Last Tuesday, more than 20.2 million viewers on average followed the elimination of the France team by Spain on M6. The channel’s audience record since the start of the 2026 World Cup.
The president of the audiovisual group welcomes this.
“We have already achieved our turnover targets. It exceeded that of the 2024 Olympic Games produced by France Télévisions (104 million euros). The 2026 World Cup therefore becomes the biggest advertising event in history”confided David Larramendy during an interview given to The Team.
And yet, “ the World Cup will not be profitable »confesses the business manager. According to
The Parisianthe absence of the Blues in the final should result in a shortfall of five to six million euros for M6.
2026 World Cup, M6 is not profitable
“If we talk about profitability during the competition, a World Cup has never brought in moneyexplains Pierre Rondeau, sports economist, cited by Radio France.
M6 will be able to highlight its audience records for the 2025-2026 season, to then renegotiate the value of its advertising windows for other programs, after the World Cup. »
In March 2024, M6 had won the rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cups. TF1, the historic broadcaster of the competition in France, considered them too expensive. An amount of 120 million euros had been mentioned.
