Nike and Adidas in World Cup ad battle as YouTube views reveal clear winner

Adidas reportedly spent £50m on its World Cup advert, but on YouTube it has been outrun by Nike’s rival offering by a margin of ten to one. The German brand’s “Backyard Legends” film has pulled in about seven million views since launch, while Nike’s “Rip the Script” boasts 76 million. Neither company will confirm the exact cost of their campaigns, but the sums run into tens of millions. Both ads are packed with A‑list talent. Nike fields Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James. Adidas counters with Lamine Yamal, Jude Bellingham, Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane and an AI‑generated David Beckham. The eye‑watering budgets are nothing new, according to the brands, but this year they have gone bigger and bolder than ever. Camilo Andrade, Nike’s vice‑president and general manager of global football, said: “What has changed is the speed and shape of culture. In the digital age, stories travel faster, fragment faster, and get reinterpreted faster. That means the old model of one polished film doing all the work is no longer enough.” Andrade added that for Nike, success was never going to be measured only by how many people watched a film. “When that starts happening, you know the work is moving beyond advertising and becoming part of football culture,” he said.