The College Football Playoff leads the list of live television sports events heading into the New Year.

ESPN will televise the New Year’s Eve Fiesta Bowl between third-ranked TCU and second-ranked Michigan, as well as the Peach Bowl pitting top-ranked Georgia against fourth-ranked Ohio State. The winners of both games will meet in the College Football Playoff Championship game January 9 on ABC.

Other college football bowl games airing on Saturday include the Music City Bowl (Iowa-Kentucky) on ABC, and the Sugar Bowl (Alabama-Kansas St.) on ESPN. On Monday, ESPN2 will air the ReliaQuest Bowl (Mississippi St-Illinois), ABC will telecast the Citrus Bowl (LSU-Purdue) and ESPN will air both the Cotton Bowl (Tulane-USC) and the Rose Bowl (Penn State-Utah).

The NFL enters its penultimate week of regular-season play Sunday with regional coverage on CBS and Fox, followed by NBC’s Sunday Night Football matchup between division rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens.

On Monday night, ABC and ESPN will simulcast the Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. 

The Premier League returns after a break due the World Cup with nine live soccer game telecasts over the three-day weekend across USA, NBC and streaming service Peacock. On the NHL ice, ESPN on Sunday will air the New York Islanders-Seattle Kraken, while TNT on Monday will televise the Pittsburgh Penguins-Boston Bruins contest. ■ 

Below is a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of December 12-18, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Inscape, and network and show TV ad impressions insights via iSpot.tv.

Most-Watched Shows and Networks

Via Inscape, the currency-grade smart TV ACR data provider and data technology division of Vizio with insights from a panel of more than 20 million opted-in TVs. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

With NFL action airing on Saturday — along with the usual Sunday, Monday and Thursday games — the league keeps its No. 1 spot by watch-time, at 7.25% (up from 5.41% the previous week). NFL Red Zone also appears at No. 22 in our ranking, while NFL Gameday Kickoff is No. 25.

Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:

• The Voice’s two-night, three-hour season finale pushed the hit reality series to No. 10 in our ranking, up from No. 31 the previous week.
• NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt and Two and a Half Men are week-over-week newcomers in our ranking, up from No. 28 and No. 27, respectively.
• The 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup concluded its final week with 1.13% of watch-time for English-language airings and 0.30% going toward Spanish-language.
• From November 20 - December 18, World Cup airings (both English- and Spanish-language) combined for 2.55% of all minutes watched on linear TV – third behind only the NFL and college football games.

CBS is the most-watched network for another week, with 8.12% of watch-time from December 12-18 (up from 7.40% the previous week). The boost was fueled in part by an NFL doubleheader on Sunday, which was anchored by the late-afternoon game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cincinnati Bengals.

Additional insights around the most-watched networks from December 12-18:

• NFL Network catapults to No. 8 by watch-time (up from No. 42 the previous week), due in large part to the cable channel airing three Saturday games.
• History Channel is the other week-over-week newcomer in our ranking, climbing from No. 27 to No. 24.
• Holiday movies continue to buoy cable networks, including Hallmark (No. 7), Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (No. 12), Freeform (No. 17) and AMC (No. 22).
• TBS climbs three spots week-over-week to No. 11 with a heavy emphasis on Friends re-airs (32.1% of the network’s watch-time).

Top Shows and Networks by TV Ad Impressions

Via iSpot.tv, the real-time TV measurement company. Rankings are by share of TV ad impressions, for new episodes only. 

More days of the week with NFL games meant a larger share of TV ad impressions from December 12-18. The NFL was No. 1 yet again, with 16.49% of TV ad impressions, which is up from 12.25% the previous week. It’s also more than five times the programming with the next-highest share (college football).

More insights about the top programs by share of TV ad impressions:

• The Voice’s season 22 finale paced the show all the way to No. 3 in our ranking this week, up from No. 8 during the previous week’s semifinal round.
• Speaking of reality TV, Survivor jumps into our ranking at No. 19 (vs. No. 59 the previous week).
• The Spanish-language airings of the World Cup’s final matches delivered 0.98% of TV ad impressions on the week, with another 0.92% attributable to the English-language broadcasts.
• Over the course of the entire 2022 World Cup, TV ad impressions jumped 29% vs. the 2018 event — with impressions more than doubling across NBCUniversal-owned Telemundo and Universo.

CBS stays at No. 1 in our TV-ad-impressions-by-network ranking, with 18.23% (a week-over-week increase from 15.87%). On the week, more than 35% of CBS’s TV ad impressions came from the NFL, with another 4.7% from Survivor.

Additional notes on the top networks by share of TV ad impressions from December 12-18:

• NFL Network soars from 0.35% of TV ad impressions to 3.74% week-over-week, courtesy of live game action on Saturday (including the Minnesota Vikings’ historic 33-point comeback over the Indianapolis Colts).
• Fox (No. 5) is one of four networks with World Cup rights in our ranking — along with Telemundo (No. 8), Fox Sports 1 (No. 16) and Universo (No. 23).
• Telemundo actually delivered 57% of all World Cup TV ad impressions over the course of the tournament, with Fox collecting 27.8%.
• From November 20-December 18, Fox Sports 1 served 1.05 billion TV ad impressions during World Cup games, and another 690 million during FIFA World Cup 2022 Today.

The overtime World Cup final drew 16.78 million viewers on Fox Sunday, the most-watched World Cup telecast in English-language television history.

The previous World Cup finals telecast record was set in 1994 when Italy beat Brazil.

The Fox telecast topped the previous record of 15.5 million people tuning in to watch the United States tie England earlier in the tournament.

The Spanish-language telecast on Telemundo and Peacock drew a total audience of 9 million viewers, making it the most-watched and most-streamed match of the tournament. Viewing was up 65% from the 2019 final.

The final match was the most-streamed soccer match in U.S. media history regardless of language, with an average per-minute audience of 3 million viewers, Telemundo said.

"Telemundo’s coverage of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 with NBCUniversal’s partnership across all platforms culminated as one of the most exciting and successful World Cups in history," said Beau Ferrari, chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.

"Years of preparation led to record-breaking viewership and revenue across the Telemundo network, local stations and Peacock. This World Cup represents a historic outcome for our entire company," Ferrari said. "Now, the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is upon us, and we look forward to being the home of the World Cup, 'La Casa del Mundial' in 2026, when the tournament comes to the U.S., Mexico and Canada." ■

The World Cup final and NFL Saturday and Sunday games dominate this weekend’s live TV sports action.

Fox on Sunday morning will televise the FIFA World Cup final game between Argentina and France, as well as Saturday’s third-place game between Morocco and Croatia. Fox is coming off a record-breaking week of World Cup coverage that saw the network average 6.5 million viewers for its two semi-final telecasts – the highest viewership for any World Cup on U.S. airwaves, according to the Sports Business Journal. 

On the pro football field, NFL Network will offer a week 15 Saturday tripleheader of games. Network coverage starts with the Indianapolis Colts-Minnesota Vikings game, continues with the Baltimore Ravens-Cleveland Browns contest, and concludes with the Miami Dolphins-Buffalo Bills matchup.

On Sunday, Fox and CBS will offer regional afternoon NFL coverage, followed by NBC's Sunday Night Football game between NFC East division rivals New York Giants and Washington Commanders. 

In the ring, Showtime on Saturday will air a fight card featuring a lightweight main event bout between Michel Rivera and Frank Martin. ESPN Plus will stream a super middleweight fight between Christian Mbilli and Vaughn Alexander. 

ESPN Plus on Saturday will also steam a UFC Fight Night mixed martial arts card featuring a Jared Cannonier-Sean Strickland middleweight main event bout. 

The college football bowl season kicks into high gear this weekend with seven games. ESPN will televise the Fenway Bowl (Cincinnati-Louisville), the Las Vegas Bowl (Florida-Oregon State), Lending Tree Bowl (Rice-Southern Miss) and Frisco Bowl (North Texas-Boise St.), while ABC will air the New Mexico Bowl (SMU-BYU), LA Bowl (Washington State-Fresno State), and Celebration Bowl (Jackson St-NC Central). 

Also on the college football front, NBC and Peacock will carry the HBCU Pigskin Showdown all-star game from Alabama. 

On the ice, ESPN will televise the New York Rangers-Chicago Blackhawks NHL game while on the links, NBC will offer final round weekend coverage of the PNC Championship Pro-Am tournament. Tiger Woods will team up with his son Charlie as one of 20 teams in the family-themed golf event. ■ 

With two more games left in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Fox Sports Digital is already looking to shift focus from its unprecedented and successful coverage of the soccer tournament to future big Fox Sports events. 

Fox’s World Cup coverage — led by its FIFA World Cup NOW pre- and post-match series for every tournament game — has garnered record usage across Fox Sports’s app, website and social media platforms, executives said. While digital live-game coverage was available only to subscribers of a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) or virtual MVPD service, nearly one-third of all Fox Sports digital app downloads came during the last three weeks, according to Fox Sports senior VP of digital Michael Bucklin.

“Even if you removed all World Cup content from our app, almost every day over the last two weeks would have been a record traffic day,” he said. “That new exposure for so many fans who came to us for our World Cup coverage but learned about our NFL and college football coverage will pay dividends for our upcoming NASCAR, USFL and college basketball coverage as we look to serve fans better digitally.”

Also: Fox Sports’s World Cup Coverage Plays on Broadcast and Cable Field

Bucklin said Fox’s exclusive English-language rights to the World Cup has helped push fans to its digital offerings to get up-to-the-minute information, statistics and highlights from the tournament. 

“Unlike many other sports, we are the only ones people can turn to get that action and those live rights from those matches,” he said. “What we saw our task being is to maximize that gift of live, exclusive rights by providing every single goal, big save and big moment in under 5 minutes from when they happen on our website, app and social-media page.”

The result has been unprecedented use of the digital platform. FIFA World Cup NOW, a 20-minute digital pre- and post-match show for every game of the tournament, had generated a total of 79 million views through the semifinal round games — the most-viewed original project ever developed by the group, Fox Sports said.

Bucklin added that digital viewing and usage continued to grow even as some of the biggest and most popular teams, including the U.S., were eliminated. The December 9 lineup of games that included Brazil’s loss to Croatia generated as much traffic on its digital platforms as did the November 25 lineup of games that included the U.S.-England matchup, Bucklin said. The December 10 Morocco-Portugal post-show was the most-watched show of the tournament, he added, with 1.6 million viewers.  

Also: Despite U.S. Loss, Fox Sports Expects World Cup to Keep Surging

Fox Digital’s World Cup experience will better help the group shape its offering for other big events across multiple sports, including Fox’s February 12 coverage of Super Bowl LVII.

“The novelty of the World Cup is hard to replicate, so we want to bring some of that passion as producers for events that we have ahead of us, including the [NFL] NFC championship [game], the Super Bowl, the Big East Tournament, Daytona 500 and the Women’s World Cup next summer,” Bucklin said. “We want to try to instill that into everything that we do that we want to own and dominate in the future.” ■ 

FuboTV said it was hit by a criminal cyberattack on Wednesday that interfered with many subscribers being able to access their accounts during the World Cup semifinal match between France and Morocco.

The sports-oriented streamer said service was restored by Wednesday evening and the incident has been reported to law enforcement.

FuboTV also said it has hired Mandiant, an incident response firm, to help with its continuing investigation and response.

Also: Sinclair Says Cyberattack Resulted in $63 Million Ad-Revenue Loss

“FuboTV takes this matter very seriously,“ the company said in a statement. “Once we detected the attack, we immediately took steps to contain the incident and worked to restore service to all of our users as quickly as possible. Service was fully restored by last evening. We deeply regret the disruption caused by this incident in the meantime. Our primary focus currently is on ensuring that the incident is fully contained and that there is no threat of further disruption for any of our customers.”

Fubo TV said its investigation is at an early stage and it will provide updates when it has more information to share.

“The entire FuboTV team is absolutely dedicated to delivering an exceptional experience while protecting customer data,“ the company said. “We appreciate the trust our customers have in us and the opportunity to serve them every day. Although no company can ever be immune from the risk of cyber attacks, we assure you that we are working diligently with our outside cybersecurity experts to take all appropriate steps to remediate this incident and to prevent any similar incident from recurring in the future.” ▪️

B+C has partnered with always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv to bring you a weekly chart we call Promo Mojo: exclusive data showing TV’s most-promoted programming ranked by ad impressions. Our data covers the seven-day period through December 11.

Fox’s FIFA World Cup Qatar is No. 1 for the third week in a row.

The rest of the ranking is dominated by seasonal fare and specials: Hallmark Movies & Mysteries celebrates The Gift of Peace in second place and Hallmark Channel promotes Christmas Class Reunion in third, while CBS gives some love to its Ghosts “Ghostmas” special in fourth place and Disney-owned ABC engages in some synergy by promoting Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration in fifth.

Notably, The Gift of Peace scores the highest iSpot Attention Index (111) in the ranking, meaning viewers were on average highly likely to watch its promos all the way through (vs. interrupting viewing by changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

1) FIFA World Cup Qatar, Fox

• Impressions: 324,444,398
• Interruption Rate: 1.05%
• Attention Index: 88 (12% more interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 94%, Local 5%, VOD/OTT 1%
• In-network Value: $5,650,935
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

2) The Gift of Peace, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

• Impressions: 258,821,003
• Interruption Rate: 3.03%
• Attention Index: 111 (11% fewer interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 100%, Local 0%, VOD/OTT 0%
• In-network Value: $1,481,517
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

3) Christmas Class Reunion, Hallmark Channel

• Impressions: 243,939,442
• Interruption Rate: 3.70%
• Attention Index: 83 (17% more interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 100%, Local 0%, VOD/OTT 0%
• In-network Value: $1,496,740
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

4) Ghosts “Ghostmas” special, CBS

• Impressions: 226,926,540
• Interruption Rate: 1.13%
• Attention Index: 78 (22% more interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 94%, Local 4%, VOD/OTT 2%
• In-network Value: $3,069,995
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

5) Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration, ABC

• Impressions: 189,710,059
• Interruption Rate: 1.61%
• Attention Index: 91 (9% more interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 91%, Local 8%, VOD/OTT 1%
• In-network Value: $1,457,336
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

* Data provided by iSpot.tv, TV Ad Measurement for Disruptive Brands *

For more information about Promo Mojo — including the chart positions of promos beyond the top five — contact mediapartnerships@ispot.tv.

Impressions: The total impressions within all U.S. households including National Linear (Live & Time-shifted), VOD plus OTT, and Local.

Attention Score: Measures the propensity of consumers to interrupt an ad play on TV. The higher the score, the more complete views. Actions that interrupt an ad play include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV.

Attention Index: Represents the Attention of a specific creative or program placement vs. the average in its respective industry. The average is represented by a score of 100, and the total index range is from 0 through 200. For example, an attention index of 125 means that there are 25% fewer interrupted ad plays compared to the average.

Impression Types: Impression types tracked include National (Live + Time-shifted), Local, VOD & OTT. See below for further details.

In-Network Value: Estimated media value of in-network promos.

Out-of-Network Spend: The estimated amount spent on TV airing time for this promo's spots during a given date range.

National: Live: A national promo which was viewed during live linear television broadcast or same day, via DVR or on-demand.

Local: A promo that was aired during a local ad break slot.

VOD: This includes promos that run in on-demand content past three days (i.e. do not contain the linear promo load).

OTT: On-demand streaming content (i.e. Hulu, Roku, Fire TV Stick, Chromecast). ■

Below is a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of December 5-11, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Inscape, and network and show TV ad impressions insights via iSpot.tv.

Most-Watched Shows and Networks

Via Inscape, the currency-grade smart TV ACR data provider and data technology division of Vizio with insights from a panel of more than 20 million opted-in TVs. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

The NFL maintained its No. 1 spot by watch-time from December 5-11, at 5.41% (down slightly from 5.53% the previous week). However, that doesn’t include another 0.43% of minutes watched on NFL RedZone, which is No. 18 in our ranking.

Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:

• Basketball watch-time is on the rise, as men’s college hoops moves from No. 5 to No. 4 in our ranking, while the NBA jumps from No. 11 to No. 5.
• NBC’s “One Chicago” franchise grows minutes watched week-over-week, as Chicago Fire climbs from No. 21 to No. 12, and Chicago P.D. increases from No. 28 to No. 22.
• World Cup watch-time is dipping as the field narrows, with English-language share of minutes watched declining week-over-week from 2.55% to 1.40%, while Spanish-language minutes watched drop from 0.81% to 0.43%.
• Beyond Chicago P.D., ABC World News Tonight with David Muir is the lone week-over-week newcomer in our ranking, returning at No. 25 (up from No. 27).

CBS stays at No. 1 as the most-watched network, accounting for 7.40% of watch-time from December 5-11 (down from 8.66% the previous week). Along with Sunday NFL action, CBS also aired the annual Army-Navy college football game on Saturday.

Additional insights around the most-watched networks from December 5-11:

• With so much attention on the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff election, cable news watch-time shows growth week-over-week -- Fox News moves from 4.64% to 4.86%, MSNBC increases from 1.55% to 1.77%, and CNN is up from 1.31% to 1.54%.
• AMC leaned into classic holiday movies like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf and more to fuel a week-over-week leap from No. 34 to No. 22 in our ranking.
• Similarly, Freeform leaned into (parent company) Disney-owned Christmas flicks to jump from No. 21 to No. 18 week-over-week.
• Beyond AMC, Nickelodeon is also a week-over-week newcomer, joining our ranking at No. 25 by watch-time (up from No. 27 the previous week).

Top Shows and Networks by TV Ad Impressions

Via iSpot.tv, the real-time TV measurement company. Rankings are by share of TV ad impressions, for new episodes only.

NFL action delivered 12.14% of TV ad impressions from December 5-11, staying at No. 1 yet again in our ranking among all programs. That was down slightly from 12.25% the previous week, though it’s still more than seven times the program with the next-highest share.

More insights about the top programs by share of TV ad impressions:

• The list of top five programs is four-fifths sports: the NFL, Spanish-language World Cup games, men’s college basketball and the NBA.
• With two nights of semifinal competition, The Voice sings its way to No. 7 by TV ad impressions (up from No. 13 the week before).
• A busy week in U.S. political news (the Georgia runoff, Kyrsten Sinema leaving the Democratic Party) helped fuel CNN Newsroom’s week-over-week growth from No. 32 to No. 20 by share of TV ad impressions.
• Just two daytime soap operas appear in this week’s rankings: The Young and the Restless (No. 13) and General Hospital (No. 25).

CBS keeps its spot atop our network ranking, with 15.87% of TV ad impressions from December 5-11 -- down from 16.39% the previous week. The NFL accounts for nearly 17% of impressions on the network, which is more than double the total for CBS’s No. 2 program, The Price Is Right.

Additional insights around the top networks by share of TV ad impressions:

• Baseball’s winter meetings and the continuing free agency conversation push MLB Network into our ranking at No. 24, even in the offseason.
• ESPN2 impressions grew 25% week-over-week, partially on the strength of men’s college basketball (nearly a quarter of the network’s impressions).
• NBC’s share of TV ad impressions increase from 12.04% to 13.29%, as the network leaned on its usual primetime slate, along with the People’s Choice Awards.
• Discovery Channel TV ad impressions leap 17% week-over-week, with Gold Rush accounting for over 26% of impressions.

Grant Wahl, 48, online soccer journalist  CBS News contributor and former Fox Sports correspondent, died suddenly Friday (Dec. 9) while covering the World Cup in Qatar.

Wahl had also covered soccer for Sports Illustrated, including 11 World Cups.

He was reportedly in the press area at the game between Argentina and Netherlands when he collapsed and received immediate medical treatment, according to the Qatar Supreme Committee, and was believed to have died either at Hamad General Hospital or en route.

On a podcast last week, Wahl had said he was not feeling well but was told it was probably bronchitis. He had been testing regularly — and negatively — for COVID-19, he said.

During this year’s World Cup, in addition to filing for his own website, Wahl contributed to CBS Sports, including as an analyst on CBS Sports HQ. He was also an editorial correspondent for soccer documentaries on Paramount Plus.

”Grant's passion for soccer and commitment to elevating its profile across our sporting landscape played a major role in helping to drive interest in and respect for our Beautiful game,” U.S. Soccer said in a statement. 

Survivors include Wahl's wife, Dr. Celine Gounder, who is a CBS News medical contributor. ■

This weekend's busy, live TV sports lineup starts on the soccer field with World Cup quarterfinals round action.

Fox on Saturday will televise live World Cup games between Morocco and Portugal, along with England versus France. The winners from the two games will meet in a December 14 semifinal matchup, with that winner qualifying for the World Cup finals against the winner of the December 13 semifinal game.

In the boxing ring, welterweight champion Terence Crawford on Saturday will step into the ring against David Avanesyan in a pay-per-view fight. Also on PPV, retired eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao will fight an exhibition bout against martial arts fighter DK Yoo.

ESPN Plus on Saturday will stream the Teofimo Lopez-Sandor Martin fight, while DAZN will carry the Josh Warrington-Luis Alberto Lopez featherweight championship bout.

Also: Manny Pacquiao, Terence Crawford Fights Round Out 2022 PPV Boxing Card

In the octagon, ESPN will distribute via PPV the UFC 282 mixed martial arts fight card featuring a main event light heavyweight championship bout between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev.

ABC will air a Saturday primetime matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors in a rematch of the 2022 NBA Finals won by the Warriors.

On the links, TNT on Saturday will air its golf exhibition event The Match, featuring Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy facing Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. NBC and Golf Channel will offer weekend coverage of the PGA’s QBE Shootout event.

Also: TNT Turns Primetime Spotlight on 'The Match' Golf Event

Week 14 of the NFL season picks up Sunday with regional action on CBS and Fox, followed by NBC’s primetime Sunday Night Football contest between the Miami Dolphins and the Los Angeles Chargers. ■

Below is a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of November 28-December 4, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Inscape, and network and show TV ad impressions insights via iSpot.tv.

Most-Watched Shows and Networks

Via Inscape, the currency-grade smart TV ACR data provider and data technology division of Vizio with insights from a panel of more than 20 million opted-in TVs. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

Program schedules returned to normal following the holiday week, though football still reigned supreme with audiences. The NFL was the top TV program by watch-time from November 28-December 4, at 5.53% (down from 9.24% during the week of Thanksgiving).

Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:

• College football’s championship weekend meant fewer games, but the sport still scored 3.80% of minutes watched to remain at No. 2 in our ranking.
• As the World Cup field narrows, viewership is still going strong. English-language games accounted for 2.55% of watch-time (No. 3 overall), while Spanish-language coverage (Copa Mundial de la FIFA) scored 0.81% (No. 6).
• Morning news programs leap in our ranking week-over-week, with Good Morning America jumping from No. 11 to No. 7, Today moving from No. 10 to No. 8, and CBS Mornings hopping from No. 20 to No. 16.
• The Price Is Right is another beneficiary of the normal TV schedule, experiencing the largest week-over-week climb in our ranking, moving from No. 31 to No. 15 by watch-time.

CBS hurdles back into the lead as the most-watched network, accounting for 8.66% of watch-time from November 28-December 4 (up from 7.83% the previous week). The network scored with a big NFL doubleheader on Sunday, as well Saturday’s SEC Championship Game between Georgia and LSU.

Additional insights around the most-watched networks from November 28-December 4:

• Cable news saw benefits from audiences returning to their usual routines post-holiday, as Fox News moves from No. 6 to No. 5 week-over-week, MSNBC goes from No. 21 to No. 9 and CNN climbs from No. 20 to No. 14.
• Procedurals helped push USA Network into the top 10 week-over-week, with Law & Order: SVU reruns accounting for nearly 46% of minutes watched.
• Freeform’s holiday movie focus helped fuel a rise from No. 36 to No. 21 week-over-week, as viewers tuned into seasonal classics like Home Alone (12.75% of the network’s watch-time for the week).
• Family Feud helped pace The CW’s week-over-week climb into our ranking, from No. 27 to No. 22.

Top Shows and Networks by TV Ad Impressions

Via iSpot.tv, the real-time TV measurement company. Rankings are by share of TV ad impressions, for new episodes only.

Even without the benefit of Thanksgiving games, the NFL still claimed 12.25% of TV ad impressions from November 28-December 4. When combined with Friday and Saturday’s college games, American football accounted for nearly 21% of TV ad impressions for the week.

More insights about the top programs by share of TV ad impressions:

• In other “football” programming, Spanish-language telecasts of World Cup games served 2.39% of TV ad impressions, while the English-language telecasts of the games delivered 2.11%.
• NBC’s 90th Annual Christmas in Rockefeller Center tree-lighting special arrives at No. 23 in our ranking, with 0.67% of TV ad impressions.
• The Voice leads all reality TV programs, with 1.00% of ad impressions (No. 13 overall on the week), while Exatlón Estados Unidos: All-Stars appears at No. 21.
• The Young and The Restless is the lone daytime soap opera to make an appearance, sitting at No. 11 -- up from No. 20 the previous week.

CBS nabs 16.39% of TV ad impressions to sail into first place in our network ranking, increasing its share from 15.82% the previous week. NFL and college football coverage accounted for more than 46% of CBS’s TV ad impressions from November 28-Decmber 4.

Additional insights around the top networks by share of TV ad impressions:

• Snow forecasts around the country helped drive The Weather Channel impressions up by 219% week-over-week.
• Bravo jumps from No. 27 to No. 21 by share of ad impressions week-over-week, as Below Deck delivered 15.05% for the network.
• 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? delivered over 37% of impressions for TLC, as the network increased TV ad impressions by 17% week-over-week.
• CNBC is another week-over-week newcomer in our ranking, jumping from No. 28 to No. 22 as the network returned to regularly scheduled programming.

B+C has partnered with always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv to bring you a weekly chart we call Promo Mojo: exclusive data showing TV’s most-promoted programming ranked by ad impressions. Our data covers the seven-day period through December 4.

Fox’s FIFA World Cup Qatar is No. 1 for the second week in a row.

The rest of the ranking is dominated by holiday movies: CBS promotes Fit for Christmas in second place, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries hypes The Holiday Stocking in third, Freeform celebrates its 25 Days of Christmas programming block in fourth, and Hallmark Channel gives some love to A Fabled Holiday in fifth.

Notably, Fit for Christmas scores the highest iSpot Attention Index (123) in the ranking, meaning viewers were on average highly likely to watch its promos all the way through (vs. interrupting viewing by changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

1) FIFA World Cup Qatar, Fox

• Impressions: 423,251,902
• Interruption Rate: 1.88%
• Attention Index: 82 (18% more interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 93%, Local 5%, VOD/OTT 2%
• In-network Value: $5,684,621
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $82,697

2) Fit for Christmas, CBS

• Impressions: 292,681,785
• Interruption Rate: 0.64%
• Attention Index: 123 (23% fewer interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 97%, Local 2%, VOD/OTT 1%
• In-network Value: $2,741,242
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

3) The Holiday Stocking, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

• Impressions: 268,977,343
• Interruption Rate: 3.76%
• Attention Index: 92 (8% more interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 100%, Local 0%, VOD/OTT 0%
• In-network Value: $1,628,490
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

4) 25 Days of Christmas, Freeform

• Impressions: 251,998,579
• Interruption Rate: 1.25%
• Attention Index: 110 (10% fewer interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 96%, Local 3%, VOD/OTT 1%
• In-network Value: $1,123,991
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $213,869

5) A Fabled Holiday, Hallmark Channel

• Impressions: 236,670,171
• Interruption Rate: 2.95%
• Attention Index: 109 (9% fewer interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 100%, Local 0%, VOD/OTT 0%
• In-network Value: $1,459,077
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $129,788

* Data provided by iSpot.tv, TV Ad Measurement for Disruptive Brands *

For more information about Promo Mojo — including the chart positions of promos beyond the top five — contact mediapartnerships@ispot.tv.

Impressions: The total impressions within all U.S. households including National Linear (Live & Time-shifted), VOD plus OTT, and Local.

Attention Score: Measures the propensity of consumers to interrupt an ad play on TV. The higher the score, the more complete views. Actions that interrupt an ad play include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV.

Attention Index: Represents the Attention of a specific creative or program placement vs. the average in its respective industry. The average is represented by a score of 100, and the total index range is from 0 through 200. For example, an attention index of 125 means that there are 25% fewer interrupted ad plays compared to the average.

Impression Types: Impression types tracked include National (Live + Time-shifted), Local, VOD & OTT. See below for further details.

In-Network Value: Estimated media value of in-network promos.

Out-of-Network Spend: The estimated amount spent on TV airing time for this promo's spots during a given date range.

National: Live: A national promo which was viewed during live linear television broadcast or same day, via DVR or on-demand.

Local: A promo that was aired during a local ad break slot.

VOD: This includes promos that run in on-demand content past three days (i.e. do not contain the linear promo load).

OTT: On-demand streaming content (i.e. Hulu, Roku, Fire TV Stick, Chromecast). ■

Fox Sports on Saturday drew nearly 13 million viewers for its United States-Netherlands World Cup game, but will now have to finish its tournament coverage without arguably its biggest draw after the U.S. lost 3-1 and was eliminated from competition.

The audience for Saturday’s U.S.-Netherlands knockout-stage match was up 163% from Fox Sports’ 2018 round of 16 average from Russia, which averaged 4.9 million viewers, the network said. The U.S.-Netherlands audience peaked at 16.3 million viewers between 11:30 and 11:45 a.m. (ET).

Going into Saturday, the U.S. team’s games averaged 11.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched World Cup group stage ever in the U.S. on English-language television. Viewing was up 10% from 2014, the last time the U.S. competed in the World Cup.

Nevertheless, Fox Sports executive VP and head of strategy and analytics Mike Mulvihill — in an interview on the eve of the game — told Multichannel News he believes World Cup ratings will continue to spike despite the U.S. loss for live coverage on Fox and FS1, as well as on the Fox Sports app and for replays on Fox-owned streaming service Tubi. Here’s an edited transcript of that conversation. 

MCN: Have you been surprised thus far by the Fox Sports’ ratings performance for the World Cup, given the crowded market and the fall start of the tournament?

Mike Mulvihill: Honestly, no. I don't think we are surprised. I think we had a lot of confidence that this was going to transfer to the fall just fine. It is a more crowded time of year as far as marque sports events, but it's also Fox’s best time of year, so our ability to promote the World Cup, is so much stronger in the fall than it would be in the summer. And we’ve really pushed it as hard as we’ve ever pushed anything through our NFL and in college football games. It's a higher TV usage during this time of year and it’s the most powerful time of the year for our brand, and I think we’ve been able to capitalize on those promotional platforms. Our expectation was that we would see pretty substantial growth. 

MCN: How dependent are the ratings on the U.S. continuing to advance in the World Cup? If they lose, are you fearful that the audience may dissipate a bit?

MM: No, I'm actually not fearful of that at all. This is a 64-match tournament, so each match, no matter how big it might be, only represents something like one and a half percent of the total tournament. So if the U.S. is eliminated this weekend, I don't think it's gonna have any negative impact on our story going forward. I still think we're gonna finish up plus 20% to 30% for the entire tournament. It would be amazing to see the U.S. advance, not even so much because of the growth story, but just because of what it would mean for continued growth of soccer in the US and continued growth and interest in the national team. But we don't need them to go any further than this to have a really successful tournament. 

MCN: How has having all of the English-language World Cup games airing on linear television bolstered audience viewership?

MM: We're obviously believers in traditional broadcast TV — our biggest events are always on the broadcast platform. We still think that there’s a lot to be said for the reach, ease and familiarity of traditional broadcast TV. Because of the football conflicts we actually have fewer matches on [the Fox broadcast network] this year than we had four years ago, but we have a lot more than had ever been on broadcast prior to our company getting the rights. And so we do believe that just using your biggest stage aggressively is a pretty positive contributor. 

MCN: Having said that, Fox Sports has thus far experienced strong numbers on the digital side. How are you using the digital platform to your advantage? 

MM: Not only are we breaking records on the digital side, we’re breaking them by margins that you just never see. We’re having increases of several orders of magnitude in our social interactions and our video views. Our live match streaming is the highest it’s ever been. We’re obviously really proud of the linear story and that’s where the bulk of the viewership is and where the bulk of the revenue is. But the growth trajectory on the digital side is just extraordinary. You never see percentages like 600% to 700% increases, but we’re actually seeing them right now. ■

The second round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament featuring the U.S. National Team highlights a busy lineup of live TV sports events scheduled the first full weekend of December.

The USMST – fresh off its November 29 win over Iran to advance to the World Cup’s round of 16 – will battle the Netherlands Saturday morning on Fox, with the Spanish-language feed on Telemundo and streaming service Peacock. The other World Cup game on Saturday features Argentina against Australia, also on Fox, Telemundo and Peacock.

On Sunday, FS1, Telemundo and Peacock will offer the England-Senegal and France-Poland World Cup games.

In the boxing ring, ESPN Plus will stream live the heavyweight championship fight between titleholder Tyson Fury and Derek Chisora in the third match between the two fighters. Fury, who knocked out Dillian Whyte in his last fight this past April, has won the first two bouts against Chisora. Also on Saturday, DAZN will stream the third bout between Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez. The two boxers split the two previous fights. 

In the Octagon, ESPN Saturday will televise a UFC Fight Night card featuring a main event  welterweight bout between Stephen Thompson and Kevin Holland.

College football's Championship weekend Saturday schedule offers several big games featuring top 10-ranked teams, including top-ranked Georgia against No. 14 LSU in the SEC Championship game on CBS, second-ranked Michigan against Purdue in the Big Ten Championship on Fox, third-ranked TCU battling 10th ranked Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship game on ABC and No. 9 Clemson versus No.23 North Carolina in the ACC Championship game on ABC. 

Week 13 of  the NFL season starts with Sunday afternoon regional game coverage on Fox and CBS, followed by NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecast pitting the Indianapolis Colts against the Dallas Cowboys.

On the links, NBC will air weekend final round coverage of the PGA Hero World Challenge golf tournament.■  

Streaming service Peacock tonight (December 2) debuts its inaugural Peacock Classic game between the 2021 NCAA men’s college basketball finalists — No.6 Baylor and No. 14 Gonzaga — as it continues its live Spanish-language coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament alongside sister NBCUniversal broadcast service Telemundo. 

The events are part of an ever-expanding lineup of live sports programming the streaming service features, including Premier League soccer games, simulcasts of NBC’s NFL Sunday Night Football telecasts and, beginning next year, Big Ten College football and basketball games.

Newly named Peacock Sports and NBC Sports programming president Rick Cordella spoke to Multichannel News about Peacock’s sports strategy, including tonight’s Peacock Classic college basketball event, as well as the streaming service's World Cup performance, which has accounted for a record 26% of Telemundo’s total viewership for the tournament through November 26, according to NBC Sports.

Peacock’s Nov. 26 Argentina-Mexico match was the most streamed FIFA World Cup match in US media history regardless of language, averaging more than 2 million viewers, according to NBC Sports. 

Overall through the first seven days of  the tournament, NBC Sports is averaging  2.57 million viewers across Telemundo, Peacock and Telemundo streaming platforms, which is up 24% compared to the 2018 World Cup tournament, according to Nielsen. 

An edited version of the interview appears below: 

MCN: How did the inaugural Peacock Classic event come about and how does it fit into NBC Sports’ strategy for airing exclusive, live sports content on the streaming service?

Rick Cordella: It came to us as an opportunity. Sports has been an anchor of the Peacock service, and we have one of the widest and deepest sports portfolios of a streamer out there. That includes all of the simulcasts of games we have to offer, the exclusivity of the Premier League, what we're currently doing with the World Cup, what we have for golf, the WWE and all the other various sports. This past summer we completed a Big 10 rights agreement, and with that deal, we're going to have eight or nine football games exclusively on Peacock and another 15 or so on NBC, which will be simulcast on Peacock, as well as 35-plus men's basketball games from the Big 10 in the 2023-24 season. So as we’re getting into college basketball anyway, the [Peacock Classic] is an opportunity for us with Baylor and Gonzaga attached to it. The game also has a NIL (name, image and likeness) component, where the players will promote the game or the service overall. So we're experimenting and we'll see how it goes. I'm excited and hopefully, it’ll be a good game tonight. 

MCN: Is the Peacock Classic franchise something that you’re looking to continue annually? 

RC: For sure. We’re certainly a data-driven organization — if we see the data tonight that says this performed well in terms of driving subscribers, engagement and sponsorship, that’s something we would want to repeat. 

MCN: Do you see college sports content as a driver to bring in younger viewers to Peacock?

RC: Yes. The way I look at it, where the intensity of viewership is high, that's the content that typically resonates on the streamer. Certainly, there’s some lean-back content that’s on broadcast TV that has high numbers, but when you have a World Cup, Premier League or, in this case, college basketball, the fans of those teams and schools are really into the games. Just look at the passion every Saturday afternoon in any given stadium in America — people are really into it. That’s the kind of content we want to bring to Peacock.

MCN: Tonight’s game comes right in the middle of Telemundo’s Spanish-language coverage of the World Cup, which is streaming on Peacock. How have the games performed on Peacock through the first round of the tournament? 

RC: It’s doing remarkably well for us — beyond our expectations, honestly. I think there’s an opportunity here to attract a younger audience that may exist outside of pay TV that didn't have access to this content. Peacock is effectively the exclusive (direct-to-consumer) deliverer of the World Cup, so I think we’re taking advantage of that to a certain degree. We’re seeing great numbers. ■  

Google has reached a timely deal with Hisense subsidiary VIDAA to have Google TV and Android TV devices carry the TVOS maker's sports content, a portfolio that includes the FIFA+ app.

FIFA+ (aka "FIFA Plus") is the official streaming app of the eponymous global governing body for soccer, which of course is producing a little event right now called The World Cup in Qatar that expects to draw a global TV audience of around 5 billion viewers by the time it concludes on Dec. 18.

And gateway OS maker VIDAA, a software platform company owned by the world's No. 2 smart TV maker, just so happens to be the exclusive home of FIFA+, an app that includes archived and live soccer events, as well as original soccer-themed programming.

With expansion into Google TV/Android TV gateway OS, VIDAA will grow the reach of FIFA+ and its overall sports programming portfolio into UK, Canada, Latin America, Germany, Australia and Japan.

Meanwhile VIDAA's longstanding ad-tech partner, Tremor, will act as the exclusive global connected TV  monetization platform for FIFA+ across all devices powered by VIDAA and Android TV operating systems.

“Our relationships with Google, FIFA and Tremor International will bring scaled opportunities for advertisers to reach hyper-engaged sports fans all over the world with precision and custom creative on the biggest screen in the house,” said Guy Edri, president of VIDAA, in a statement.

Added Jonathan Zepp, managing director of media and entertainment partnerships for Google: "Through this collaboration, we're able to help World Cup fans around the world celebrate and tune in wherever they are through exclusive and engaging content across Android TV OS devices." ■

The U.S. men’s national team’s victory over Iran in the World Cup drew more than 12 million viewers on Tuesday, propelling the team to the global soccer tournament’s knockout round and powering record ratings for Fox.

Viewing of the game peaked at 14.6 million between 3:45 p.m. ET and 4 p.m. ET.

The game was also the most-streamed World Cup match in Fox history with 949,004 viewers.

Fox Sports said the three U.S. games averaged 11.7 million viewers, making it the most watched World Cup group stage ever in the U.S. on English language television. Viewing was up 10% from 2014, the last time the U.S. competed in the World Cup.

Overall the World Cup is averaging 3.145 million viewers on Fox and FS! Through the first 31 matches, up 44% from the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

In a tweet, Fox Sports ratings whiz Michael Mulvihill noted that the 11.7 million viewers watching the U.S. play in the World Cup at 2 p.m. “easily beats the average of every non-NFL show on TV this fall.”

The viewership is 33% better than 60 Minutes, the No. 1 non-NFL show in primetime, he said. 

Top markets for the U.S.-Iran match were Washington D.C. with an 8.4 ratings and 34 share, Providence 7.9/26, Boston 7.8/30, Baltimore 7.8/30 and Kansas City 7.7/30. ■

Below is a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of November 21-27, highlighting the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Inscape, and network and show TV ad impressions insights via iSpot.tv.

Most-Watched Shows and Networks

Via Inscape, the currency-grade smart TV ACR data provider and data technology division of Vizio with insights from a panel of more than 20 million opted-in TVs. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

Thanksgiving Week programming focused on football of all kinds, as audiences tuned into the NFL, college football and World Cup coverage from November 21-27. But it was the NFL that won the week with 9.24% of watch-time (up from 5.68% from November 14-20), as the league was buoyed by three close games on Thanksgiving.

Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:

• English-language World Cup games debut at No. 3 in our ranking, with 2.66% of minutes watched as Fox and Fox Sports 1 aired four games per day.
• Spanish-language World Cup coverage (Copa Mundial de la FIFA) also scored with audiences, collecting 1.10% of watch-time on the week.
• NBC’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade coverage accounted for 1.12% of watch-time on the week (No. 5 overall), while CBS’s parade broadcast lands at No. 25.
• The Andy Griffith Show pops up to No. 17 in our ranking (from No. 46 the previous week) due to increased airings on TV Land and Sundance.

Fox assumes the lead as the most-watched network, accounting for 9.99% of watch-time from November 21-27 -- up from 5.22% the week before. The network benefited from big sporting events over the entire holiday weekend, from the World Cup to NFL action and the final weekend of the college football regular season.

Additional insights around the most-watched networks from November 21-27:

• Paramount Network leaps from No. 18 to No. 8 week-over-week due in large part to a Yellowstone marathon over the holiday.
• Fox Sports 1 rides World Cup action from No. 40 to No. 9 week-over-week in our watch-time ranking, while Telemundo jumps from No. 41 to No. 10 thanks in large part to Spanish-language coverage of the event.
• TNT makes modest week-over-week gains by share of minutes watched (from 1.03% to 1.17%) thanks primarily to NBA action.
• Hallmark Channel stays at No. 7 week-over-week in our ranking, but holiday specials helped power a watch-time increase from 2.91% to 3.07%.

Top Shows and Networks by TV Ad Impressions

Via iSpot.tv, the real-time TV measurement company. Rankings are by share of TV ad impressions, for new episodes only. 

Thanksgiving games helped the NFL claim 19.39% of the week’s TV ad impressions, rising from 12.21% from November 14-20. On Thanksgiving Day itself, the league served over 47% of TV ad impressions -- 5.6 times the amount of the closest program.

More insights about the top programs by share of TV ad impressions:

• College football closed its regular season by accounting for 11.49% of TV ad impressions – as rivalry games across Thursday, Friday and Saturday helped power a week-over-week increase from 8.20%.
• Spanish-language World Cup action delivered 3.42% of TV ad impressions on the week (No. 3 overall), while English-language matches were 2.23% (No. 4).
• World Cup studio shows across Telemundo, Fox and Fox Sports 1 also delivered a combined 2.3% of TV ad impressions.
• Other Thanksgiving programming also delivered significant shares of TV ad impressions. NBC’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade coverage had 1.73% of impressions (No. 9), while its National Dog Show broadcast had 0.86% (No. 13).

Fox leaps into first place in our network ranking, increasing its share of TV ad impressions from 5.92% to 15.84% week-over-week. Along with select World Cup games, the network also aired the Thanksgiving game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, NFL Sunday action, and Saturday’s big college football showdown between the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes.

Additional insights around the top networks by share of TV ad impressions:

• NBC and CBS also increased TV ad impressions share week-over-week, largely on the strength of the NFL (each network aired one of the other Thanksgiving Day games) and holiday-specific programming like the Macy’s parade.
• Telemundo more than doubled its ad impressions share of voice from 2.72% to 6.25% week-over-week as the network leaned into Spanish-language World Cup coverage.
• Hallmark Channel TV ad impressions climbed by 109% week-over-week as audiences tuned in for holiday-centric specials to set the mood for the season.
• BET more than doubled its share of TV ad impressions week-over-week, from 0.21% to 0.44% as the 2022 Soul Train Awards telecast accounted for nearly one-fifth of impressions on the network.

B+C has partnered with always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv to bring you a weekly chart we call Promo Mojo: exclusive data showing TV’s most-promoted programming ranked by ad impressions. Our data covers the seven-day period through November 27.

Fox’s FIFA World Cup Qatar is No. 1. The network also takes second place to hype upcoming celebrity reality competition Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test and fourth for College Football.

Rounding out the ranking are two cable networks: Hallmark Channel, which promotes A Holiday Spectacular in third, and Paramount Network, which gives some love to the fifth season of Yellowstone in fifth place.

Notably, Yellowstone scores the highest iSpot Attention Index (134) in the ranking, meaning viewers were on average highly likely to watch its promos all the way through (vs. interrupting viewing by changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

1) 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, Fox

• Impressions: 711,074,303
• Interruption Rate: 1.14%
• Attention Index: 96 (4% more interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 97%, Local 2%, VOD/OTT 1%
• In-network Value: $12,816,591
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

2) Special Forces: World's Toughest Test, Fox

• Impressions: 346,434,858
• Interruption Rate: 1.59%
• Attention Index: 81 (19% more interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 95%, Local 3%, VOD/OTT 2%
• In-network Value: $7,390,402
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

3) A Holiday Spectacular, Hallmark Channel

• Impressions: 343,634,890
• Interruption Rate: 2.46%
• Attention Index: 123 (23% fewer interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 99%, Local 1%, VOD/OTT 0%
• In-network Value: $1,702,623
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $764,094

4) College Football, Fox

• Impressions: 324,941,177
• Interruption Rate: 0.74%
• Attention Index: 92 (8% more interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 97%, Local 2%, VOD/OTT 1%
• In-network Value: $4,316,707
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $50,686

5) Yellowstone, Paramount Network

• Impressions: 291,139,420
• Interruption Rate: 2.26%
• Attention Index: 134 (34% fewer interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 92%, Local 4%, VOD/OTT 4%
• In-network Value: $1,166,466
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

* Data provided by iSpot.tv, TV Ad Measurement for Disruptive Brands *

For more information about Promo Mojo — including the chart positions of promos beyond the top five — contact mediapartnerships@ispot.tv.

Impressions: The total impressions within all U.S. households including National Linear (Live & Time-shifted), VOD plus OTT, and Local.

Attention Score: Measures the propensity of consumers to interrupt an ad play on TV. The higher the score, the more complete views. Actions that interrupt an ad play include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV.

Attention Index: Represents the Attention of a specific creative or program placement vs. the average in its respective industry. The average is represented by a score of 100, and the total index range is from 0 through 200. For example, an attention index of 125 means that there are 25% fewer interrupted ad plays compared to the average.

Impression Types: Impression types tracked include National (Live + Time-shifted), Local, VOD & OTT. See below for further details.

In-Network Value: Estimated media value of in-network promos.

Out-of-Network Spend: The estimated amount spent on TV airing time for this promo's spots during a given date range.

National: Live: A national promo which was viewed during live linear television broadcast or same day, via DVR or on-demand.

Local: A promo that was aired during a local ad break slot.

VOD: This includes promos that run in on-demand content past three days (i.e. do not contain the linear promo load).

OTT: On-demand streaming content (i.e. Hulu, Roku, Fire TV Stick, Chromecast). ■

Michigan’s victory Saturday (November 25) over Ohio State in “The Game” drew 17 million viewers on Fox, making it the most-watched regular-season college football game ever on the network.

Viewership was up 3% from last year's Michigan-Ohio State rivalry game and was part of a huge weekend for Fox Sports.

It was also the most-watched regular-season college football game on any network since 2011.

Viewership peaked at 19.6 million viewers, Fox said.

The markets with the highest ratings for the game were Columbus at 32.6 with a 70 share; Cleveland 26.9/67, Detroit 24.7/65, Cincinnati 20.1/52 and Indianapolis 13.4/39.

The game was part of a big sports weekend for Fox. It had its most-watched soccer telecast with the U.S.-England draw in the World Cup, attracting 15.4 million viewers, and with the Thanksgiving Day NFL game, where the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants, drawing a regular-season record with 42 million viewers.

“Three evers in three days,” tweeted Mike Mulvihill, the Fox Sports ratings guru. ■

B+C has partnered with always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv to bring you a weekly chart we call Promo Mojo: exclusive data showing TV's most-promoted programming ranked by ad impressions. Our data covers the seven-day period through November 20.

ABC's telecast of the American Music Awards is No. 1. The network is joined by fellow traditional broadcaster Fox, which generates excitement for 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar in fourth place.

Rounding out the ranking are two cable networks: Paramount Network, which gives some love to the fifth season of Yellowstone in second place, and Hallmark Channel, which promotes two original TV movies: Three Wise Men and a Baby in third and Inventing the Christmas Prince in fifth.

Notably, Yellowstone scores the highest iSpot Attention Index (119) in the ranking, meaning viewers were on average highly likely to watch its promos all the way through (vs. interrupting viewing by changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV).

1) 2022 American Music Awards, ABC

• Impressions: 322,011,482
• Interruption Rate: 1.11%
• Attention Index: 107 (7% fewer interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 97%, Local 3%, VOD/OTT 0%
• In-network Value: $2,927,608
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $289,857

2) Yellowstone, Paramount Network

• Impressions: 312,808,370
• Interruption Rate: 2.37%
• Attention Index: 119 (19% fewer interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 92%, Local 4%, VOD/OTT 4%
• In-network Value: $1,060,514
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $457,049

3) Three Wise Men and a Baby, Hallmark Channel

• Impressions: 309,313,504
• Interruption Rate: 2.66%
• Attention Index: 114 (14% fewer interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 99%, Local 1%, VOD/OTT 0%
• In-network Value: $1,661,031
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $381,573

4) 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar, Fox

• Impressions: 278,117,859
• Interruption Rate: 1.86%
• Attention Index: 80 (20% more interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 93%, Local 5%, VOD/OTT 2%
• In-network Value: $5,595,264
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $44,126

5) Inventing the Christmas Prince, Hallmark Channel

• Impressions: 244,918,741
• Interruption Rate: 3.69%
• Attention Index: 87 (13% more interruptions than avg.)
• Imp. Types: National 100%, Local 0%, VOD/OTT 0%
• In-network Value: $1,383,703
• Out-of-network Est. Spend: $0.00

* Data provided by iSpot.tv, TV Ad Measurement for Disruptive Brands *

For more information about Promo Mojo — including the chart positions of promos beyond the top five — contact mediapartnerships@ispot.tv.

Impressions: The total impressions within all U.S. households including National Linear (Live & Time-shifted), VOD plus OTT, and Local.

Attention Score: Measures the propensity of consumers to interrupt an ad play on TV. The higher the score, the more complete views. Actions that interrupt an ad play include changing the channel, pulling up the guide, fast-forwarding or turning off the TV.

Attention Index: Represents the Attention of a specific creative or program placement vs. the average in its respective industry. The average is represented by a score of 100, and the total index range is from 0 through 200. For example, an attention index of 125 means that there are 25% fewer interrupted ad plays compared to the average.

Impression Types: Impression types tracked include National (Live + Time-shifted), Local, VOD & OTT. See below for further details.

In-Network Value: Estimated media value of in-network promos.

Out-of-Network Spend: The estimated amount spent on TV airing time for this promo's spots during a given date range.

National: Live: A national promo which was viewed during live linear television broadcast or same day, via DVR or on-demand.

Local: A promo that was aired during a local ad break slot.

VOD: This includes promos that run in on-demand content past three days (i.e. do not contain the linear promo load).

OTT: On-demand streaming content (i.e. Hulu, Roku, Fire TV Stick, Chromecast). ■

Team USA's opening World Cup match drew 8.3 million viewers on Fox, which has the English-language rights to the soccer championship.

Viewership on Fox peaked at 9.4 million between 3:45 p.m. ET and 4 p.m.

The first three matches on Fox drew an average of 4.026 million viewers up 193% from the first three matches of the 2018 World Cup. 

NBCUniversal said Spanish-language coverage of the first two days of the World Cup averaged total audience delivery of 2.6 million for four matches across Telemundo, Peacock and Telemundo digital streaming platforms, up 72% from four years ago.

Also: Spanish-Language World Cup Ads Nearly Sold Out: NBCU

The USA-Wales match had a total audience deliver of 3.4 million viewers. The three matches televised on Monday averaged 2.1 million viewers, up 41% from four year ago.

During the USA-Wales game, Telemundo was the No. 1 network in Miami. Peacock was the top free app at the Apple app store on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, NBCU said.

Fox said USA-Wales was its most-streamed match with an average of 563,000 viewers.

Fox said the top markets for the USA-Wales draw were Austin with a 5.8 rating and 24 share, Cincinnati with a 5.4/21, Dallas with a 4.9/22, San Diego with a 4.9/21 and Philadelphia with a 4.6/17. ■

Fox Sports’s live 2022 FIFA World Cup coverage kicks off Sunday with a heavy emphasis on linear television for the 64-game tournament despite an unprecedented fall start, heavy competition from other North American major sports leagues and an unfriendly time difference between the U.S. and World Cup host country Qatar. 

Still, Fox executives are confident the World Cup will attract both the hard-core sports fan and casual viewers with its coverage of the premiere soccer tournament. The Fox broadcast network will air 35 matches throughout the tournament, including the semi-final round games and the World Cup final, according to the network. FS1 will air the remaining 29 games live. Most Fox televised matches will air between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. ET.

The November start of the World Cup — prior tournaments took place during the summer — presented some logistical problems for Fox. The network airs a full complement of afternoon and evening college football games on Saturdays as well as Sunday-afternoon NFL contests. Fox Sports VP of programming and scheduling Daniela Jeffries said Fox Sports was able to work around its crowded schedule and the eight-hour time difference between Qatar and New York to develop a lineup allowing consumers to watch most of the games during reasonable viewing hours. 

“There was a little concern about how this was all going to fit,” Jeffries told Multichannel News. “As the tournament revealed itself, we saw that it wasn’t so bad. There are some challenges in the sense that there are games that probably would have been Fox games versus cable games at a different time of the year, but overall we’re pretty happy and positioned to have over 200 hours, which is comparable to what we would have done in the summer when the schedule would have been lighter.” 

Jeffries also said Fox Sports worked hard to make sure it could distribute all the games on broadcast or cable TV to broaden viewership. “We felt good about being able to get in as much linear coverage as we were,” she said. 

Fans who wish to view World Cup games live online can watch on FoxSports.com, but only if they subscribe to a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) or virtual MVPD service. Replays of every game will be available on the app, as well as on the Fox-owned Tubi.com streaming service through its World Cup FAST channel, including in high-resolution 4K format.

Fox will also make in-match previews and live pre- and post-match shows for every World Cup game available via the Fox Sports soccer Twitter account. 

The addition of the digital outlets offers fans more options to consume World Cup news and highlights compared to 2018, as well as provides a powerful marketing tool to promote upcoming telecasts. “We’ll be able to offer more features and highlights available on the app and have replays on Tubi — all of which we weren’t able to offer in 2018,” Jeffries said.  

Also different from 2018’s World Cup is this tournament will include the U.S. men’s soccer team, which was eliminated from participating in the World Cup four years ago. The network hopes to draw huge viewership for its USA-England Group B matchup, which will take place in the early afternoon on Black Friday, November 25. 

Given the U.S. men’s team’s participation and Fox Sports broad distribution of the games, Sports TV analyst Lee Berke said the World Cup should perform well from a ratings perspective. In 2018 Fox and FS1 combined to average 2.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen. 

“The games are airing during the busiest time of the sports year, but there’s a built-in audience for the games, and with matches airing early in the morning they’ll avoid  running directly against college and pro football games,” he said. “It should achieve the numbers that they want to achieve this time around.”

NBCU’s Spanish-Language Coverage

NBC Sports Group holds the Spanish-language rights to the World Cup and will offer every World Cup game on Telemundo and, for the first time, on NBCU’s streaming service Peacock. Peacock will offer the first 12 matches free before making the remaining 52 games available to Peacock Premium (pay) subscribers, according to NBC Sports. 

For NBC Sports and Telemundo, having both the broadcast and streaming platforms available for fans to view the games will help boost both awareness and viewership, said Berke.

“The two growing platforms for sports right now are broadcast and streaming,” he said. “The Peacock component in particular will provide a substantial boost overall across different screens.”

The U.S. soccer team’s group stage games are listed below (all times ET). The full 2022 World Cup schedule can be found here. ▪️

• Nov. 21: U.S.-Wales (2 p.m.)
• Nov. 25: England-U.S. (2 p.m.)
• Nov. 29: Iran-U.S. (2 p.m.)

Commercials in Spanish-language coverage of the World Cup are nearly sold out, NBCUniversal Ad Sales and Partnerships President Mark Marshall said.

NBCU will be broadcasting 64 World Cup matches live from Qatar on Telemundo and streaming them on Peacock, with early round matches available free to viewers, while later games will be available to paying subscribers.

Marshall said national and local ad sales are pacing well ahead of the previous World Cup.

"With just under two weeks to go, NBCUniversal and Telemundo, we only have a handful of units remaining for this year’s World Cup," he said. "We’ve not only surpassed our record 2018 revenue, we’ve also exceeded all of our current 2022 revenue goals."

NBCU has signed up three major cross-platform sponsors, with Ford presenting pre-game shows, T-Mobile owning the halftime show and Coca-Cola having title on the post game show. (NBCU will not be interrupting the action to show traditional TV spots during matches).

Marshall also said that NBCU has signed up more than 20 new advertisers for this year’s World Cup, with growth in categories including auto, retail, quick-serve restaurants and technology.

Advertisers including Volkswagen, Samsung and parent company’s Xfinity brand will be running customized creative executions developed with NBCU.

Volkswagen, for example, will have special content showing stars from Telemundo programming riding in electric-powered Volkswagen ID4 SUVs across America.

Xfinity will have a special virtual studio that enables fans in Qatar to connect with people back home.

“With sales this strong, we’re already in conversations for next year’s women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023,” Marshall said.

Marshall noted that the World Cup was an ideal venue for appealing to Hispanic consumers, who now represent about 20% of the U.S. population and about $2.8 trillion in economic activity.

“Brands now are realizing that speaking to U.S. Hispanic consumers is no longer a choice. It’s a necessity,” Marshall said. “The World Cup is the ultimate place for brands to reach and engage this audience.”

Also: Tubi and Fox Sports Launch Channel Dedicated to FIFA World Cup

Hispanic audiences are young and connected, which is why NBCU is streaming games on Peacock. NBCU believes that soccer -- or futbol -- is more fun to watch in Spanish, and that with Fox not having a subscription streaming outlet, some English-language viewers might choose Peacock or Telemundo.

In particular, on November 26, Fox will be putting World Cup games on cable to accommodate the Michigan-Ohio State college football game. ■

Goooooooooooooooootcha! The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) says it has closed down one of the biggest illegal live soccer streaming rings. That comes only a couple of weeks before the FIFA World Cup — soccer’s version of that other football's playoffs and Super Bowl — which begins November 20 in Qatar.

ACE says the shutdown affected futbollibre.net and televisionlibre.net as well as more than three dozen additional associated domains.

It says that the shuttered domains collectively had received a staggering 300-plus million visits in the past six months alone, with most of that traffic coming from Argentina. Those domains are now under ACE's control and visitors are being redirected to its site, Watch Legally, which as its name suggests, informs them where content can be legally accessed.

According to ACE, Futbolibre (literally “free soccer”) has had a reputation for illegally streaming live matches from leagues including UEFA Champions League, La Liga, and the Argentine Professional Soccer League.

Also: FIFA Kicks Up New Digital Service

“The successful takedown of this major sports piracy ring marks significant progress as ACE expands its live-tier operations and efforts to combat illegal sports piracy,” said ACE head Jan van Voorn, executive VP and chief of global content protection for the Motion Picture Association.

ACE board members comprise Amazon, Apple TV Plus, NBCUniversal, Netflix Studios LLC, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Warner Bros. ■

Tubi said Wednesday it launched a channel dedicated to the FIFA World Cup, working with Fox Sports, which will be televising the global soccer tournament from Qatar starting in November of this year.

At launch the free ad-supported streaming TV channel will have content looking ahead to Qatar 2022 as well as classic games and highlights from past tournaments.

Special Fox Sports Digital content celebrating FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will also appear on the channel in the lead-up to the tournament. During this year’s tournament, the channel will roll out event coverage featuring highlight compilation videos.

The channel will appear exclusively on Tubi.

“We’re proud to be the ultimate streaming destination in the U.S. to celebrate the highly anticipated FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 tournament,” said Farhad Massoudi, Tubi's founder and CEO. “We’re thrilled to give our viewers different entry points to enjoy one of the largest global sports events, whether they want to drop into the experience via our FAST Channel or actively engage through VOD, Tubi is making sure soccer fans never miss a moment of this historic winter World Cup.”

Tubi is part of Fox Entertainment.

Tubi said now has a lineup of FAST channels covering 150 sports including the NFL and Major League Baseball. ■

With the FIFA World Cup about to kick off, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises  released a report that argues that the game is growing in the U.S. and that it is particularly engaging when watched in Spanish.

The report, The Future Is Fútbol, paints soccer as the fastest growing sport in the United States. This year’s World Cup in Qatar (set for November 20-December 18) — to be televised in Spanish by Telemundo — could give the sport a further boost ahead of 2026, when the U.S. will co-host the event.

Soccer has been regarded as the future of sport for decades. The Telemundo report presents data showing that future is getting closer.

High school soccer participation increased 32% from 2002 to 2019, more than basketball, football, baseball or ice hockey. The report described soccer as a more egalitarian sport, with girls playing almost as much as boys. Participation grew 31% for girls compared to 33% for boys.

Also: Telemundo Reprises Soccer Campaign Aimed at Youth Before World Cup

Hispanics are particularly fanatical about fútbol. Soccer is already the most popular team sport among 40% of Hispanic high-school students compared to 21% of all high-school students.

Among U.S. Latinos age 16 and up, 73% say they are soccer fans, with 22% self-identifying as super fans — three times more than non-Hispanics. Latinos rank soccer ahead of American football, basketball and baseball.

In the report, 53% of Latinos said they plan to watch the World Cup, as do 29% of non-Latinos.

As part of the study, Telemundo did neuroscience research in which half of the subjects watched a World Cup match in Spanish while the other half watched in English.

The study found that when Latinos watched a soccer match in Spanish, they subconsciously liked it more than when they watched it in English. Watching in Spanish generated 15% greater likability compared to watching in English. The increased appeal of the game led to an elevated desire to keep watching for longer, keeping viewers glued to their screens, according to the study.

“Watching the match in Spanish was like an emotional and entertaining roller coaster ride where key game moments in Spanish, on average, produced 37 points more emotional intensity compared to English, where the highs didn’t go as high, and lows didn’t go as low,” according to the report.

The positive effects of Spanish game commentary transferred to advertising. The identical ad played in Spanish had 19% higher likability and 49% greater emotional intensity vs. English because Spanish is filled with emotion and expression that people feel for both the game and the brand advertising involved, the report said.

“Fútbol is the sport of America’s future,“ Mónica Gil, chief administrative and marketing officer, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, said. ”Soccer is growing in the U.S. and Hispanics are clearly leading the way, Every four years, the FIFA World Cup brings Latinos and non-Latinos together with a spirit and intensity that no other sporting event in the world can match. There is no more authentic way to experience the World Cup than in Spanish. For companies and brands seeking real cultural connection and a space to engage Latinos, soccer and the FIFA World Cup are the place to be, this fall and for years to come.” ■

Charter Communications is conducting a soccer trick-shot content, with the winner appearing in a spot that will air during the World Cup promoting the Spectrum Mobile Wireless service.

The promotion is part of a partnership with Comcast’s Telemundo and Peacock Premium promoting the Spanish-language coverage of the World Cup.

At the same time, a commercial featuring Mexican National Team Captain Andrés Guardado began airing Thursday. The spot offers new customers who sign up for Spectrum Mi Plan Latino and Spectrum Internet 12 months of Peacock Premium at no additional cost.

Charter’s new campaign with Guardado is aimed at building awareness of the company’s Spectrum TV, Internet and Mobile services for Spanish-speaking customers leading up to the World Cup.

The skill contest will run through September 12. Fans can submit videos of themselves performing trick shots with a soccer ball. A panel of judges will choose the winner, who will appear with Guardado in a new commercial during the World Cup.

“The World Cup is the most-watched sporting event in the world, and the anticipation and passion that soccer fans experience is profound – especially with our Spanish-speaking customers,” said Marisol Martinez, VP of multicultural marketing for Charter. “The combination of Mi Plan Latino, Spectrum Internet and Peacock Premium will give our customers the ability to watch all their favorite World Cup teams and matches in Spanish on any device at anytime, anywhere, and our partnership with Andrés Guardado will help us connect with the avid Hispanic soccer community across the U.S. while giving one lucky fan the chance to share their fútbol skills with one of the greatest midfielders in the game today.” ■

Prime Video has greenlit a new sports docuseries that examines the rivalry between the Mexican and American national men’s soccer teams.

The three-part docuseries, Good Neighbors, peels back the political, social, and sporting layers of a rivalry that has become must-see TV over the past 30 years, while spotlighting the personal and professional arcs of stars from each nation, according to the streaming service.

Good Neighbors will also examine the passionate, international battle for on-field talent and fan support that has made the U.S.-Mexico border one of the most fascinating soccer frontiers in the world, said Prime Video. The men’s national teams from both the U.S. and Mexico qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which kicks off in November.

"With anticipation building for the World Cup, we're thrilled to bring audiences this incredible docuseries about the electric rivalry between these cross-border national teams," Prime Video Original Sports Content Matt Newman said in a statement. "Good Neighbors is the first in an exciting new slate of original sports programming Prime Video Sports will be rolling out over the next several years. We can't wait for fans to learn more about all the amazing content we have on the horizon."

Good Neighbors is executive produced by David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold, Jon Weinbach, John Skipper, Deirdre Fenton and Dante Moller.■ 

NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises said it is kicking off a multi-city national campaign leading up to the World Cup aimed at inspiring Hispanic youth through soccer and expanding access to safe recreational facilities.

The campaign -- El Campeón en Ti or The Champion in You -- is the second edition of Telemundo’s community-based campaign. The first stared during the 2018 World Cup.

The campaign will bring a series of events to cities across the country including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Orlando, Los Angeles, Miami and Phoenix. 

"We believe that our community is at the heart of the World Cup – and we want to take these festivities across the country for Latinos to enjoy this global event," said Christina Kolbjornsen, senior VP, corporate & external affairs, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. "We’re again joining forces with our partners at the U.S. Soccer Foundation and the independent Hispanic Soccer leagues, allowing us to expand our efforts to create safe and accessible environments for young Latinos to grow and play. Soccer brings families together and empowers kids to show what can be possible. We're looking forward to joining our partners in celebrating the inner champion in every Hispanic youth."

The campaign will take advantage of the Telemundo network, and work with local Telemundo stations, Telemundo talent, and viewers in all markets to provide on-site activations and experiences. 

"We're excited to team up with our partners at Telemundo to unite young people and families through our game," said Ed Foster-Simeon, president & CEO of the U.S. Soccer Foundation. "Using soccer as a vehicle to improve lives is core to our mission and helps strengthen communities. These soccer celebrations and our continued partnership is symbolic of Telemundo's commitment to driving positive change in Hispanic communities."

Telemundo said it will also launch a grassroots campaign to reinforce the importance of accessibility nationwide, partnering with independent community soccer leagues in designated communities with a high density of Latino youth and Hispanic-led teams. Soccer clubs will play matches on weekends starting in August and continuing throughout the fall in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas. ■

Fox Sports said it is launching a new ad campaign promoting its coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup starring actor Jon Hamm.

Hamm plays Santa Claus, who has to cut back his Hawaiian vacation because the soccer tournament has been moved to the holiday season. Traditionally played in the summer, this year’s World Cup is being played in Qatar where it is very hot so, for the first time ever, it will be played starting Nov. 21 through Dec. 18.

The campaign’s tagline is “ ’Tis the FIFA World Cup.”

“One of the unique things about the FIFA World Cup is that it’s a really communal experience where people want to get together with others to enjoy the event,” said Gottlieb. “To have that sync with the holidays this year for the first time ever, when we will all be gathering with friends and family, made for an incredible opportunity to embrace the holiday spirit in Fox Sports’ creative campaign,” said Robert Gottlieb, executive VP, marketing for Fox Sports. . We look forward to following Santa on his soccer journey as he meets more surprise guest stars and becomes captivated with this year’s long-awaited tournament.”

Hamm provides the voice for Fox’s upcoming animated series Grimsburg. Best known for his lead role in Mad Men, Hamm is also a star of the hit film Top Gun: Maverick.

Fox Sports will present all 64 World Cup matches live on either Fox or FS1 Every match will stream live on the Fox Sports app. Matches will also be available on demand after their conclusion on Fox’s streaming service Tubi. ■

Telemundo’s advertising sales for the 2022 World Cup are running well ahead of their 2018 pace, the Comcast NBCUniversal unit said.

“We’re currently 12 months out and have already doubled the number of deals relative to the comparable time period in 2018,” said Dan Lovinger, executive VP for sales at NBC Sports Group, speaking at a presentation marking a year before the World Cup kicks off in Qatar.

Lovinger said that Telemundo had doubled its linear ad revenue for the event, and tripled the digital revenue generated at this point four years ago.

Three major presenting sponsorships — pregame, halftime and postgame — are already sold out. “We have limited positions elsewhere, in and around our presentation of FIFA World Cup, but they’re moving fast and we expect most of our inventory to be sold before our traditional upfront spring window.”

Sports sales have been strong across the board and NBCU is also in the process of selling commercials in the upcoming Super Bowl and the Beijing Olympics. The World Cup will add to NBC’s sports arsenal over Thanksgiving, with four live matches leading into an NFL primetime telecast.

“In this shifting media landscape, major events like Qatar are vital to marketers and the demand for inventory is actually stronger than ever,” Lovinger said.

Four years ago, the audience for the World Cup was 40% female and nearly 80% of Telemundo’s adult 18-49 audience was bilingual, he said.

“For Hispanic audiences, the FIFA World Cup is their Super Bowl and their Olympics combined and because of that reach and scale, we already know that we're going to deliver the biggest event in Spanish language media across all platforms in 2022,” Lovinger said.

Telemundo is preparing to present its most ambitious multimedia coverage with all 64 matches broadcast live, including 56 games airing on Telemundo and eight on Universo.

The games will also be available on live stream with authentication.

Telemundo said its production will feature the largest on-site presence ever. For the first time, there will be in-venue presence for all 64 games, taking advantage of the proximity of the stadiums with commentators calling multiple matches in one day.

There will also be more pregame, halftime, and post-match coverage from onsite studios as well as all positions across Doha. Telemundo will add crews to emphasize the most relevant teams for the U.S. Hispanic audience — the U.S. and Mexico sides.

National Soccer Hall of Fame member and six-time Emmy award winner Andrés Cantor will return as chief commentator, marking his 12th World Cup and his 10th as play-by-play announcer.

In terms of marketing Telemundo will use NBCU’s portfolio of assets to connect with World Cup fans and generate awareness around the one-year countdown to the tournament. The promotional efforts will be led by a campaign that had its debut Tuesday with Telemundo’s broadcast of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying match between Canada and Mexico. The match, which Canada won, 2-1, was Telemundo’s most-watched sporting event since the 2019 Copa America Final Brazil vs. Peru, the network said Wednesday.

The spot showcases how the World Cup is only a year away. ■

With the advertising market for TV sports running hot, Fox is looking to sell commercials in the 2023 Super Bowl to advertisers now, 18 months before the game kicks off.

The 2021 National Football League season kicks off Thursday, and Fox and the other networks are reporting a surge in demand that has driven sales volume up significantly and hiking pricing by low-double digits — increases not seen for about a decade. 

ViacomCBS also reported strong demand for NFL ads on its CBS Sports broadcasts.

College football and postseason Major League Baseball are also running well ahead of forecast for Fox Sports.

Fox is taking advantage of what it expects to be a strong season by having its Tubi streaming service sponsor the post-game show, The OT. 

Comcast's NBCUniversal said in July that it had already sold 85% of its Super Bowl commercial inventory for the game at the end of this season to be played in February 2022, and Fox Sports executive VP Seth Winter, a former NBC sales exec, told B+C that he figures that NBC’s game now is just about sold out. He hears that NBC got about $5.5 million for each 30-second spot, with the most recent sales going for more than $6 million.

Winter said that Fox will strike while the iron is hot and while advertisers are concerned about getting shut out of the big game and worried that prices could continue to soar.

“There’s so much demand, we’re going to be in the market very early with it and also for the World Cup. We’re knee deep in conversations about the World Cup, which is basically maybe 14 months away,” he said. “There are a lot of good conversations around these big tentpole events. There’s so few of them and there’s just so much interest that it’s never too early to start having conversations and we’ve already written a few [World Cup] spots.”

Next year’s World Cup will be played in the fall, when demand is stronger, instead of the summer because of the heat in the deserts of Qatar, which will make the soccer tournament more popular in the U.S.

Last season, the upfront market — and sports sales — got pushed to Labor Day because marketers were unsure about their budgets and the networks’ ability to deliver programming. This year, the ad market rebounded and the upfront market closed stronger and earlier than it has in years. Sports has been riding a similar tide.

“Having seen the NFL execute almost perfectly under the most extraordinary, adverse conditions, people have a lot of confidence that the NFL under better conditions could certainly pull off another season flawlessly,” Winter said. 

That led to a ton of early interest in buying NFL ad inventory, he said, with some scatter dollars contributing to this season’s upfront volume. 

Sports continues to promise large audiences even as streaming siphons off ratings points from entertainment programming. 

“Advertisers continue to migrate their investments from other forms of media where there are fewer impressions into sports where there continues to be a pretty healthy reservoir of impressions,” Winter said.

With fans back in the stands, Fox is forecasting that viewing levels for the 2021 season will bounce back to the pre-COVID 2019 level, he said.

New categories are driving some of the sales, most notably the growing legal gambling category. “I haven’t seen a category come on the scene in such a robust fashion in my 15 years working in network sports,” Winter said. He added that the NFL’s rules limiting how many gambling spots can run in games will be good long-term for business—and be a benefit to viewers. Gambling ads are also showing up in the talk shows on FS1 and FS2.

Another new category is cryptocurrencies, with Crypto.com sponsoring NFL games and Fox’s Saturday afternoon college football show, and FDX, which is a Major League Baseball sponsor and will have a significant presence in the postseason.

This will be Fox’s last season broadcasting Thursday Night Football. That package moves exclusively to Amazon Prime Video next season. Winter said that some advertisers were shifting their spending from Thursdays to Sundays in order to lock in their base for the 2022 season, since Amazon’s ad sales strategy isn’t yet clear.

Last season, the NFL regular season generated $2.77 billion in ad sales, up 2.7% from the prior season, according to Standard Media Index. Fox had the largest share of that revenue, with 41%. 

Between the NFL on Thursdays and Sundays, college football and baseball’s postseason, Winter estimates that Fox has about 50% of the gross ratings points available in sports in the fall.

For baseball, Winter said, Fox could achieve its revenue forecasts even before the first pitch of the postseason.

“It’s sports. We’re very fortunate to be in the marketplace with the properties we have in our portfolio,” he said.

fuboTV said it acquired the live streaming rights to the South American Football Confederation’s World Cup qualifying matches.

The top four teams in the confederation--CONMEBOL--qualify for the World Cup, which will be played in Qatar. Matches are expected to start in June and continue into early 2022.

The deal includes live streaming rights for CONMEBOL’s 40 remaining matches and the ability to re-air the matches and stream highlights. Matches will stream with both English and Spanish commentary.

Also Read: FuboTV Secures Market Access for Sports Book in Indiana and New Jersey

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“Our mission is to provide the world’s most thrilling sports-first live TV experience with the greatest breadth of premium content, interactivity and integrated wagering,” said David Gandler, co-founder and CEO, fuboTV. “By offering the best of South American soccer in advance of Qatar 2022, we are further differentiating fuboTV’s sports-first content portfolio enabling us to engage with more consumers than ever before.”

Fox Sports’ weekend coverage of the U.S. Open golf championship and the FIFA Women’s World Cup capped an impressive five-day run of strong viewership performances for marquee sports telecasts.

Fox broadcasting continued to set soccer telecast milestones with its Sunday afternoon coverage of the US women’s soccer team’s 3-0 win over Chile. The network drew 5.3 million viewers for the game, making it the most-watched English-language soccer telecast in the country since the 2018 FIFA Men's World Cup final in Russia, according to Nielsen.

The telecast was also most-watched, FIFA Women’s World Cup Group Stage match ever in the U.S., according to Fox Sports.

Later that evening, the network moved to the greens for its final round coverage of the US Open golf championship. The network’s primetime coverage of the championship from Pebble Beach, California -- in which Gary Woodland (pictured) took home the prized trophy -- delivered 7.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen. Overall, 31.7 million viewers watched all or part of the tournament, making it Fox Sports’ most watched U.S. Open ever.

Fox Sports kicked off its U.S. Open coverage this past Thursday (June 13) with FS1 focusing cameras on the play from two groups of golfers -- including Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka -- while Fox Sports handled main coverage duties for the championship. The telecasts drew a combined 3.4 million viewers -- the best first round coverage on a broadcast network since 2002, according to Fox Sports.

RELATED: Fox Takes Swing At Alternative Feed During U.S. Open Golf Event

Also on June 13, ABC concluded its coverage of the Golden State Warriors-Toronto Raptors NBA Finals by drawing more than 18 million viewers to the sixth and final game of the series, won by the Raptors. While ABC’s ratings were hampered by having the Canadian-based Raptors -- the Toronto market is not rated by Nielsen -- in the finals, the network’s game telecasts on the nights aired were the most-watched shows on television, according to Nielsen.

The NBA Finals ended a day after the NHL Stanley Cup finals finished a thrilling Game 7 between the now champion St. Louis Blues and the Boston Bruins by averaging 8.7 million viewers on NBC -- the most watched Nielsen-rated NHL telecast, which dates back to 1994, according to Nielsen.

The high cost of sports programming and the value proposition of sports networks will always be a subject for debate within the industry, but what is indisputable is the ability of marquee sports events to still draw big audiences and, more often than not, score more viewers up against any other content on traditional television.

With the sale of certain cable and production assets to The Walt Disney Co. nearing the finish line, 21st Century Fox reported steady fiscal first quarter results, with revenue up 2% and cash flow rising 4.6% in the period.

Fox agreed to sell its FX, FXX and National Geographic cable channels, its 21st Century Fox film and TV production studios, and its 30% interest in online video pioneer Hulu to Disney in July for $71.3 billion. The deal, which received a conditional nod from European regulators on Nov. 6, is expected to close sometime in the first half of 2019. 

Fox reported overall revenue of $7.2 billion in the period, fueled by a 19.8% increase at its television unit and a 3.6% gain at its cable channels.

Operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA), a unit of cash flow, increased 4.6% overall to $1.87 billion, fueled by the television unit (up 37.7%) and filmed entertainment (up 8.2%).

In a research note, Sanford Bernstein media analyst Todd Juenger said the gains in broadcast TV were fueled by political ads, The World Cup and better than expected ratings for NFL games.

Juenger noted those factors all were expected and should have been baked into consensus estimates, “and Fox still beat.”

On the cable side, affiliate revenue was up 9% (compared to an 11% gain last year) and advertising revenue rose 7%, mainly due to Fox News.

For broadcast, retransmission consent revenue rose 19% and advertising revenue rose 22% in the quarter.

“Investors preparing for New Fox care most about TV and [Fox News Channel],” Juenger wrote. “That seems to be where the strongest operating performance is clustered (at least as positioned by the press release).”

Fox, citing its pending deal with Disney, said it will not hold a conference call with analysts today to discuss quarterly results.

After the Disney deal closes, Fox will focus on live sports and news, retaining its broadcast TV station and Fox broadcast network, cable new channels Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, and sports channels FS 1, FS 2 and Big Ten Network.

“We continue to deliver against our growth plan even as we make important strides toward completing our Disney transaction and launching Fox in the first half of 2019,” Fox executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement. “We have assembled a stellar leadership team for Fox, giving us further confidence in the new company’s ability to capture opportunities in live programming while delivering long-term value for shareholders. Our quarterly performance builds on the operational and financial achievements of last year and sets up our businesses for continued momentum under both the enlarged Disney and the future Fox.” 

The list of top officers leaving Spanish-language broadcaster Univision continued to swell late Monday, after chief revenue officer Tonia O’Connor said she would step down after more than a decade at the Spanish-language broadcaster.

O’Connor is the fourth top Univision executive to leave the company in recent months. In March, CEO Randy Falco announced he would retire and was replaced by former Media General chief Vincent Sadusky in June. Chief financial officer Francisco Lopez-Balboa also stepped down in March, shortly after Univision said it would abandon plans to go public.  Earlier this month chief content officer Issac Lee said he would step down and start his own production company. 

O’Connor has been with Univision for more than 10 years, and has played a key role in growing the company from three networks to 17 broadcaster, cable and digital networks. A Multichannel News Wonder Woman in 2009, O’Connor has steadily moved up the ranks during her career at the broadcaster.

Univision has struggled along with other broadcasters and has been running a tight race with Comcast’s Telemundo, which outbid the broadcaster for Spanish language rights to the World Cup through 2026. Univision, which has relied heavily to telenovelas to fill out its programming lineup, has been losing some ratings ground to Telemundo’s slate of action series, mini-series and reality programming 

“For more than a decade, Tonia O’Connor has been a key figure in transforming Univision from a niche media asset into a major player in the U.S. media landscape,” Univision’s board fo directors said in a statement. “We greatly appreciate her leadership and the important role she played in driving the company’s growth, negotiating complex transactions and developing new revenue streams. We thank her and wish her well and continued success in her new endeavors.”

O’Connor led UCI’s efforts to expand the reach of its portfolio of brands and content availability by creating new consumer products and securing valuable shelf space with both traditional and emerging distributors, and social media platforms. She established UCI’s content licensing business and built Univision’s distribution revenue stream.

O’Connor also launched the Company’s direct-to-consumer live streaming and on demand subscription video service, Univision NOW, as well as the development of the Univision Creator Network. She also led the industry’s first experiential upfront with UCI’s Culture Unbound earlier this year, demonstrating an innovative approach to brand positioning.

“Univision is a uniquely positioned company, unlike any other brand,” O’Connor said in a statement. “I am incredibly proud of helping transform Univision into a media powerhouse – with the most loyal audience and billions in enterprise value. I will always treasure my experience and colleagues from Univision, which I will carry with me as I take on new challenges and continue to make an impact.”

Fox Sports’ maiden run on the World Cup coverage field didn’t match up ratings-wise to the prior World Cup tournament, but it still drew decent audiences for Fox and FS1 over its month-long run.

Fox Sports’ coverage of Sunday’s France-Croatia World Cup final averaged 11.3 million viewers across Fox broadcasting and streaming services, and 11.8 million with digital viewing added -- the most watched game of the tournament. 

Unfortunately for Fox, the numbers were well below the 17.3 million numbers ABC generated from the 2014 Germany-Argentina World Cup final, according to Nielsen.

The good news for Fox is that France’s 4-2 win over Croatia was the most watched, non-NFL telecast on the network so far this year.

Overall, Fox Sports’ coverage of the World Cup drew an average of 2.7 million viewers, down 20 percent from ESPN’s coverage of the 2014 World Cup from Brazil but up 9% from the 2010 World Cup from South Africa (all excluding Team USA matches), according to Fox. 

Fox executives acknowledged early that they had tempered ratings expectations, given the absence of the US Team in the tournament as well as the time difference between Russia and the US. Yet several games – particularly during the knockout rounds – delivered strong ratings for Fox Sports.

RELATED: Fox Sports Hoping For World Cup Ratings Rebound 

Fox Sports also reported that Fox broadcasting and FS1’s coverage – which aired primarily in the morning and early afternoon time slots in the U.S. -- accounted for all 20 of the top-20 shows among Men 18-49 in English-language TV over the last month, and delivered the 15 most-watched soccer matches since the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, according to the network. 

Croatia’s dramatic 2-1 win over England in Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal game averaged 5.5 million viewers on Fox broadcasting, the network said Thursday.

The game was off less that 1% of the audience drawn by the 2014 Netherlands-Argentina match, which drew 5.51 million viewers on ESPN, and was up 61% over the Spain-Germany match in 2010, according to network officials.

Online, the game was the most streamed World Cup semi-final match in history, with the average minute audience finishing at 830,000 for the live match.

The England-Croatia game also bested the 4.4 million viewers that tuned into Tuesday’s France-Belgium contest on Fox.

Fox on Sunday will broadcast the France-Croatia World Cup final, as well as the England-Belgium consolation game on Saturday.  

Live-streaming video service YouTube TV suffered a service disruption this afternoon causing its viewers to miss portions of Fox broadcasting’s live telecast of the England-Croatia World Cup semifinals match, but restored service before the end of the contest.

YouTube TV’s live streaming signal went down during the second half of the England-Croatia game. The service posted a tweet around 3 pm (ET), calling the timing of the streaming issues “horrible.”

[embed]https://twitter.com/YouTubeTV/status/1017121393857556485[/embed]

Within an hour, YouTube TV sent out a second tweet stating that the service was restored. YouTube TV subscribers were able to watch Croatia defeat England to advance to the World Cup final Sunday against France.  

[embed]https://twitter.com/YouTubeTV/status/1017136092041043978[/embed]

While people were tweeting about the outage, sports-centric virtual MVPD FuboTV got into the act, replying to one Twitter user looking for an alternative to "Come to @fuboTV, we have cookies.. and all games in Full HD." 

YouTube TV subscribers pay $40 a month for a lineup of more than 60 channels, including national sports services ESPN, FS1, MLB Network and NBA TV, as well as most regional sports services. As of Thursday the service had not publicly offered an explanation for the glitch.

Fox Sports is hoping to ride some serious ratings momentum coming out of this past weekend’s World Cup quarterfinal matches into the international soccer tournament’s version of the Final Four set to begin today.

After struggling from a ratings perspective in the early rounds without the USA team, Fox Sports has scored some big ratings numbers in the later rounds. This past Saturday the network drew a whopping 6.3 million viewers for the Croatia-Russia match quarterfinal match (6.6 million including streaming viewers), making it the most watched World Cup quarterfinal in English or Spanish language since at least 1990, according to Fox.

England’s defeat of Sweden, also on Saturday, drew 5 million viewers across the network and digital streaming platforms, according to Fox.

“The first week of the tournament, which is when we were most impacted by the time difference between Russia and the U.S., was challenging, but since then we have exceeded our own expectations,” said Fox Sports executive vice president of research and content strategy Michael Mulvihill. “The overall audience figures have been strong, we’re seeing strong contributions from both streaming and out-of-home television, and the World Cup is delivering the most affluent audience in sports to our advertisers."

While the numbers are still down from the previous World Cup telecast – Fox and FS1’s 2.5 million viewers through the World Cup Russia quarterfinals is down 18% from the 2014 Brazil World Cup tournament, excluding team USA matches -- Fox Sports has drawn large pockets of viewers for several big games throughout the tournament, according to network executives.

Even with the elimination of marquee team draws like Germany, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, Mulvihill said Fox is bullish about its ratings prospects heading into the final rounds of a very unpredictable, action-packed and suspenseful World Cup tournament. France and Belgium square off today, with Croatia and England battling tomorrow. The winners will play Sunday in the World Cup final.

“I think it’s been a bit surprising that the World Cup has not been very reliant on recognizable stars or traditional powers,” said Mulvihill. “In the end it hasn’t mattered much that Germany failed to get out of the group, or that both Messi and Ronaldo lost in the round of 16. The two most-watched games have been Croatia-Russia and Croatia-Denmark; who would have predicted that? I think we’re finding that stars don’t make the World Cup, the World Cup makes stars.”

Telemundo has also pulled in some record-setting numbers for its Spanish-language coverage of the World Cup. Through 60 matches, Telemundo Deportes’ 2018 World Cup presentation has reached 34.7 million TV viewers. Overall, Telemundo has reached nearly 55% of the U.S. Hispanic population.

Telemundo’s TV coverage has also set records for the network’s most-watched daytime windows 67% of the time on their respective days of the week (14 of 21 match days), according to the network.

Pictured, top: Luka Modric of Croatia and Daler Kuziaev of Russia compete for the ball during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Quarter Final match between Russia and Croatia at Fisht Stadium on July 7, 2018 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Telemundo Deportes scored a weekday daytime ratings record Monday afternoon with its coverage of the Mexico-Brazil World Cup Round of 16 tournament game.

The contest, won by Brazil to advance into the international soccer tournament’s quarterfinal round, drew a total audience average of 5.5 million viewers across Telemundo, TelemundoDeportes.com, Telemundo En Vivo and NBC Sports apps, according to Nielsen live plus same day fast national ratings and Adobe Analytics digital data. The TV audience was 5 million during the two-hour match window and 4.4 million for the 9:30-noon ET full coverage, per Nielsen.

RELATED: Mexico Loss to Sweden is Still a Win for Telemundo

Mexico-Brazil ranks as Telemundo Deportes’ third-most watched match of the tournament, trailing only the two weekend Mexico matches in the Group Stage, according to the network.

Through 54 matches, Telemundo Deportes’ World Cup presentation has reached 32.8 million viewers, according to the Spanish-language network.

RELATED: Fox, Telemundo Near World Cup Ad Sales Goals

The ratings come on the heels of the Telemundo Deportes announcement Monday that it has teamed with South America soccer ruling body Conmebol to secure U.S. Spanish-language TV rights for the 46 Copa America international men’s soccer championship.

Dish Network and Sling TV subscribers were without access to Univision stations as of 5 p.m. MST across the country, as the two parties were unable to hammer out a retransmission consent agreement.

Dish had said earlier that it feared the stations would go dark after Univision abruptly walked away from the table June 29. Univision denied walking out, and said at the time it was willing to work out a deal. Unfortunately, that didn’t come.

Related: Dish Says Univision Talks Reach Impasse

Dish claims that Univision is demanding a 75% increase in retrans fees, a request it found “untenable.”

The satellite giant said it is offering customers affected by the blackout a free over-the-air antenna to access Univision broadcasts.

“Univision’s attempted price hikes target Hispanics despite the fact that fewer members of our community are watching Univision,” said Alfredo Rodríguez Diaz-Marta, Vice President of DishLATINO and Sling Latino in a statement.

Univision said it had offered a two-week extension of its previous deal to work out an agreement, but was rejected by Dish.

“Instead of fulfilling its promise to its customers, Dish has chosen to devalue our programming, disingenuously offering a fraction of what it pays our English-language peers,” Univision said in a statement. “We stand ready to continue negotiations and enter into a short-term extension to restore service, especially with Dish customers missing our coverage of the Mexican Presidential Election, which many are calling ‘the biggest election in Mexican history.’ Dish should do right by its Spanish-speaking audiences, agree to restore service, and negotiate a good faith agreement.”

Dish has pointed to lower ratings for the channels as well as Univision’s failure to secure Spanish language rights for World Cup soccer as a reason not to pay the rate hike. 

Univision claims its channels are among the most-watched for Dish customers, and pointed to its other soccer rights –Liga MX, MLS, Bundesliga, the Gold Cup, CONCACAF Champions League and the Mexican and U.S. national teams and later this summer will begin airing coverage of both the Champions League and Europa League to Univision Deportes and its broadcast networks.

“Dish’s reference to the World Cup is an attempt to distract from the fact that Univision remains the No. 3 most-watched network on its platform and that UDN is the No. 2 most-watched sports channel on Dish,” Univision said in a statement.

Univision Communications began warning Dish Network customers Saturday (June 23) of a potential blackout of the Spanish-language network, claiming that it has hit a snag in retransmission-consent negotiations with the satellite TV giant that won’t likely be resolved soon.

Neither side would reveal when the retrans deal actually expires. But in a statement Univision said that Dish has already rejected three “good faith” carriage offers by the network, including one to extend its current agreement to avoid a service disruption.

Dish claims that Univision is demanding a 75% increase to its current carriage fees, a boost that the satellite company says is exorbitant, given that its ratings have declined by nearly one-third over the past five years. Univision also lost the Spanish language broadcast rights to the World Cup soccer – currently airing on rival Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo – not only for this year but for 2022 and 2026, according to Dish. 

Univision claims it is the third most-watched network on Dish in any language, and its Univision Deportes channel is Dish’s second most watched sports channel in any language. UniMás is a top-15 network regardless of language on Dish, and, collectively, the network claims its channels represent 60% of the total Spanish-language viewership on Dish’s ethnic package, DishLatino.

“Dish has left us no choice but to alert our viewers that they could face yet another Dish service interruption,” Univision said in a statement. “We remain hopeful that we can reach a fair deal with Dish that doesn’t deprive its customers and our viewers access to the indispensable news, information and content that they rely upon from UCI, now more than ever.”

Dish also remains hopeful that a deal could be reached and expressed some puzzlement at why the company decided to negotiate its retrans deal in public while there is still time to hammer out an agreement.

"We are actively working to reach a fair deal before the contract between Dish and Univision expires knowing that only Univision can choose to take its content away from Dish and Sling customers,” Dish said in a statement, reminding customers that they can still access Univision broadcast content for free over the air. “There is still time for the two parties to reach a mutually beneficial deal.”

The United States soccer team’s shocking elimination from the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament hasn’t dampened NBCUniversal’s projections for a record-breaking tournament performance on Telemundo, according to company executives.

“I think the 2018 World Cup will be the most consumed event in Spanish-language history in the United States,” said Jim Bell, president of NBC Olympics Production & Programming and executive producer, Telemundo World Cup, who spoke last Thursday at the Hispanic TV Summit during a panel titled “Trends in FIFA World Cup Coverage.”

Read More: Complete Coverage of the Hispanic Television Summit

While Telemundo -- which holds the Spanish-language television rights to the 2018, 2022 and 2026 World Cup tournaments -- will miss the U.S. men’s soccer team’s World Cup presence, Bell said that the network’s majority Hispanic audience will be tuning in to watch the breadth and depth of the network’s multi-platform coverage.

“It’s disappointing not to have the US in it, but if you look at it from a numbers standpoint, there’s 64 games in the World Cup and you’re counting on maybe three US games,” he said.

Added Lauren Molen, executive vice president of advertising sales, Lifestyle Group and Telemundo Enterprises for NBCUniversal: “Our audience is really hungry and passionate about soccer, and while none of us are happy about the US, we are thrilled to have fans that love the whole [World Cup experience].”

Read More: Complete Coverage of #NYCTVWK

While too early to discuss specific World Cup advertiser deals, Molen said companies are responding favorably to the company’s World Cup pitch.

“The World Cup itself is the premium event in Spanish language television, and attracts a consumer base that can help amplify their marketing messages and sell their product in so many key categories,” she said.

Eli Velazquez, executive vice president of programming production and content for Telemundo Deportes, said soccer fans are already anticipating the Dec. 1 World Cup draw which will set the matchups for the tournament. “The drama created by the draw dovetails into the drama of the event itself,” he said.

With the tournament at the knockout stage, ESPN is offering a new Cricket World Cup package.

Streaming subscription service ESPN Cricket 2015 is now offering for $39.99 access to the quarterfinals, semifinals and final for $39.99. At presstime, New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa, Austalia and India remain in the competition. ESPN Cricket 2015 began its coverage of the 14-nation, 47-match tourney on Feb..3

The platform, which launched with ESPN's coverage of the ICC Cricket World Cup for $99.99, will also deliver complete coverage of the upcoming eighth season of the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) to fans in the U.S., beginning April 8. The package is also available via the pay-per-view platforms of Dish and Mediacom Communications.

ESPN will provide live and on-demand coverage in the U.S. of the entire Pepsi IPL season  from April 8 to May 24  through ESPN Cricket 2015.  All 60 matches will be available live and on replay for $79.99. Until April 11, the price will be discounted to $69.99 for fans who have already subscribed to ESPN Cricket 2015’s full coverage of the ICC Cricket World Cup. 

“We’re pleased with the success so far of our Cricket World Cup coverage on ESPN Cricket 2015 and through our partners’ pay per view platforms, and we’re excited to extend a unique window on the cricket calendar with coverage of the Pepsi IPL,” said Russell Wolff, executive vice president, ESPN. “ESPN Cricket 2015 has been a great complement to our existing networks and the value of the multichannel environment, and has allowed us to explore new ways to reach tech-savvy consumers and develop new expertise in the digital space.”

Additionally, ESPN will also feature live simulcast coverage on ESPN2 of the Chennai Super Kings vs. Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday, April 11 at 6:30 a.m. (ET)

Before the first ball is rolled out and their initial telecasts delivered, Fox Sports and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo have secured a new cycle of media rights from FIFA, culminating with the 2026 World Cup.

The extensions place the world’s most popular sporting event at the feet of programmers, who will kick off their first round of FIFA action this year with the Women’s World Cup from Canada and youth competitions. Fox and Telemundo unseated the previous rights-holders, ESPN and Univision, which televised the 2014 World Cup from Brazil that set TV and digital records here in the States. Fox and Telemundo paid $400 million and $600 million, respectively, to FIFA for multimedia rights from 2015 through 2022.

Deal terms for the new FIFA cycle were not disclosed, but the prospects are that the 2026 men’s tourney may play out on U.S. soil -- and play to real-time, home screen advantages to the rightsholders.  Some are suggesting that the awarding of Fox and Telemundo to another round of FIFA rights signals that the 2022 competition from Qatar will be moved from the oppressive heat of the desert summer into a winter time frame, when the tourney will vie against American football, and the basketball and hockey seasons for sports' eyeballs. 

The addition of the 2023-26 FIFA cycle by Fox and Telemundo is reminiscent of moves NBC has made over the years whereby it has gained more Olympic rights, without competition from other media companies. Under former sports boss Dick Ebersol, NBC acquired the rights to the 2004, 2006 and 2008 Games. Last spring, Comcast’s programming arm NBCUniversal reached a new multiplatform deal with the International Olympic Committee for rights from 2021 through the Winter Games in 2032, also sans a bidding process.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup aside, the extensions cover the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, FIFA U-20 World Cup 2023 and 2025, FIFA U-17 World Cup 2023 and 2025, FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2023 and 2025, FIFA Futsal World Cup 2024, FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2024 and 2026, FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2024 and 2026, and FIFA Confederations Cup 2025.

“These agreements guarantee wide distribution for FIFA tournaments across the US and Canada. Together, we will be able to further promote football in North America and build on the impressive interest shown by audiences in these major territories during the 2014 FIFA World Cup,” said FIFA director of TV Niclas Ericson.

Fox offered these comments: “We are truly honored that FIFA has elected to extend FOX Sports’ rights to the portfolio of FIFA events including the  FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup through 2026.  These events are some of the world’s most important sports competitions, and it is our privilege to be entrusted with these rights in the United States.  We’re looking forward to the kick-off of FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 in June with great anticipation.”

“We’re very pleased that FIFA allowed us to extend our deal as the exclusive U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster of FIFA World Cup tournaments through 2026,” said Joe Uva, NBCUniversal's chairman of Hispanic Enterprises and Content. “This unprecedented agreement gives our Telemundo and NBCUniversal viewers and digital consumers more of the world’s best soccer for the next 12 years."

Alexi Lalas is changing broadcast kits as Fox Sports kicks off its FIFA cycle coverage in 2015.

The former U.S. men's national team defender and long-time commentator for ESPN/ABC's futbol coverage will join Fox Sports next month to serve as both a studio and game analyst.

Lalas will be on the beat for FIFA broadcasts, which kick off with the Women's World Cup from Canada and under 17 and 20 men's events in 2015,  as well as UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, England’s FA Cup, Major League Soccer, USMNT matches and UEFA European Championship qualifiers.

“I am really thrilled to join Fox Sports and work on the terrific lineup of soccer properties they’ve assembled over the last few years," said Lalas. “I’ve been impressed with the quality and depth of Fox’s soccer coverage and I’m excited to contribute to the overall effort and help grow the sport I love.”

Lalas joins Fox's soccer side that includes host Rob Stone, Warren Barton and former USMNT teammates Eric Wynalda and Brad Friedel.

With four FIFA tourneys on tap in 2015, Telemundo and mun2 will devote some 550 hours to the events, including the Women’s World Cup, covering 188 matches.

The competitions will unfold on four continents and mark the first manifestations of the $600 million rights deal Telemundo/mun2 struck with FIFA back in October 2011, when it outbid long-time incumbent Univision for Spanish-language media rights from 2015-2022. Fox spent some $400 million for the English-language rights to the cycle, unseating ESPN.

Specific schedules were not revealed, owing in part to draws. For instance, the groups and matchups for the Women’s World Cup in Canada will not be divulged until Dec. 6. In 2011, Japan (pictured) topped the U.S. on penalties to win the title in Frankfurt, Germany.

Match coverage will be led by commentator Andres Cantor, along with Sammy Sadovnik and former players Carlos Hermosillo and Manuel Sol.

“We are proud to see the first tangible manifestation of this major acquisition, which will bring unprecedented exposure for Telemundo and mun2,” said Joe Uva, chairman of Hispanic enterprises and content at NBCUniversal. “And offer a unique opportunity to accelerate audience growth and consolidate our position in the industry.”

In addition to the WWC, which will play out north of the border among 24 sides -- up from 16 in previous quadrennials -- and 52 matches, Telemundo/mun2 will also showcase beach soccer and a pair of youth soccer tourneys.

Like the WWC, the FIFA under-20 and under-17 events will showcase 24 teams over 52 matches in New Zealand from May 30 through June 20 and Chile from Oct. 17 through Nov. 8, respectively. These are biennial competitions.

Similarly, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup has been played every two years since 2005. After Russia won the most recent competition in Tahiti, the 2015 event – 16, five-player teams will meet over 32 games --  will be staged in Portugal from July 9-19.