World Cup Grabs $250M In TV Revenues For U.S. Networks, But Viewing Is Down

Against the backdrop of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, viewing is down at U.S. TV networks. The U.S. networks have pulled in over $250 million so far in national TV advertising.

Through July 9 -- the quarter-final round -- NBCUniversal’s networks have garnered $152.4 million, with Telemundo at $143.1 million, NBC Universo at $8.9 million, and NBC Sports at $224,443, according to iSpot.tv.  

Fox comes in at $107.7 million, while The Fox broadcast network has pulled in $82.6 million, followed by Fox Sports 1 at $16.5 million; and Fox Deportes with $8.6 million.

Kantar Media says ABC/ESPN and Univision tallied $524 million four years ago from World Cup TV programming. NBCUniversal said it has met its collective TV advertising revenue goal for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The biggest advertiser on NBCUniversal networks so far is Sprint at $12.9 million, followed by Volkswagen with $10 million; McDonald's at $8.3 million. Ford Motor at $7.2 million; and Toyota Motor with $5.9 million.

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Volkswagen has the highest number of ad airings at 334, followed by Sprint at 272; Fox Deportes, 224; McDonald's, 223; Walmart, 207; and Universal Pictures, 181. In terms of network promos, NBC Universo has garnered the most number of airings with 390, followed by Telemundo at 115.

The big spenders on the Fox networks include Volkswagen with $10.5 million; Verizon at $9.5 million; Google with $5.4 million; Apple (Mac) at $4.9 million; Ford Motor with $4.5 million; and Geico at $4.2 million.

Verizon has seen the highest number of airings of its commercials at 174, followed by Volkswagen at 158; Geico with 96; Ford Motor at 69; Progressive Insurance with 61; Hyundai at 59; and Dr Pepper with 50.

In terms of network on-air promos, Fox Deportes reports 1,478 airings, while the Fox network reports 671; Fox Sports, 199; and FX network, 161.

According to reports, through 56 matches (the round of 16), Fox is down 39% in viewing to a Nielsen 2,541,000 on Fox and FS1, from the 4,083,000 in 2014 on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC. Taking out the U.S. matches in 2014 that had higher viewing, the World Cup ha seen declining ratings -- a drop of 19%.

NBCU's Spanish-language networks are currently underperforming the Univision networks of four years ago. Telemundo and Universo are off 26% to an average 2.2 million viewers, including digital streaming, from the 2.9 million average on Univision and Unimas in 2014.

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