According to Telemundo, one out of every two people who watched the 2026 FIFA World Cup this year tuned into the network’s Spanish-language broadcasts rather than the English-language version on Fox. That level of viewership is a huge feat, considering that Hispanics only make up 20% of the US population.
So how did Telemundo reach so many people outside of its core audience? By marketing the network as a place for authentic soccer fandom and pushing that narrative everywhere it possibly could, according to Claudia Chagui, EVP of marketing and creative for Telemundo.
I spoke with Chagui about why she felt the network’s strategy was so successful, and what kind of effect that success had on both Telemundo and Peacock, where many new fans tuned in.
Streamlined: How did Telemundo approach its marketing strategy for the World Cup?
CLAUDIA CHAGUI: The US is the only market where two media brands have the rights to the World Cup. Fox has it in English, and we have it in Spanish. So, we had an additional challenge with Telemundo to try to see how many people we could bring to the Telemundo coverage versus the coverage on Fox.
We had what we called our protect and attract strategy. We needed to make sure we’re protecting that core audience of soccer fans who continue to stay engaged with the Spanish-language coverage, and then we had to convince Hispanics who are primarily consuming all of their content in English but will lean into Spanish language content when it feels culturally relevant to them. With the English-leaning Hispanic, it was about giving them that FOMO, that excitement.
How did you reach those fans across different forms of paid media?
Obviously, over the years, the social and digital footprint has become really important because that’s where all the conversation and discovery is happening. But we understand television is still the primary destination for reach, so we buy on other channels and other networks.
It’s the combination of all of these things together, because you can’t look at it as a one-way street anymore. It’s about accompanying the consumer on their journey, and their journey takes place throughout different touch points throughout the day. If you have complementary media that allows you to tell your story in a cohesive way, it’s not just about being there, but it’s also how you show up there with a meaningful message.
You’ve talked about how your World Cup strategy is culture-first as opposed to language-first. Can you break down what that means?
The most important thing from a cultural marketing perspective is authenticity. You can’t make a promise and then not deliver on it.
There was a feeling that you got when you watched on Telemundo that just wasn’t there on Fox, and I think that stems from a real, authentic place. So, when you have people like Trevor Noah saying, “You gotta go watch this on Telemundo, these guys get it. They’re not going on these hydration breaks. They know what they’re talking about.” That is a real testament to the delivery of the promise that we made.
It’s funny you bring up the hydration breaks, because I feel like that became a big selling point for Telemundo. Did you feel the temptation to lean into that as part of your creative messaging?
You know, by the time the games were on, our marketing campaigns were already out there. But we were definitely part of the social conversation about it, so we jumped on those opportunities and had fun with it. We definitely had memes.
We knew that this World Cup was going to be huge on social media, so we started planning over two years out. It was also the biggest from a footprint perspective, so we had to have people from the East Coast to the West Coast, in different countries, and make sure that we were at the center of all of it.
Creator partnerships and fan activations were also really big this year. Can you speak to what planning for those was like?
Since COVID, I don’t think we’ve seen something that really brought people out and together in such a huge way, the way that we did with the World Cup. Experiential marketing took on a new, meaningful space for brands – definitely for our brand, but we saw a lot of our partner brands as well.
On the creator side, it’s really about finding the right match between your brand and those creators. You can’t work with a creator who doesn’t fully believe in you or your brand, or in the experience that you want to bring to life.
Did you find that other Telemundo series got any kind of a ratings lift from adjacency to World Cup programming?
We worked very closely with our partners at Peacock to make sure that both Telemundo and Peacock properties that were coming up post-World Cup and even during the World Cup were being presented to audiences. We did a lot of cross-promotion, and definitely all of those shows saw brand lifts. The World Cup was definitely the biggest platform we had to promote new content, and now obviously the teams are working on retaining those audiences.
What do you think you’ll be taking forward to the next World Cup in four years?
I’m exhausted! Let me get over this one! [Laughs]
From a paid media perspective, I think we need to continue to understand how media evolves. God knows where we’re going to be four years from now in terms of media consumption. The one thing that we have to make sure to do is stay true to the brand, stay true to the product and stay true to the audience. I think if we do that, no matter how these different things change, then hopefully we will continue to see success.
