• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

TelevisaUnivision’s U.S. advertising revenue witnessed a sharp 29% decline in its second quarter to $323.3 million, due to “cyclical” advertising headwinds and heavy World Cup competition.

The latter was the result of NBCUniversal’s Telemundo network, which posted strong second-quarter advertising results from its “Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2026.” Telemundo took in $403.6 million in ad revenue (from June 11 to July 19), according to estimates from iSpot.tv.

Although there were “cyclical headwinds in the U.S. advertising... and a competitive sports calendar on competitor networks, our underlying business remains solid,” Daniel Alegre, CEO of TelevisaUnivision, told analysts on its earning call.

But in Mexico, where the Spanish-language network group owns the TV rights to air the World Cup, advertising rose 23% to $353.0 million.

Company-wide, total advertising revenues dropped 9% to $676.3 million.

Better results in the U.S. came from subscription and licensing -- 8% higher to $376.9 million, while in Mexico the total was up 157% to $244.5 million. Total subscription and content licensing growth was up 40% to $621.

TelevisaUnivision says it benefited from "sublicensing" of FIFA World Cup rights to other Spanish-speaking Latin American countries, with $90 million in revenue, and the saw subscription growth from the company’s streamer ViX for its premium tier option, as well as higher linear distribution revenue.

Company-wide revenue (in both countries) grew 10% to $1.33 billion for the period.