Argentina-Mexico is Most-Watched World Cup Group Stage Match in Spanish-Language TV History

Through 48 matches across its first 13 days, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is averaging a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 2.07 million viewers across Telemundo, Universo, Peacock, and Telemundo streaming platforms, up 5% vs. the 2018 tournament (1.97 million), which was played in Russia in the summer. This year’s World Cup is the first to take place in the fall to offset Qatar’s extreme summer heat.

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 US viewers.

There have been 8 games 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.

Using a three-game Group Stage viewership average, the Top 5 teams of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 202 ar2e: Mexico (6.0 million); USA (3.9 million); Argentina (3.6 million); Brazil (3.6 million); and Spain (3.3 million).

The most-watched match of the tournament in Spanish so far remains Argentina v. Mexico on Sat., Nov. 26, which averaged a TAD of 9.0 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Cup Group Stage match in Spanish-language history.

Mexico and Argentina combined for another highly-viewed programming window on Wed., Nov. 30. With both teams playing simultaneously at 2 p.m. ET, Saudi Arabia v. Mexico averaged a TAD of 4.36 million viewers (Telemundo, Peacock) while Poland v. Argentina averaged a TAD of 1.06 million viewers (Universo, Peacock), combining for 5.4 million viewers and making it the third-most watched programming window of the tournament.

The USA has returned to the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 2014. 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.

The first World Cup played on Thanksgiving produced the second-most watched match of the tournament – Brazil v. Serbia (5.7 million).

Overall, streaming has comprised 28% of Telemundo’s total viewership for the World Cup, an unprecedented figure. 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).

There have been 9 games of with at least 1.0 million viewers, up from 0 in 2018.

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.

Mexico and Argentina combined for another highly-streamed programming window on Wed., Nov. 30. With both teams playing simultaneously at 2 p.m. ET, Saudi Arabia v. Mexico delivered an AMA of 1.12 million viewers while Poland v. Argentina averaged 838,000 viewers, combining for 1.96 million viewers and making it the second-most streamed programming window of the tournament.

Peacock has been in the No. 1 spot on the App Store for free iOS apps nearly every day since the tournament began.

FIFA World Cup ancillary programming across daytime is performing significantly above its respective daypart prior four-week averages, including post-show Debate Mundial with 1.6 million viewers, a lift of +350%.

Telemundo has ranked as the #1 Spanish-language TV network for 10 consecutive days (Nov. 20-Nov. 29) of the World Cup during Total Day (6A-2A) with 1.3 million average viewers and a share of 59% of three Spanish-language networks. Telemundo’s total day delivery is up +185% vs. its prior four-week. [Data not yet available for all 13 days of the tournament. Telemundo, Univision and Unimas comprise the three-network Spanish-language audience.]

Telemundo broke viewership records for most-watched days in network history three times so far during the FIFA World Cup Group Stage.

Tue., Nov. 22, was highest-rated Tuesday ever in network history for Total Day with 1.24 million viewers.

Thanksgiving (Thu., Nov. 24) was the most-watched Thursday in network history with 1.58 million average viewers.

Black Friday, Nov. 25, averaged 1.27 million viewers ranks as the most-watched Friday in network history.

Year-to-date, Telemundo World Cup Group Stage matches have produced the top seven most-watched sporting events on Spanish-language TV, including #1 Argentina v. Mexico with 6.3 million TV-only viewers.

In the 640 FIFA World Cup match windows played to date (40 games across 16 top Hispanic markets), Telemundo ranked No. 1 in viewership among Spanish-language networks 93% of the time and ranked No. 1 regardless of language 19% of the time.

Telemundo has ranked No. 1 in Los Angeles among Spanish-language networks 100% of the time when World Cup matches are being played, and 98% of the time in New York and Miami. Among all networks regardless of language during the games, the percentages are 88% in Los Angeles and Miami and 33% in New York.

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 131M million video views across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok.

Overall, to-date, Instagram has driven the strongest engagement, surpassing 3 million actions (44% of total) on Dec 2nd while TikTok supercharges video views with over 51M (39% of total).

Top post of the group stage by actions featuredMexico’s goalkeeper leaving the field after Mexico failed to qualify to the knockout stage, this post generated 557K actions. The top video post is of anad with Coca Cola and Chef Oropeza on Telemundo Main’s TikTok account, generating nearly 6M views.