Telemundo is smashing records on the Spanish-language feed — proving why U.S. rights sold in two separate packages may not last
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BIG GAME Last week's Mexico-South Africa match was the most-watched World Cup opener in U.S. history.
Ankler illustration / Luke Hales/Getty Images |
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The American sports business has spent decades treating Spanish-language media like a niche. The World Cup is making that bifurcated approach look increasingly outdated. Through the tournament’s opening stretch, Telemundo has delivered numbers most media executives dream about. Mexico-South Africa drew 13.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Cup opening match in U.S. history regardless of language and the most-watched men’s soccer match ever on Spanish-language television. (Fox’s English broadcast set its own opening-match record, at 7.1 million— the most ever for a World Cup opener in English.) It was also the highest-rated telecast in Telemundo’s history. And across NBCUniversal’s digital platforms — including Telemundo.com, Spanish-language coverage on Peacock, and social-media viewing parties with celebrities like Trevor Noah — it became the most-streamed Mexico World Cup match ever, with streaming consumption up 485 percent versus 2022.
These are broadcast-network numbers — the kind that used to belong to the English-language feed. And they raise a question the industry has largely avoided: What if the distinction between Spanish-language and English-language media is disappearing?
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