Audience engagement soared for 'Bild', 'Sport Bild', and 'Welt' during the World Cup. Traffic, video views, and ad revenue all hit new highs. Even with Germany's early exit, digital platforms saw unprecedented results.
Digital publishers and media operators tracking sports traffic saw a major surge during the recent World Cup, as Axel Springer's sports brands reported record-breaking digital performance. Despite the early elimination of the German national team, 'Bild', 'Sport Bild', and 'Welt'-along with platforms 'TorAlarm' and 'Transfermarkt'-all posted their highest-ever reach, video views, and advertising revenue for a World Cup event.
According to Springer, 'Bild' surpassed 300 million page views during the tournament, doubling its traffic compared to the 2022 World Cup. The day after Germany's exit alone brought in over 30 million page views, marking the strongest digital sports day in 'Bild' history. Video content also saw a sharp rise, with more than 30 million views (excluding autoplay) across formats such as 'Lothar legt los', 'Reif ist live', 'Stammplatz on Tour', and 'BILD WM News'. The publisher deployed over 20 reporters and experts on-site, delivering comprehensive coverage and exclusive stories, including reports on Julian Nagelsmann's departure and Jürgen Klopp's involvement at the DFB summit.
'Sport Bild' also achieved new highs, with over 40 million page views and more than 2.5 million video views-tripling its 2022 World Cup results. 'Welt' reported its most successful digital sports event to date, reaching 36 million page views, a 37% increase over the previous tournament, and more than six million video starts.
Advertisers benefited from the increased reach, with brands like Volkswagen, Interwetten, Zalando, Ergo, Hyundai, Ford, and Uber Eats sponsoring various video formats throughout the World Cup.
The football app 'TorAlarm' recorded its best month ever, with over 1.2 million downloads worldwide, making the 2026 World Cup its most profitable month to date. Meanwhile, 'Transfermarkt' set new records with more than 180 million page impressions on World Cup content, 110 million player profile views, and over 3.2 billion content views across global social media channels. Its player name pronunciation tool was used 2.3 million times. Notably, the profile of Cape Verde's goalkeeper Vozinha was viewed 63% more often than that of Harry Kane during the tournament.
Springer's sports editorial leadership credited the results to a coordinated team effort across 'Bild', 'Sport Bild', 'TorAlarm', and 'Transfermarkt', emphasizing the value of unified digital coverage for both audiences and advertisers. Selina Wahl, General Manager Sport & Portfolio 'Bild', highlighted the combined football expertise and digital execution as key to the brands' World Cup success, with plans to continue this approach into the upcoming Bundesliga season.
For additional perspective on how German publishers are managing digital access and visibility, see this report on leading news sites restricting AI crawler access: German publishers limit AI bot access to protect content.
Axel Springer SE, headquartered in Berlin, is one of Europe's largest digital publishing houses. The company owns major brands including 'Bild', 'Welt', and 'Business Insider', and reported revenues exceeding €3.2 billion in 2025. With a workforce of over 16,000 employees worldwide, Springer continues to expand its digital portfolio and international reach.
