DOHA, QATAR—NBCUniversal is reporting large audiences during the first 13 days and 48 Group Stage matches of its Spanish-language coverage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, with an average Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 2.07 million viewers across Telemundo, Universo, Peacock and Telemundo streaming platforms.
That was up 5% vs. the 2018 tournament (1.97 million).
During that period, Telemundo reported that the Nov. 26 match between Argentina and Mexico drew 9 million viewers, the largest audience ever recorded for the U.S. Spanish language Group Stage match.
Of the past 8 FIFA World Cup tournaments, Spanish-language total viewership (including streaming) for the 2022 Group Stage ranks second only to the 2014 tournament, which was played in Brazil and featured favorable time zones for U.S. viewers, Telemundo reported.
During the 2022 Group Stage, there have been 8 games of with at least 4.0 million viewers and 12 with at least 3.0 million, up from 4 and 6, respectively, in 2018 Group Stage.
The Fri., Nov. 25, England v. USA match averaged a TAD of 4.7 million viewers, making it the second-most watched World Cup Group Stage match featuring a U.S. team in Spanish-language history.
Overall, streaming has comprised 28% of Telemundo’s total viewership for the World Cup, an unprecedented figure, the broadcaster said.
Telemundo is averaging a TAD of 2.07 million viewers through the first 48 matches across all platforms with streaming responsible for 578,000 of those viewers on Peacock and Telemundo streaming platforms (Average Minute Audience), which is up 160% vs. 2018 (222,000).
Argentina v. Mexico on Sat., Nov. 26, 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 Mexico v. Poland (1.35 million) on the first Tuesday of the tournament.
Through the end of the group stage, Telemundo owned accounts have totaled 7.0 million actions (+141% vs Russia 2018 through day 13) and more than 131 million video views across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok.
