'Brand Beckham' Readership Wins the World Cup as Off-Pitch Stories Rival the On-Field Action
by on 23rd Jul 2026 in News
David Beckham may not have kicked a ball or appeared as a UK television pundit during this summer’s World Cup, but the former England captain still emerged as one of the tournament’s biggest readership draws, according to new data from Taboola.
Data from Taboola’s Newsroom, which captures readership behaviour across the platform’s national publisher network, shows that UK articles about Beckham attracted 2.2 million pageviews during the tournament.
That put him level with Lionel Messi and ahead of almost every other leading footballer, including Erling Haaland, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, and Lamine Yamal. Only England stars Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane generated more readership.
When combined with the 889,000 pageviews generated by articles about Victoria Beckham, "Brand Beckham" attracted almost 3.1 million pageviews – more than any individual on Taboola’s list other than Bellingham.
Beckham’s presence extended well beyond editorial coverage. He was also used in World Cup campaigns by at least 11 different brands and organisations, including Major League Soccer, Adidas, Lay’s, Stella Artois, Home Depot, Lenovo, McDonald’s, Ninja Kitchen, Pepsi, Verizon, and Bank of America.
FIFA itself also became a major source of readership interest. Articles about FIFA president Gianni Infantino generated 962,000 pageviews amid scrutiny of the tournament’s management and the controversy surrounding Folarin Balogun’s red card.
The most read-about World Cup personalities were:
- Jude Bellingham – 3.5 million pageviews
- Harry Kane – 2.4 million pageviews
- David Beckham – 2.2 million pageviews
- Lionel Messi – 2.2 million pageviews
- Wayne Rooney – 1.9 million pageviews
Dave Struzzi, communications lead at Taboola, said: "This was the first World Cup where audience interest was as much about what was happening away from the pitch as what was happening on it."
"The Beckhams, global music stars and FIFA’s own leadership competed with current players for readers’ attention throughout the tournament. Beckham’s performance is particularly remarkable: he did not play, manage or appear as a UK pundit, yet still attracted as many pageviews as Lionel Messi and more than Cristiano Ronaldo."
"For publishers and advertisers, the lesson is clear. Future sporting events should be approached as much broader cultural and entertainment moments, rather than simply a collection of fixtures. Audiences will move quickly between sporting achievement, celebrity, controversy and commercial storytelling, and organisations that prepare content across all of these areas will be best placed to capture their attention."
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