The survey of 10,000 media sources by Factiva Insight, which examined media mentions of tournament sponsors from January 1 through to the final, showed tournament official beer Heineken being mentioned in 23% of stories related to the event, which ended with South Africa's victory over England on October 20.
Behind Heineken was French state rail company SNCF, which was official transport partner for the Paris-hosted World Cup. For both sponsors the coverage was unexpected and not entirely favourable.
SNCF was hit by strikes during the tournament, putting in doubt the ability of ticket holders to get to the finals. SNCF was mentioned in 13% of World Cup related stories but according to Muriel De Beboisseson, a spokeswoman for Factiva, the coverage "was not positive at all because people were wondering if they were going to be able to attend the finals".
Heineken was embroiled in controversy during the tournament as a result of a court case brought by French anti-alcohol addiction association ANPAA, which forced the drinks company to withdraw its World Cup logo and banner advertisement from outside of bars in France.
The judge in the case also ordered the company to withdraw advertising depicting six bottles as a lineout and a bottle top as a rugby ball, and another showing a glass with the word "Heineken" on it with a stadium in the background. The ruling came on September 14th with the tournament already underway and its advertising campaign in full swing.
Heineken has appealed the judgement, while its senior communications management is reported to be relaxed about the coverage the case has brought it.
After SNCF, Orange was on 10%, Adidas on 7% and Emirates, which was the official airline to the tournament, was also on 7%.
Among sporting brands Adidas, the official supplier to the World Cup and sponsor of favourites the All Blacks, had more than half of the share of voice associated with the tournament. A jersey colour clash against Scotland in the group stages helped increase coverage for the brand, the report suggests.
Among financial sponsors, Societe Generale benefited in terms of pure volume of mentions in the mainstream media, although it reported lower than expected earnings on the eve of the Rugby World Cup.
Paid for and republished stories were excluded from the survey.