Fox is under fire for missing on-field action during the first match of the World Cup last week.
Many sports fans were irate when the network aired a full-screen ad when play resumed after a water break during last Thursday’s Mexico–South Africa match.
In the second half, the referee called for the newly instated hydration break, but the call came during a replay, which led to a miscommunication over when the three-minute break actually started.
Fox ran its full-screen ad late, and because the break didn’t last the full three minutes, players were reportedly left stalling on the field — and many Fox viewers missed the restart entirely.
“The reason that I keep coming back to these games as a fan is for 45 solid minutes of entertainment. Anything that interrupts that, whether it’s [these hydration breaks] or anything else, is not great for the game,” Garrett Denney, an avid World Cup fan and frequent user of the World Cup Reddit page, said. “What we want to see is that kind of rhythm and tempo, the intensity for a full half of soccer.”
Fox declined to comment.
The hydration break is new to the World Cup. FIFA announced it in December as a way to protect players’ health in the summer heat. In every match, the referee is to call for a break around the 22-minute mark of both halves, regardless of weather.
A FIFA spokesperson declined to comment, but pointed to a previous press release describing the breaks as a “focused attempt to ensure the best possible conditions for players, drawing upon the experiences of previous tournaments.”
The extra minutes also created something else — a new advertising window, and broadcasters are taking advantage.
Networks are supposed to leave the on-field action 20 seconds after the referee signals the break and return 30 seconds before play resumes, allowing for ads of up to two minutes and 10 seconds in total. They can air any full-screen ad they’d like, or run a split-screen ad — though a split-screen has to feature a FIFA partner, like Coca-Cola or Adidas.
The stakes are especially high for Fox, which is also leaning on the tournament to promote Fox One, its streaming service that lets subscribers watch its programming without a traditional pay-TV subscription. The World Cup broadcast has been a major plus for the platform, which costs $19.99 a month.
For some soccer fans, though, the commercial breaks are an intrusions.
“The FIFA hydration break is pure capitalism,” comedian Kevin Fredericks wrote on X.
Musician Lloyd Cole made a similar point about the new ad windows: “US tv finally got their 4 quarters. Fifa, corrupt? Fifa?”
After Fox’s stumble, many fans started questioning the intention behind the rule itself.
That frustration has pushed some viewers toward an alternative: Telemundo. The Spanish-language network, available through the Peacock streaming platform, opted for minimal hydration-break ads instead of full-screen takeovers.
During the same Mexico–South Africa match, while Fox aired its full-screen ad, Telemundo kept players on camera, let its commentators share their thoughts, and ran a Lays ad in the corner of the screen. The network has described it as a conscious decision to prioritize authenticity and keep viewers immersed.
“No ads on Telemundo and I’m learning Spanish at the same time!” one user quipped on the World Cup subreddit.
Denney, who’s rooting for Team USA, said his family prefers the Telemundo stream too — even with only part of the household fluent in Spanish.
“Part of our household is fully fluent in Spanish, part is not. And even despite the language barrier, we’ve really gravitated toward the quality of the Telemundo stream,” Denney said. “It’s really more of a rhythmic commentary. You can get deep into the game, you’re not pulled so far out of that experience and it feels almost like you’re at the stadium.”
