Ken Shipp
SBS "absolutely" intends to retain the FIFA World Cup broadcast rights, according to Ken Shipp, director of sport at SBS.
In an exclusive interview with AdNews, Shipp explained football was in “SBS’s DNA.”
"The World Cup has been something we've shown since 1986,” said Shipp.
“So, would we want to continue covering it? Absolutely.”
The declaration comes off the back of a record-breaking tournament.
More than 5.26 million Australians tuned in for the final, making it the most-watched World Cup match in SBS history.
The total TV average audience was 2.7 million, with 56.5% watching on SBS On Demand.
Cumulative Total TV reach for 2026 reached 18.04 million, an estimated 64% of Australia's population, with total consumption hours topping 209 million.
Reflecting on SBS’s now forty year partnership with FIFA, Shipp told AdNews SBS's relationship with FIFA was built on more than money, though he acknowledged the financial dimension was unavoidable.
“I think, at the end of the day, they're very much interested in money, of course,” he said.
“So, the number that we pay them has to be considered by them to be a reasonable sum. But there are other factors that play into this.
“Being free to air is quite important to FIFA, having broad exposure for them, their event, themselves and their sponsors is a really positive aspect in terms of what we do as SBS, we buy the rights, we buy them exclusive, we show everything live and free.”
Shipp explained FIFA also valued SBS's charter obligations and its history with the game, including its coverage of the Women's World Cup.
“Our mission and our charter is to bring people together, to bring diverse cultures together, in a celebration of the world game.
“Those are quite critical aspects. Contractually, we're easy to deal with because we know how the contract works. We’ve built a strong relationship with them where, you know, we worked together very well.
“So it's a simple thing for FIFA just to continue with that relationship. As long as we can get the number right.”
Shipp stressed the unique nature of SBS’s coverage.
“Most of the world markets are a combination of pay and free,” he said.
“The majority of matches are held by the pay networks and that's sort of a standard approach that all rights holders, including FIFA use, to try and maximise the rights revenue returned to them.
“We put forward our best number and we bring to the table 100% live and free coverage and honestly, I think SBS is probably the only broadcaster in the world who does that.”
Speaking to the history of the partnership, Shipp explained how SBS came to control the Australian World Cup broadcast, starting with the ABC's early involvement through the Asian Broadcasting Union in 1986, and the gap SBS moved to fill.
“They only chose a very few select matches, key finals, some England games, and therefore SBS sort of came in and offered to pick up the rest of the balance of the matches.”
The Asian Broadcasting Union held the rights for three consecutive tournaments, 1990, 1994 and 1998, and SBS, as a member of the union, ultimately outbid the ABC for exclusive rights across that period.
"There were no real commercial members in the ABU and there was no commercial interest beyond ABC and SBS," Shipp said.
By 2002, the rights had moved to a direct FIFA sale, and for the first time SBS faced meaningful competition.
Nine entered the bidding for a select package of matches, banking on Australia qualifying for the tournament.
"Channel Nine at that point decided to come in and buy a select group of matches for 2002 on the basis that Australia would qualify, which sadly they did not, and SBS picked up the remaining matches.
“Maybe there were 40 or 42 matches that we picked up in 2002, and we didn't pay a lot for them."
Nine's experience left it reluctant to re-enter the market.
FIFA sold 2006 and 2010 as a combined package, and with little competition, SBS secured both tournaments at a price Shipp described as commercially significant but not extreme.
"I think Nine felt a bit burnt by the situation in 2002 where they hoped Australia would get in and they didn't," he said.
“But we purchased the rights to those for, you know, a pretty reasonable sum.
“I mean, you know, a significant reasonable commercial number, not a sort of telephone numbers, but for SBS, quite a lot of money.
“Thankfully, the Socceroos qualified for 2006. And then again in 2010. So actually, from our perspective, that deal represented huge value to us and it continued that ongoing relationship that we had.”
For the 2026 rights, FIFA went direct to market following the Women's World Cup success in Australia, with the competition becoming significantly stiffer.
Network 10/Paramount+, Nine/Stan and at least one other broadcaster all in the running for the rights.
“We had quite a fair amount of competition in that space at that time because of that tournament,” said Shipp.
“I know that channel 10 was in it, 10 / paramount. I know that 9/Stan was looking at it. And also there was one other. Maybe seven.
“But at the end of the day, surprisingly, SBS actually won that bid. And we've just seen the huge success.”
Speaking to that success, Shipp referred to the overwhelmingly positive response SBS’s 2026 world cup sponsors enjoyed.
“I think our sponsors are extremely happy. I know our colleagues in commercial media sales are very, very happy,” he said.
“We, my team, editorially have worked quite closely with the sponsors and their agencies to bring their sort of brands to life during the tournament.
“And given the audience numbers that we have, and the sort of public response we've had in terms of, you know, the praise that we've received as a network for our coverage — I think if I was there, I would be absolutely ecstatic.”
SBS is now focused on retaining the new audiences the tournament generated, with Shipp flagging a refresh of the network's sports strategy.
“It's something that's sort of very front of mind for us. We've seen that huge growth in that social media space,” he said.
“You know, we're in the process of refreshing our sports strategy.
“A primary focus of that refreshed strategy will be to look at digital publishing, resourcing, thinking about how we allocate our budgets and resources now, and looking at how we can shuffle that, to make sure that we do leverage that new audience that we've got.
“I think it's a big opportunity.”
Looking to the future, the SBS director forecast a continued pattern of growth, largely enabled by the introduction of social media.
“I think it's a really positive sign that this event has done so well,” said Shipp.
“From my perspective, I sort of credit a lot of the growth of the interest and impact of the World Cup around social media.
“Social media has been a developing platform. And really, really great for prompting awareness and really spreads across the different demographic groups.
“So I think, given social media will continue and probably expand, that I think that we will continue to see growth.
“I definitely, absolutely predict future growth.”
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