On Thursday afternoon, fans flooded into Mexico City's iconic Estadio Azteca to watch the World Cup opener between Mexico and South Africa. The match kicked off nearly six weeks of football festivities, with millions of fans worldwide following the action on screens.

Fans will track the tournament through various streaming platforms and news outlets, from Fox One to The Athletic. These companies expect a surge in registrations, and even retailers are trying tocapitalize on World Cup promotionsto get a piece of the action.

Fubo's Chief Financial Officer John Janedis said on a May earnings call that its marketing team "anticipatesa growth in trial users." Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch said on last month's earnings call, "The World Cup on FOX will be a positive for Fox One... We expect strong consumption across both our news and sports products."

Experts point out that brands can turn a one-time purchase or short-term subscription into a long-term relationship by offering flexibility, demonstrating value, and personalizing the fan experience.

Rachel Sheriff, Chief Customer Officer at Recurly, told CX Dive that consumers want flexibility in their subscriptions.

"People are almost managing their own subscription portfolio," Sheriff said. "There are streaming subscriptions, fitness and health subscriptions, financial subscriptions, maybe skincare subscriptions, and so on. Because there are so many subscriptions now, there's more churn in and out."

Because of this, according to a survey by Chargebee, more than three-quarters of consumers consider the ability topause, swap, or meter subscriptionsas very or extremely important.

Notably, thisflexibility actually boosts user loyalty: Recurly found that 38% of consumers prefer to pause a subscription rather than cancel it outright.

Sheriff said some brands are responding to this need for flexibility by offering "micro-subscriptions," allowing users to subscribe for a season, a specific sport, or a sporting event like the World Cup.

"We know these consumers and subscribers may only subscribe for a period of time, but we see many customers getting repeat subscriptions from those who paused or canceled, and then they come back," Sheriff said.

Many consumers do return. Recurly data shows that a quarter of registered users are actually returning customers of the merchant. This means "cancellation is not permanent," Sheriff said.

Show and communicate value

However, to get consumers to return, the key is creating a positive experience during their subscription.

"You have to deliver a truly excellent experience, and I think that's why you see streaming networks offering so many different types of packages," Sheriff said.

Brands must also prepare for traffic surges to avoid unnecessary friction. No one likes encountering buffering screens, payment failures, or difficulty switching from an ad-supported plan to an ad-free one while watching their team play.

"We work with many streaming platforms that host major streaming events, and we have to ensure we can handle the surge in traffic and platform pressure," Sheriff said.

Jon Picoult, founder of Watermark Consulting, said streaming services can turn World Cup-induced temporary subscriptions into long-term customers through the four C's: content, continuity, communication, and curation.

If users don't see value, any effort to convert customers into long-term subscribers will be in vain. In other words, content must be relevant, and companies should share relevant stories, shows, or interviews during and after the World Cup.

"Retaining trial subscribers is largely about maintaining momentum—even after the World Cup ends, keeping their interest in the platform alive," Picoult said in an email. "This could take the form of launching a new sports documentary series when the World Cup concludes, or simply highlighting late summer or early fall sports programming such as NFL preseason, NCAA college football, European soccer, MLS, Formula 1, NFL, and more for subscribers to watch."

Sheriff said this could take the form of a recap of World Cup highlights or reminding customers of VIP interviews they can watch on the brand's platform.

"I think you need to stay engaged from a value standpoint, so the first priority is reminding customers how great it felt to watch that match or that moment, and how perfectly that game was executed on the platform," Sheriff said.

Customization or personalization is also important. If companies have data on customer interests, personalizing for them is crucial.

Customers may have come to the platform because of the World Cup, but they may not know the platform offers other content.

"Among all the obstacles to retaining new subscribers, this knowledge gap is entirely controllable by streaming services," Picoult said.