertisers, with a model built around sponsorships, brand integrations, and results-oriented campaigns.
Public reports indicate that the channel and YouTube sold 11 master sponsorship slots for the World Cup, for approximately R$ 185 million each, which implies around R$ 2 billion in sponsorship revenue.
According to analysts, 2026 will be a crucial year for the platform, which, starting with the World Cup, will have a unique opportunity to demonstrate its national reach, appeal to sponsors, and capacity for large-scale execution.
Itaú BBA also notes that live sporting events are rare and difficult to replicate, which is crucial in an era of advances in generative artificial intelligence. This dynamic should continue to attract advertising to live broadcasts and fuel the growth of sports advertising on streaming platforms.
Broadcast rights
Beyond technology and changing consumption habits, the report also highlights a no less relevant scenario of structural transformation in the field of football broadcasting rights in Brazil.
In this area, the bank notes that the total value of rights for this type of sport in the country grew from R$ 2.6 billion in 2019 to R$ 5.4 billion in 2025. This figure is still far from values such as the Premier League, with €1.97 billion, and LaLiga, with €990 million.
Despite this difference, analysts understand that the formation of the Libra and Futebol Forte União trade blocs was a key factor in this growth. As well as regulatory changes such as the Home Team Law and the SAF Law, which opened the doors to institutional capital and a more results-oriented vision.
The creation of trading blocs, in turn, paved the way for new platforms, such as Amazon Prime Video, Record, and YouTube itself, which unlocked better monetization trends in the sector.
Despite this progress, the report shows that Brazilian football still leaves a lot of money on the table. For comparison, the sports rights market in Brazil represents only 0.043% of GDP, the lowest percentage among the major global markets. In the United States, this figure is 0.099%.
To map the size of this "money left on the table," Itaú BBA ran simulations of the sector's addressable market in the country. As a result, these projections point to an amount of R$ 7.4 billion to R$ 12.4 billion, compared to the current R$ 5.4 billion.
To unlock these figures, analysts highlight that the creation of a single football league is a crucial factor, as is the professionalization of sports media rights sales in the local market.
“A more unified structure could create a larger and more transparent rights package. This could potentially improve bargaining power and support a more competitive bidding environment for football media rights,” analysts say.
