ITV is expected to have generated as much as £7m in additional advertising revenue from the Rugby World Cup, thanks largely to England's unexpected journey to last Saturday's final.
The story was a very different one commercially for ITV during the 2006 football World Cup in Germany, when England bombed out at the quarter-final stage.
Reportedly, the broadcaster fell millions of pounds short of its ad revenue targets for the tournament.
But was this shortfall directly due to England's poor displays? Were its lower-than-expected ad revenues due to the simple fact that - egged on by expected success for Sven and co - ITV pitched too high a price for its ad slots?
Revenue affected
Chris Hayward, ZenithOptimedia's head of investment, notes: "The success of the national team absolutely dictates the commercial success of a tournament for the broadcaster.
"If England hadn't got through to the Rugby World Cup final, undoubtedly there would have been a fall in viewers that would have affected the amount of money put in late by advertisers."
Using the Football World Cup 2006 as a model, Hayward estimates that if the England rugby squad had not made it to the semi-final, the audience would have been reduced by 30% and, therefore, the ad revenues around the next match would have been reduced by at least the same amount.
Gary Digby, managing director of ITV Customer Relations, says acquiring the rights to major sporting events remains a "gamble".
He says: "There's no guarantee how your team will progress. Buying any major sports event is a gamble and it only pays off if England do well."
On the question of this year's Rugby World Cup, Digby adds: "We could have had an absolute disaster on our hands if we hadn't got through and not been able to fill the ad slots."
Others believe the success of England's sports teams translates into success for the broadcaster a little further into the future.
Richard Oliver, head of investment at Universal McCann, says: "The effect is more retrospective. This type of success can help ITV's trading balances.
"It can turn around to advertisers during the trading season and use the Rugby World Cup performance as proof of its ability to deliver - which encourages more business with it in the future."
Meanwhile, Chris Locke, group trading director of Starcom, says: "A lot of advertisers keep away from these events for several reasons: if they can't be the lead brand in their sector, the high costs and if they don't have a creative that is dazzling enough for this type of coverage."
However, the impact of the success, or otherwise, of England's sports teams on pay-TV broadcasters seems less clear cut.
While free-to-air broadcasters acquire sports rights to deliver event-driven ratings winners, pay-TV broadcasters acquire sports rights with the aim of signing-up subscribers.
As such, pay-TV sports broadcasters tend not to suffer nearly as much as their free-to-air peers following poor performances on the pitch.
Oliver says: "There was a different rationale behind Sky buying the rights to the World Cup cricket.
"Yes, it might have made slightly more money from ad revenue if England had got to the final, but it's more about building an entire set of rights so it can position itself as the home of sport, encouraging more subscriptions."
Create demand
However, Timothy Ryan, pay-TV broadcaster Setanta's marketing director for Great Britain, stresses that advertising is important for pay-TV players.
He says: "Next year, when we have the rights to the FA Cup, a good performance from England will create demand for our content, which is obviously an important part of the business model and will drive both our subscription and ad revenues."
It is agreed across the industry that broadcasters such as ITV can rarely recoup the vast sums paid out for the rights to major sporting events.
So why does ITV continue to invest? What is the benefit?
ITV's Digby says: "We can't always have a straight return on our investments.
"But what we are trying to do is have a halo effect of the whole of ITV to show advertisers we can offer a varied demographic."
COST OF RIGHTS
Football World Cup 2002 and 2006
ITV and BBC jointly acquired the rights for all 64 games in the 2002 and 2006 finals, paying £160m to Germany-based rights broker Kirch
The England football team's poor showing at last year's football World Cup in Germany had a major impact on ITV's Net Advertising Revenue (NAR) for the month. In research published at the time of the tournament, Morgan Stanley said ITV's June 2006 NAR would be 7.3% lower than its NAR for June 2005 - at a time when one of the biggest ratings winners was on its channels. England's poor performances on the pitch in Germany prompted the investment bank to forecast ITV's July NAR would be a staggering 20.2% lower than its July 2005 NAR
Rugby World Cup 2003 and 2007
ITV acquired the rights for Rugby World Cup 2003 and Rugby World Cup 2007 in a six-year deal with the International Rugby Board worth £40m.