Get Ready for the 2026 World Cup: Brazil iGaming Case Study
The FIFA World Cup 2026 is fast approaching, and you need to get your campaigns ready. Think GEOs, formats, creatives, all the setup and pre-launch prep you need before the big day(s) arrive.
Lucky for you, this year’s event will cover even more matches (104 instead of 64). This means more GEOs, higher volumes, plus cheaper and newer traffic potential.
Not sure how to get started? Then check out what our partner achieved with one of the most burning GEOs for all the sporting events: Brazil. He started early and managed to fine-tune his campaign to get results worth replicating.
Careful, his approach might not be too straightforward, but the outcome will surprise you.
Need more info to start your World Cup 2026 Campaigns? Read the full article:
Key Information About the Ad Campaign
- GEO: Brazil
- Ad Format: Direct Click
- Traffic Source: PropellerAds
- Conversion Type: CPR (Cost Per Registration), followed by optimization for deposits
- Campaign Period: January – April 2026
- Conversion Tracker: S2S Postback
- Pricing Model: CPA Goal
- Platforms: Mobile & Desktop
- Test Budget: $1,000
Our client, an experienced media buyer working with a large licensed direct advertiser in the iGaming vertical, launched two campaigns. He was initially tracking registration, and then once we got a better picture of his performance, with our assistance, he switched to tracking deposits as well.
For these Brazil campaigns, he used a direct flow, with no pre-landers, sending users straight to his page through the Popunder Direct Click traffic. This way, he could send top-converting new traffic straight to his offer.
The media buyer then set an S2S Postback conversion tracking for his conversions (first for the registrations and later for deposits as well) – for a full-funnel tracking – as it’s required with the CPA Goal.
When he launched his first campaign, the media buyer was strictly following registrations. But, based on the data he collected, it wasn’t clear what slices were bringing results. That’s when we jumped in, suggesting he switch his strategy and optimize it to track deposits, toward the end of February.
What did he get at the end of the 4 months? See for yourself:
Brazil iGaming Direct Click Campaign Totals
What Makes Brazil so Special for iGaming?
Brazil is the #1 iGaming GEO on PropellerAds, and in general. A huge volume, Tier 3 traffic source, and the largest economy in South America. Predominantly covered by mobile users (~180M and 95% of internet users), online shopping (55% of Latin America’s eComm sales), and a top priority when it comes to iGaming, in general.
The projected iGaming total revenue of 2026 in Brazil is expected to be $2.82B, with the debut of the full regulation for this industry. Meanwhile, the official 2022 World Cup data show that 2.7B users engaged with the event through digital/Streaming environment, and 2.2B on Social Media from the total media engagement of 5Bn.
The Testing Phase: Building the Data Foundation
Initially, this media buyer launched his test campaign on a CPR bidding model. He set a $1k budget for it, and when he gathered enough data, he fine-tuned. As registrations were going up, despite not seeing which zones were actually converting from registrations, he continued like this until the end of February.
Initial Brazil iGaming Campaign Results (Campaign 1)
As you can see from the stats above, his impressions, clicks, and registrations were increasing over the first two months. He also checked his CTR, which was stable, and as the registrations increased, it confirmed that his zone quality was good.
But our manager wouldn’t have it, so he suggested they have a consultation. Knowing that with the S2S Postback tracking, no data gets lost, the manager instructed the media buyer on how to track his deposits as well. And there they were – 260 deposits.
That’s when our media buyers decided to go for a more proactive approach, tracking both funnel stages (registration and deposit). A move that enabled more accurate real-time traffic quality analysis.
Aside from the deposits, he got +133K clicks and +5.4K registrations, thanks to the Direct Clicks pattern.
What does Direct Click do differently? It sends AI pre-qualified users to your offer, eliminates the need for creatives, and delivers clicks before you even pay for them.
Compared to a standard campaign, where you bid for attention and try to get intent, Direct Click lets you pay for actual results. You go straight to ready-engaged clicks and registrations that lead to actual deposits. In short:
- Performance data that knows what placement converts for your type of offer
- No drop-off point to waste your budget on uninterested clicks
- Filtered verified human actions
The Optimization Phase: Timing + Fine-Tuning = Top Results
Tracking deposits from day one, our media buyer had gathered enough data to start optimizing for them. This way, he turned almost two months of gathering registration into a deposit optimization model, reaching a 7.81% registrations-to-deposit rate in 1 month.
It was time to bring the big toys out. So, with the help of his PropellerAds account manager, who suggested to start tracking deposits, our partner made the switch from registrations as his KPI to deposits.
Post Optimization Brazil iGaming Campaign Results (Campaign 2)
This key change to shifting from optimization based on registration cost (CPR) to direct buying for deposits via Direct Click was to reach the audience directly. Since the system immediately recognizes deposits as the primary conversion, the campaign automatically optimizes toward the client’s KPI.
And you can see from the charts how his second campaign really started to pick up:
- He nearly doubled his click volume in March alone.
- The algorithm kept his CTR stable and supported his conversions to increase – showing exactly what Direct Click promises – better quality, not just quantity.
- The CTR (Click-Through Rate) kept relatively steady, with a small natural drop from 3.20% to 2.91%, signalling the natural audience saturation, with March reaching into broader zones and larger inventories. Not a bad sign at all, considering his CR.
But before we move forward, we must also talk about the registrations and deposits:
- While registrations soared by almost 1K after optimizing for deposits, our partners’ deposits almost doubled compared to the two months prior, reaching 490 and 65.33% of the total deposits.
Keep in mind that April also included a whole week of online traffic slowdown around the Easter period. Since Brazil is one of the most religious countries, the holiday leads to travel spikes, less screen time, lower promotional activity, and even advertisers pausing campaigns. While online traffic shifts to retail predominantly.
The result: 490 deposits in two months (65.33% of the total campaign deposits), after the optimization switch.
Let’s Talk Conversion Rate
Most iGaming advertisers wait for the World Cup to launch. But this media buyer gives a good example of how investing time (4 months to be more specific) into your whitelists pays out in the end. What he built is a sustainable and scalable whitelist zones campaign.
Here’s why:
Campaign1 & Campaign2 Significant Conversion Rates
He started his first campaign with a registration KPI, which brought a 4.04% (Jan+Feb Registrations ÷ Jan+Feb Clicks) average clicks-to-registrations CR1. However, the registrations-to-deposits CR2 turned out to be more appealing.
As you already saw, after consulting with his PropellerAds manager, the media buyer optimized his campaign with a deposit KPI first strategy toward the end of February. While we know it takes a bit for the Direct Click campaign to start performing, you can already see the jump in deposits in the first campaign too (January to February), with a ~50% increase, from 105 to 155.
Although the switch occurred toward the end of February, as is the case with any optimization change, the Direct Click algorithm needed time to recalibrate, so the impact is much more significant in March.
Since he now had a new goal, he launched campaign 2 as we continued monitoring the new registrations-to-deposits CR, which amounted to 6.25% throughout the entire period. You can see it registered its peak in March with 7.81%.
February to March CR Fluctuations
To anticipate your question, the CR1 drop from February to March is a direct result of the new campaign algorithm opening to a broader zone pool and finding even more depositors. As from a campaign to another, he changes focus from cheaper registrations to deposits, accepting more clicks overall, so shifting the clicks-to-registrations rate.
Although you might be tempted to see this as underperformance, know that it’s just the algorithm doing exactly what it was designed to do: optimizing for the more valuable event for this media buyer.
While CR1 might make you think underperformance, CR2 registers a massive deposit quality, delivering yet another ~50% hike in the number of deposits (from 5.25% to 7.81%) – confirming the algorithm has found the target audience. And overall, campaign 2 was overperforming campaign 1.
March to April CR Fluctuations
The 0.93% (from 7.81% to 6.88%) drop that looks like regression is actually the Direct Click signal that the breakthrough month (March) has ended, and the algorithm is finally settling into a sustainable rhythm. The zone pool widens to maintain the volume required, stabilizing the CR2.
At the same time, it is also a normal reaction caused by the market volatility during Easter week in Brazil.
What He Actually Built: The Whitelist
If you treat these campaigns as a mere 12,003 registrations and 750 deposits, then you might think (especially compared to our other Case Studies) it’s not really that significant. Well, that’s because you’re missing the main point.
The far more valuable result our media buyer got from this four-month-long campaign, especially going toward the World Cup period, is a deposit-qualified zone whitelist that no campaign you start fresh in June will get you.
Since Direct Click is based on an algorithm set to constantly search and identify the best-performing traffic, it performs better with every deposit signal it detects from the campaign.
You see, it all boils down to this: every deposit that fired during the two campaigns he launched showed PropellerAds’ algorithms specifically which zones in Brazil generate the most users who open accounts and actually fund them.
Not Clicks. Not Registrations. And definitely not wasted resources.
Investing his time and real conversion data, he built a special whitelist-like campaign. He now owns four months of a clear registration-to-deposit signal. Real, palpable depositors, identified, ranked, and ready. At the same time, filtering out the zones with no deposits.
He fed it all into his Direct Click algorithm that now, for the same parameters, no longer needs to test, but straight on perform. That is the true value of these campaigns.
Aside from the obvious 👇
Bottom Line Results: TL;DR
Final Brazil iGaming Campaign: Total Results
- 10,000,245 Impressions, 303,818 Clicks, average 3.04% CTR
- 12,003 Registrations, 750 Deposits, 4.04% CR1, and 7.44% registrations-deposits rate (CR2)
- a stable zone whitelist ready to fire during high-volume events
Based on the media buyer’s feedback, these campaigns successfully met his Cost Per Deposit KPI.
Why Does This Case Study Matter for The World Cup
Like any major market event, the World Cup doesn’t start on matchday – including the preparation that needs to happen months before. And yes, that means plenty of time, proper testing, and plenty of data collection.
Our media buyer now has something many of his competitors don’t: proven zones and deposit-optimized Direct Click campaigns ready to scale for huge traffic spikes. And he also still has plenty of time for more successful campaigns like these, other formats, and campaign creatives testing when needed.
Trading click volume for click quality, he achieved exactly what his deposit-based campaign was meant to do. Especially, before a huge traffic event like the World Cup, Euro, or Champions League.
He’s got the proof that his optimization is working and is ready to scale even more. So, no starting from 0 for this media buyer, on the big World Cup days.
Olexandr Shovkun, Senior Team Lead of the Accounting Team:
The real asset here isn’t the 750 deposits. It’s the four months of deposit-qualified zone data behind them. Start early, track full-funnel from day one, and let your whitelist do the heavy lifting when the big traffic waves hit. The teams that win in June are the ones who did the groundwork in January.
And the surprising part of these campaigns was never meant to be the deposits or registrations. But the four months of deposit-qualified zone data are ready to scale the moment the World Cup traffic starts pouring in.
Can you identify similar campaigns you can replicate and scale in your portfolio? If not, this is your sign to start building the infrastructure that the success of your campaigns relies on for this June event!
If yes, start diversifying even more. The World Cup is anticipated to generate huge traffic volumes, with many users ready to convert.
Already know what your campaign looks like? Then head right over to your PropellerAds account, and…
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