DOHA, Qatar—Telemundo Deportes is reporting that its Spanish-language coverage of the first two days of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is producing larger audiences than 2018 and driving users to the Peacock streaming platforms.
The Spanish-language coverage averaged a total audience delivery (TAD) of 2.6 million viewers for four matches across Telemundo, Peacock and Telemundo digital streaming platforms, a 72% bounce compared to the first four games over two days of the 2018 tournament, which took place in Russia in the summer.
Telemundo is the exclusive Spanish-language media rights holder to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in the U.S.
The four-game TAD of 2.6 million viewers includes the opener on Sunday featuring host-nation Qatar v. Ecuador and three matches on Monday – England v. Iran, Senegal v. Netherlands and USA v. Wales. The first four matches for the 2018 tournament averaged a TAD of 1.5 million viewers, Telemundo said.
USA v. Wales, which kicked off at 2 pm ET on Monday, averaged a TAD of 3.4 million viewers, surpassing 42 of 48 Group Stage matches in 2018, four of which included Mexico and Brazil. Monday’s three matches averaged a TAD of 2.1 million, up 41% vs. the comparable three games played on June 15, 2018 (1.5 million TAD).
This year’s World Cup is taking place in the fall for the first time to offset Qatar’s extreme summer heat.
Across Peacock and Telemundo’s digital streaming platforms, USA v. Wales delivered an Average Minute Audience (AMA) of 1.0 million viewers, making it the most-streamed World Cup game in Spanish-language history, surpassing Sunday’s Qatar v. Ecuador tournament-opening match, which averaged 832,000 viewers. Through the first four matches, streaming represents 27% of total viewing.
In addition, the FIFA World Cup continued to power Peacock to the No. 1 spot among free iOS apps in the App Store on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
During the USA v. Wales broadcast window (1:30-4:15 pm ET), Telemundo ranked as the No. 1 network overall in Miami and the No. 1 Spanish-language network in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Phoenix (No. 2 overall), San Francisco, Orlando, Sacramento, Tampa, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C, Denver, Boston and Atlanta.
England v. Iran, which began at 8 am ET, averaged a TAD of 1.2 million viewers and Senegal v. Netherlands (began at 11 am ET) averaged 1.9 million viewers. Monday’s viewership continued Telemundo’s and Peacock’s strong momentum from Sunday, when the match featuring host-nation Qatar v. Ecuador averaged a TAD of 4.1 million viewers across Telemundo, Peacock and Telemundo Deportes’ digital platforms, up 164% compared to the opening match in 2018.
Telemundo also reported that the World Cup on Telemundo is delivering a +17% higher linear ad completion rate than iSpot.tv competitive norms. Telemundo is also driving recall for advertisers among Hispanic audiences, with creative that is +30% higher brand memorability and +40% greater message memorability. This strong attention and breakthrough is driving viewers to immediate action, as they seek out more information about Telemundo World Cup advertisers with a +29% higher search engagement rate, Telemundo said.
