The FIFA World Cup, held every four years, is the biggest and most-watched sporting event in the world. 32 international teams compete to be crowned world champions over the course of the month-long tournament. Off the pitch, the World Cup is one of the biggest advertising opportunities on the global calendar. For that, they had to come up with the perfect marketing strategy. Broadcasting rights for the World Cup are a big deal, with the potential to secure billions in marketing revenue for the chosen networks.
For the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Spanish-language broadcasting rights belong to Telemundo, which is owned by NBCUniversal. Telemundo also broadcast the previous World Cup, held in 2018 in Russia. As expected, the Qatar World Cup represents a major marketing opportunity for the network. Telemundo invested a lot of time and money into promoting the event. By all accounts, that investment has paid off.
Telemundo’s World Cup 2022 Marketing Strategy
An event like the World Cup promotes itself to some degree. It is the most prestigious event for the most popular sport in the world. But event broadcasters still need to put in a good deal of work to capitalize on their opportunities. Telemundo is no exception to this. The network understood the tremendous opportunities in front of them, and has done an extraordinary job as an official broadcaster.
Delivering a Multi-Platform Experience
Crucial to Telemundo’s success with the World Cup 2022 has been the ability to seamlessly adopt a multi-platform viewing experience. The Telemundo cable network is not the only option for viewers hoping to watch the action. Telemundo has also used Peacock, NBC’s online streaming service, to broadcast the World Cup to viewers without cable. This multi-platform integration has been crucial to welcoming in as many viewers as possible.
Telemundo was very conscious of the potential for multi-platform viewership well in advance of the World Cup. This was something the network had planned for and marketed toward for years leading up to the event. This leveraged major marketing opportunities along the way. Most prominently, Telemundo ran a Super Bowl ad promoting the event in February 2022. Lucky for them, NBC happened to have the broadcasting rights for this year’s Super Bowl as well.
Live-Streaming Access
The opportunity of streaming the World Cup was tremendous, but also challenging. Telemundo’s senior vice president of marketing, Claudi Chagui, described it as the biggest challenge facing the network in an interview.
Live-streaming sporting events is still a relatively new phenomenon. Live streaming every match in order to provide a comprehensive viewing experience was daunting for Telemundo. This was especially true during the Group Stage of the event, when multiple games were often happening concurrently. But Telemundo delivered on their pledge to broadcast every World Cup match, and has been greatly rewarded for their efforts.
Telemundo’s FIFA World Cup Viewership
We don’t have the final numbers for Telemundo’s FIFA World Cup viewership. But early figures show that the event has been a huge success for the network. Telemundo’s broadcast of the Group Stage matchup between Mexico and Argentina became the most-streamed World Cup match in U.S. history. For a Spanish-language broadcast to earn that title is impressive.
But Telemundo executives would say that that is unsurprising. The Hispanic market in the U.S. is one that has been growing for years. And, it’s finally receiving the attention it deserves. The prominent platform of Telemundo’s World Cup broadcast is the culmination of years of work and strategic marketing.
To see their success, we only need to compare Telemundo’s 2022 World Cup viewership totals to their 2018 numbers. During the opening round of the tournament, Telemundo was averaging about half a million more viewers per game than in 2018. Much of that growth is attributed to streaming. In 2022, roughly 600,000 viewers on average streamed the Group Stage games, compared to 200,000 four years ago.
What Can We Learn From Telemundo’s Marketing Strategy Success at the Qatar World Cup?
Telemundo has done a fantastic job leveraging its target audience and new technological opportunities at the Qatar World Cup. In marketing the event, Telemundo knew that it had a substantial built-in audience. The challenges involved were finding the best ways to reach that audience, and then providing the best viewing experience possible.
Of course, Telemundo conquered the first task with well-placed milestone event advertisements, (like the Super Bowl) and persistent promotion. On the other hand, they achieved the second task by adapting their coverage of the event to cater to online streaming platforms. Other unique challenges surrounding the event have involved managing controversies surrounding the host nation, and dividing focus between multiple audiences. Both the United States and Mexico participated in this year’s World Cup. With both national teams having passionate fan bases in the U.S., Telemundo had a unique challenge to cater to both groups.
Despite all of these challenges, Telemundo’s marketing strategy has turned the 2022 World Cup into a major success.
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