July 3 – Spanish language broadcaster Telemundo has had the tournament of its life, and now it wants more. The broadcaster and parent NBCU are already talking to FIFA about extending their World Cup rights and possibly expanding them in the US.

Joaquin Duro, Telemundo’s EVP of Sports and Head of Streaming, said the plan could see the company add English language rights to the Spanish rights it already holds across Telemundo and Peacock. “Definitely something that we are beyond exploring,” Duro said.

Like incumbent English rights holder Fox, Telemundo is in the final year of its FIFA deal.

The numbers explain the ambition. Telemundo has drawn almost half of all US World Cup viewers, its best ever Spanish language group stage, with 44% of that audience coming through Peacock. Streaming is up 251% on four years ago – Peacock was in 18 million homes in 2022 and sits closer to 50 million now.

“It’s been crushing our estimates. It’s been crushing our goals,” Duro told SBJ. “Some of the numbers that we have are beating 2018 and 2022 combined.”

Linear viewing held up too with 2.6 million average viewers, ahead of streaming’s 2 million.

The boldest call? No full screen ads during hydration breaks, an L bar or picture in picture instead. “I sat down in our chairman’s office and I said, ‘I’m not going to be the first person in sports in this country to go to a commercial in a soccer match in the World Cup,'” Duro said. “Everything that we’ve done here always has been through the fan’s lens.”

He credited a broad analyst roster, Paraguay, Germany, Croatia, France, the US, not just the usual giants, for holding Hispanic viewers Fox had chipped away at in 2022.

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