Peacock is getting a lift from World Cup, Spanish-language content

FIFA World Cup brings huge audience to media rights holders Fox Company. and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo.

But NBCUniversal executives say the World Cup’s huge audience numbers reinforce the importance of live sports in an environment where media companies are competing harder than ever to attract viewers, while also highlighting that Spanish-language programming has become a key part of the Peacock streaming service’s strategy.

The World Cup final broke records for both English and Spanish television broadcasts, according to Nielsen. Approximately 39 million viewers I watched Approximately 24 million across Fox’s streaming and streaming channels tuned It was broadcast on Telemundo, Peacock and other NBC properties, making it the most-watched Spanish-language broadcast of a football game in the United States. Telemundo and Peacock averaged 6.3 million viewers across 104 games.

Like other live sports, the event generated a large amount of advertising revenue. The tournament more than doubled its revenue from 2022, when Telemundo and Peacock last aired it, according to Mark Marshall, president of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal.

It has also led to growth in Peacock’s subscriber base and engagement, Marshall and Cesar Conde, president of NBCUniversal News Group, which includes Telemundo, said in interviews.

“Not only did this bring a lot of new viewers and subscribers to Peacock, but it also introduced them to a lot of additional programming they weren’t familiar with,” Conde said, adding that through Peacock, viewers have different ways to consume content, from multi-viewing to informational presentations. “I think that makes a big difference.”

Peacock, which launched in 2020, has 46 million subscribers as of April 30 and is expected to reach profitability in the second quarter. Both of these metrics leave the streaming service behind many of its rivals, including Netflix and Disney+.

comcastAnnouncing plans to spin off NBCUniversal on June 29 earning results are on Thursday.

Live sports overall has boosted Peacock’s morale — especially after NBCUniversal begins streaming the NBA in 2025. The Olympics’ increased presence on the platform has also been important; all events are now shown on Peacock, including shoulder shows and other types of content.

Telemundo is increasing its sports rights in addition to offering NBC’s sports programming on Spanish-language television broadcasts. This week Telemundo announced that acquired Spanish language rights UEFA Champions League We start with the 2027-28 season.

“It showed us that not only is it a huge audience, but it continues to change the way consumers watch media,” Conde said, referring to the World Cup. “We knew that consumers were pretty fluent between linear and streaming. I think it also showed that they were pretty fluent across language and were looking for an authentic connection.”

Peacock will stream the World Cup in Spanish for the first time in 2022, giving the service a bigger boost than expected. But at the time, Peacock was the main streaming channel for the World Cup, regardless of language. Fox, which owns the English broadcasting rights, offered the World Cup on the recently launched Fox One this year as well.

“I think it’s a combination of great work between both the Telemundo and Peacock teams. The combination of that work has allowed us to capture a large share of the audience in the streaming space, despite increasing competition on this platform,” Conde said.

FIFA appears likely to sell the English and Spanish rights to the U.S. broadcast of the 2030 and 2034 World Cups in a single package rather than separately as in the past, CNBC recently reported.

“There seemed to be a lot of cannibalization of the Spanish language for this World Cup,” said Lee Berke, LHB Sports, Entertainment and Media CEO and sports media consultant. “You can sell the rights together, especially when they are offered on a broadcast basis. Then the question arises which broadcast the viewer will go to.”

Each of the upcoming tournaments is expected to raise between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, CNBC reported, a major step forward from the most recently negotiated deals.

“This World Cup generated NFL-style numbers, and if you could broadcast those games, especially the Final, in prime time, it would come close to NFL championship numbers,” Berke said.

But this additional viewership from Spanish-language content goes beyond sports, and advertisers are taking notice, Marshall and Conde said.

He has particularly contributed to Peacock’s growth.

“Sometimes we need events like this to reset the way we think about marketing and consumers,” Marshall said of the World Cup. “We still have Spanish-language conversations that feel like a niche extension of a media plan.” “The reality is that this is not an afterthought, but a $4 trillion spending bucket that should be at the center of your media plan.”

Advertising has become a more important source of revenue and business venture for media companies. Two key reasons: increasing pressure to make streaming services profitable beyond just subscriber fees, and the rapidly rising costs of sports rights.

In response, advertisers are increasingly purchasing ad spots with Spanish-language content, especially because the Hispanic population is increasingly growing. Hispanic consumers are growing significantly in the U.S., accounting for nearly 20% of the U.S. population by 2025 and representing more than $4.1 trillion in purchasing power report From Nielsen.

“Hispanic consumers are a powerful demographic for brands looking to meet them with authenticity and insight,” said Stacie de Armas, head of inclusive content and insights at Nielsen.

NBCUniversal is experimenting with getting English-speaking viewers, even outside Spanish speakers, to watch Telemundo content.

The success of Netflix’s non-English-language series such as “Narcos” and “Squid Game” as well as the Korean film “Parasite” has led NBCUniversal to test whether it can attract English-speaking viewers to Telemundo’s content, particularly Peacock.

Ahead of the Season 10 premiere of “El Señor de los Cielos” on July 7, Telemundo and Peacock ran ads in English and with English subtitles, encouraging viewers to catch up on previous seasons on Peacock.

As a result of the ad, Marshall experienced a major shakeup in viewership from previous “El Señor de los Cielos” seasons: English-subtitled viewership increased by 42% and English-based viewership increased from 9% to 25%. In the previous season of the series, the rate of new viewers on Telemundo also increased from 22% to 39%.

“We’re now trying to see if there are other opportunities to recreate this playbook for Telemundo and Peacock,” Marshall said.