Telemundo\u2019s coverage of elite, global soccer won\u2019t end after the World Cup final. <\/p>\n
Telemundo has acquired the Spanish-language broadcast rights in the U.S. for all UEFA men\u2019s club competitions for three seasons, beginning in 2027-28, the company announced Sunday.<\/p>\n
The deal will bring live coverage of every match in the Champions League, the European tournament widely considered the world\u2019s most prestigious club competition, across all of NBCUniversal\u2019s broadcast, streaming and digital platforms, which include Peacock, Universo and Telemundo Deportes Ahora, its free, ad-supported television (FAST) channel. <\/p>\n
The package will also include the Spanish-language rights to UEFA\u2019s Europa League, Conference League and Super Cup competitions. (NBCUniversal is the parent company of NBC News and Telemundo.)<\/p>\n
After the World Cup drew record audiences for Telemundo, the next question was how to continue building on such interest, said Cesar Conde, the chairman of NBCUniversal News Group. The Champions League, which is played annually and features many of the stars who became household names in the U.S. during the World Cup, was a natural answer. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe World Cup didn\u2019t really create an American soccer audience; it revealed it,\u201d Conde said. \u201cPremium soccer is just one of those truly global experiences that\u2019s leapt out in the media ecosystem, and it brings people together from different backgrounds, different cultures, and different languages, and for something to be able to transcend all of that is very powerful in this current media ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luis Fern\u00e1ndez, Chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, described Telemundo\u2019s overarching strategy as being based on \u201clive TV, live TV live TV,\u201d and that within live television, soccer\u2019s appeal is uniquely broad and compelling. <\/p>\n
The company has invested heavily in the sport. On Thursday, Telemundo announced it will carry more than 100 matches per season from Germany\u2019s Bundesliga. The company already carries the Spanish-language broadcasts for the Premier League, the Olympics, U.S. men\u2019s and women\u2019s national teams matches and Liga MX clubs Guadalajara, FC Ju\u00e1rez and Tigres UANL. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis World Cup demonstrates that for our audience here in the states, (soccer) is very important,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cIf you ask what is the most important franchise brand sports rights in football and soccer, there are only two names: World Cup for the national teams and Champions League for the most important clubs in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The deal comes at a time of surging viewership for soccer in the U.S. <\/p>\n Through the semifinals, Telemundo\u2019s coverage averaged a total audience of 6 million, an increase of 147% on the 2022 World Cup at the same stage of the tournament, according to the company.<\/p>\n A record audience of 50 million watched the U.S. match in the round of 16 of the World Cup across all broadcasters, making it the most-watched non-NFL sporting event this century, according to U.S. Soccer. Yet viewership continued to set records even after the U.S. team\u2019s run was over. A total audience of 11.4 million watched Argentina\u2019s win over England on Telemundo and Peacock, making it the most-watched semifinal ever in Spanish-language media history, according to the company. Spain\u2019s win over France was watched by an audience of 9.8 million. <\/p>\n Notably, Telemundo says it reaches 96% of U.S. Hispanic TV households, the audience for its World Cup broadcasts hasn\u2019t been limited to Spanish speakers. Though about 20% of the U.S. population is Hispanic, Telemundo\u2019s broadcasts drew more than half of some matches\u2019 total audience, including the round of 16 thriller between England and Mexico, according to Variety. <\/p>\n \u201cAn interesting dynamic that we particularly saw during this World Cup is that fans increasingly aren\u2019t choosing to consume premium soccer based only on language,\u201d Conde said. \u201cThey\u2019re choosing it based on authenticity and the experience that they want to get out of the events. And so that\u2019s what I think has also been a great insight and reminder for everyone in the marketplace, that authenticity in coverage of a global sporting event like soccer can transcend language, demographics, and cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n Aleksander\u202f\u010ceferin,\u202fthe UEFA President and\u202fchair of the board of UC3, which sells UEFA\u2019s media rights, said in a statement that the \u201cagreement with Telemundo reflects both the strength of our competitions and the passion of Spanish-speaking fans in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n This post appeared first on https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Telemundo\u2019s coverage of elite, global soccer won\u2019t end after the World Cup final. Telemundo has acquired the Spanish-language broadcast rights in the U.S. for all UEFA men\u2019s club competitions for three seasons, beginning in 2027-28, the company announced Sunday. The deal will bring live coverage of every match in the Champions League, the European tournament […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}