Here’s what’s shaping the industry right now.
How Adidas is using anime to reach casual football fans ahead of the World Cup.
Adidas have partnered with CLOT, Edison Chen’s Hong Kong streetwear label, to launch the Mundial apparel and footwear collection ahead of the World Cup, using some anime-style visuals to bring the campaign to life.
This is a key shift in how sports brands show up at the World Cup. Adidas aren’t just trying to promote their latest boots or performance gear, they’re tapping into what younger audiences and casual fans want to see.
As Adidas said in their press release, “Ultimately, the adidas Originals and CLOT Mundial Collection by Edison Chen is not about looking back; it is about rethreading football into a new generation.”
DAZN buys ViewLift for $100M.
DAZN is pivoting from a global B2C streamer to the invisible backbone of sports broadcasting with its $100 million acquisition of ViewLift. By absorbing the tech layer behind 15+ major US pro teams and leagues like the NHL and LIV Golf, DAZN is shifting into a B2B2C powerhouse.
Rather than just bidding for rights, they are now selling the “SaaS toolkit” that allows clubs to launch their own branded streaming apps. In plain English: DAZN just became the Shopify of sports, they don’t care whose logo is on the front of the app, as long as they own the infrastructure and the data underneath it.
Expedia name IShowSpeed it’s official travel partner.
Expedia is making a “big bet” on the creator economy by naming IShowSpeed its Official Travel Partner in a year-long global deal.
The partnership kicked off with a marathon 12-hour livestream across four Caribbean nations, anchored by a custom Exspeedia.com microsite where fans can vote on destinations and book trips in real time. By bypassing traditional ads for a high-energy, interactive broadcast, Expedia is treating a creator’s reach as its primary distribution channel.
1 in 10 US dollars is forecast to run through the TikTok shop by 2028.
TikTok Shop is projected to leap from 1% to 10% of total US retail sales by 2028, according to Circana’s Chief Retail Adviser. This isn’t just a bold forecast; independent data shows the platform processed $4.9 billion in US sales in Q1 2026 alone, nearly doubling year-on-year.
With prestige giants like Ralph Lauren and Ulta Beauty recently opening storefronts, the platform has officially graduated from “experimental” to a core distribution pillar. Social commerce is no longer a side hustle for brands. If a tenth of all US spending is about to flow through a single video app.
Saudi Arabia PIF pulls LIV Golf funding.
LIV Golf’s era of bottomless subsidy is coming to an end, with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) confirming it will cease funding the league after the 2026 season. After injecting over $5.3 billion into the project, and reportedly burning through $100 million a month, the PIF has signalled that the massive capital requirements no longer align with its shifting investment strategy.
