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TV ratings for the men’s World Cup are up compared to the 2022 event – which isn’t a huge surprise, given that football’s biggest prize is being held in North America this time around.
Did the audience you saw at the last World Cup double? Even the optimistic forecasts from Fox Sports and Telemundo probably didn’t see this coming.
“I was expecting to see our numbers grow. Was I expecting 122 percent through 2022? Probably not,” said Joaquin Duro, executive vice president of sports at NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. Hollywood Reporter Wednesday. “So it’s a bit of a surprise, but then you sit down and say, well, actually, we planned this. We take some of that credit for having a well-crafted plan.”
Across all platforms in English and Spanish, the group stage of the 2026 World Cup attracted 9.65 million viewers per match. This represents a 105 percent increase on the total 4.71 million fans for the 2022 tournament, which was held in Qatar in November and December. The audience was split fairly evenly: English-language telecasts on Fox and FS1 (and Tube for a few matches) averaged 5.05 million viewers (versus 2.64 million in 2022). Telemundo and Peacock, as well as Universo and other Telemundo digital platforms, attracted 4.6 million viewers per match (up from 2.07 million in 2022) in the group stage.
Mexico’s three group stage matches attracted more than 10 million viewers across platforms on Telemundo and Peacock. The June 18 match against South Korea was attended by 14 million viewers, setting a record for any Spanish-language soccer television broadcast in the United States. Early numbers for Mexico’s Round of 32 win over Ecuador were trending toward record territory as well, Duro said.
Having a bunch of games in the late afternoon and prime time is of course a big driver of ratings increases on both Fox and Telemundo. For Telemundo, streaming every game on Peacock was almost equally important. Peacock made up a whopping 44 percent of the Spanish-language television audience during conference play. NBC’s NBA playoffs coverage got about 19 percent of its total audience from the Peacocks. to Sunday Night Football Last season, live viewership was 13 percent.
Doro noted that Hispanic viewers are binge-watching the stream on mobile devices, which likely makes up a significant portion of Peacock’s 2 million viewers per game (particularly for afternoon games). But he also said that after the 2022 World Cup, Telemundo has made comprehensive plans to attract more viewers, including hiring commentators and reporters from a range of Spanish-speaking countries, working with FIFA to secure key positions for its on-pitch reporters and supporting the matches with plenty of associated programming.
“When we have two games at the same time, you can split the screen. We have vertical video,” Doro said. “The Peacock experience is amazing. You can pause the game, you can rewind it, you can watch the best plays. It does what a streaming service is supposed to do — attract new audiences.”
Peacock’s World Cup viewership has more than tripled from 2022 (somewhat ahead of subscriber growth), but Telemundo’s linear stations have also seen significant gains. On-air ratings for World Cup coverage on Telemundo rose 73 percent versus 2022 (2.6 million vs. 1.5 million).
“I’m very satisfied with looking at linear numbers in what is supposed to be a declining business,” Dorough said. “I am very satisfied with the work my team has done… We are beating the fans in 2022 and 2018, and even in 2014 and 2010. This for me is just an unbelievable win.”
