Viewership for 2022 FIFA World Cup Averages Total Audience Delivery of 2.57 Million Viewers, Up 24% vs. 2018 Through First 24 Games
Argentina-Mexico on Saturday is Most-Watched Group Stage Match in Spanish-Language History, Averaging Total Audience Delivery of 8.9 Million Viewers
FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ is Most-Streamed World Cup on Record
World Cup Positions Telemundo Network as #1 Spanish-Language Broadcast Network on Total Day
Telemundo’s Massive Week One Audience Reach is Elevating Advertiser’s Scale and Impact
DOHA, QATAR – Nov. 28, 2022 – On the strength of compelling matchups, world-class football, and the return of the United States, the first week of Telemundo Deportes’ Spanish-language coverage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ has delivered record viewership across Telemundo, Peacock and Telemundo’s streaming platforms. Telemundo is the exclusive Spanish-language media rights holder to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ in the U.S.
Following are consumption highlights for the first seven days of the tournament (Sun., Nov. 20 - Sat., Nov. 26):
TOP 5 MOST-WATCHED MATCHES
(Total Audience Delivery; All times ET)
| DATE | TIME | MATCH | VIEWERS |
| Sat., Nov. 26 | 2:00 pm | Argentina v. Mexico | 8.9 million |
| Thu., Nov. 24 | 2:00 pm | Brazil v. Serbia | 5.7 million |
| Tue., Nov. 22 | 11:00 am | Mexico v. Poland | 4.6 million |
| Fri., Nov. 25 | 2:00 pm | England v. USA | 4.6 million |
| Thu., Nov. 24 | 11:00 am | Portugal v. Ghana | 4.3 million |
Note: Total Audience Delivery is the combination of television and digital viewers. Viewership figures are based on data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.
TOTAL AUDIENCE DELIVERY
- Through 24 matches across its first seven days, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ is averaging a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 2.57 million viewers across Telemundo, Peacock and Telemundo streaming platforms, up 24% vs. the 2018 tournament (2.07 million), which was played in Russia in the summer. This year’s World Cup is the first to take place in the fall in order to offset Qatar’s extreme summer heat.
- Saturday’s Argentina v. Mexico averaged a TAD of 8.9 million viewers, making it match the most-watched match of the tournament in Spanish and the most-watched World Cup Group Stage match in Spanish-language history. Mexico’s first match v. Poland on Tue., Nov. 22, averaged 4.6 million viewers.
- Argentina’s 2-0 victory against Mexico also powered Saturday (Day 7) as the most-watched day of the tournament in Spanish since opening day, averaging 3.5 million viewers, up 76% vs. the comparable game count in 2018 (2.0 million). Day 7 also featured Tunisia v. Australia, Poland v. Saudi Arabia, and France v. Denmark.
- The USA has returned to the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 2014. Friday night’s England v. USA match averaged a TAD of 4.6 million viewers, making it the second-most watched World Cup Group Stage match featuring a U.S. team in Spanish-language history.
- The first World Cup played on Thanksgiving produced two of the most-watched matches of the tournament’s first week – Brazil v. Serbia (5.7 million) and Portugal v. Ghana (4.3 million).
- Coverage of the opening match on Sunday, Nov. 20, featuring host-nation Qatar v. Ecuador, averaged a TAD of 4.1 million viewers, up 164% compared to the opening match in 2018.
STREAMING
- Overall, streaming has comprised 26% of Telemundo’s total viewershipfor the World Cup, an unprecedented figure. Telemundo is averaging a TAD of 2.57 million viewers through the first 24 matches across all platforms -- up 24% compared to 2018 -- with streaming responsible for 673,000 of those viewers on Peacock and Telemundo streaming platforms, which is up 209% vs. 2018 (218,000).
- Argentina v. Mexico is the most-streamed FIFA World Cup match in U.S. media history, regardless of language. It is the first World Cup game to top two million viewers with an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 2.08 million viewers and beat the previous record set by Tuesday’s Mexico v. Poland game (1.35 million).
- Four matches in the first week have set the record for the most-streamed Spanish-language World Cup game in U.S. history, starting with the Ecuador v. Qatar (832,000 viewers) opener on Sun., Nov. 20, followed the next day by USA v. Wales (1.0 million), followed the next day by Mexico v. Poland (1.3 million), and finally Saturday’s Argentina v. Mexico (2.08 million; see above).
- Peacock has been in the No. 1 spot on the App Store for free iOS apps every day since the tournament began, with the Telemundo Deportes app often breaking into the Top 5.
TELEMUNDO NETWORK
- Telemundo ranked as the No. 1 Spanish-language network in Total Day (6A-2A) during the first three days of tournament with over 1 million viewers, garnering more than a 50% share of the three-network Spanish-language audience.
- FIFA World Cup ancillary programming across daytime is performing triple-digits above its respective daypart prior four-week averages.
- On Monday, Nov. 21, Al Rojo Vivo had its highest-rated telecast in almost two years (January 2021) with 933,000 viewers, and Noticias’6:30 p.m. ET program posted its best delivery since this May with 1.2 million viewers.
- For all 24 matches across seven days, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ has reached 16.7 million total viewers on Telemundo in Spanish, including 22% of all Hispanic viewers (13.6 million).
Note: Viewership data for non-World Cup programming is limited due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Telemundo, Univision and Unimas comprise the three-network Spanish-language audience.
LOCAL STATIONS
- In the 384 FIFA World Cup match windows played to date (24 games across 16 top Hispanic markets), Telemundo ranked No. 1 in viewership among Spanish-language networks 94% of the time and ranked No. 1 regardless of language 18% of the time.
- Telemundo has ranked No. 1 in Los Angeles and Miami among Spanish-language networks 100% of the time when World Cup matches are being played and 96% of the time in New York. Among all networks regardless of language during the games, the percentages are 83% in Los Angeles, 88% in Miami and 33% in New York.
SOCIAL MEDIA
- Week 1 of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ has totaled 3.2 million actions, up 123% vs. 2018) and 62 million video views across Telemundo accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok.
- Telemundo’s best-performing post during the tournament in both actions and views was published on TikTok and features Andres Cantor shouting “Goooool!” during Argentina’s Lionel Messi’s goal vs. Mexico. The video has generated 407,000 actions and 3.6 million views to date.
ADVERTISING IMPACT
Through 20 matches, Telemundo has reached 22% of the U.S. Hispanic population, which is leading to higher engagement and impact for Telemundo’s advertising partners. This highly engaged Hispanic audience is driving double-digital advantages in brand impact, with a +20% higher attention index vs iSpot.tv norms. Brands are breaking through the clutter, with +10% greater brand memorability (Marketcast TVBE) and +14% higher search rate for the Telemundo advertisers (EDO) vs. sports on competitive Spanish Language television. Week 1 of the FIFA World Cup Qatar saw deeper emotional connections to the tournament, both the content and the advertising. Spanish-Language match engagement (+23%) is leading to high levels of ad engagement (+24%), which in turn is driving higher brand recommendation (+25%) for Spanish-Language telecasts on Telemundo/Peacock vs English-Language (Mindprober).
Sources: iSpot.tv, World Cup on Telemundo, FOX/FS1 (11/20-26/22); Marketcast TVBE, A18-49 for World Cup (11/20-23/22), World Cup matches on Telemundo vs. PY SLTV Sports norm, excl. NBCU (4Q'21-3Q22); EDO: 2022 World Cup, Games & Shoulder Programming, All Dayparts (11/20-24/22), SLTV World Cup on Telemundo vs. Prior year competitive live sports on SLTV; MindProber, Galvanic skin response testing, US vs. Wales 11/21 measurement of match airing on Telemundo, Peacock and FOX
—TELEMUNDO DEPORTES—
About NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises:
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises leads the media industry in the production and distribution of Spanish-language content for U.S. Hispanics and audiences around the world. The company serves U.S. Hispanics through its national broadcast network, the cable network Universo, and digital platforms including the Telemundo app and streaming services, such as Peacock, among others. The Telemundo Network offers Spanish-language entertainment, news, and sports content reaching 95% of U.S. Hispanic TV households in 210 markets through 30 owned stations and 61 affiliate stations. Telemundo also owns an independent station serving Puerto Rico. Telemundo is the exclusive U.S. Spanish-language home of the world’s two most popular sporting events, the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games, as well as the Premier League and Mexican soccer team Chivas. The #1 producer of scripted Spanish-language content in the U.S., Telemundo Global Studios includes Telemundo Television Studios, Telemundo Streaming Studios, and Underground Producciones. Telemundo’s new Tplus content brand on Peacock features programming developed for the full spectrum of Hispanics. NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises is a division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.
