The summer of 2026 is delivering one of the densest concentrations of sports tentpoles in recent memory. The FIFA World Cup arrives in June and Ravi Kandikonda, Chief Marketing Officer at Zillow, describes it as “13 Super Bowls happening over a concentrated few weeks time” — followed by a calendar that runs through the Women’s World Cup 
cycle and toward the LA28 Summer Olympic Game.

For brands, broadcasters, and sports properties, these moments serve as eye-opening test cases for a thesis that has been building across the industry for years: that fandom, not audience, is the richest asset.

Grasping the distinction is crucial. Audiences are rented, they are temporary, their attention, ephemeral. But fans! Fans are cultivated, their attention, constant, and long-lasting. So while audiences deliver impressions; fans deliver advocacy, loyalty, and durable lifetime value.

In "The Fandom Advantage," a new report from Canvas Worldwide, we examine how three constituencies — broadcast and streaming platforms, brands, and sports properties — are approaching this new era as both opportunity and inflection point. Drawing on original executive interviews and proprietary research, the report reveals how the relationship between fans and the entities competing for their attention is evolving dramatically.

Read the full report here.