“Mexico vs Korea Republic” at Guadalajara Stadium on June 18, 2026 was the most watched match on Telemundo. In the photo, Heung-Min Son #7 of Korea Republic shoots while Raul Rangel #1 of Mexico attempts a save. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)
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Telemundo’s FIFA World Cup 2026 group stage coverage is scoring big goals on both broadcast and streaming. Its digital push is paying off, delivering record-breaking numbers as it builds on its early tournament success.
Across 72 matches between June 11 and June 27, nearly one in two World Cup viewers in the United States tuned in via Telemundo or Peacock – a 48% share of the combined tournament audience. That’s a remarkable number when you consider that U.S. Hispanics represent just 20% of the total population. And it strongly suggests the audience extends well beyond Spanish-speaking households.
Even comedian Trevor Noah has taken notice. He gave Telemundo a shout-out on social media at least twice, saying he preferred watching the matches on the network’s Spanish-language platforms.
The group stage averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 4.6 million viewers, up 122% from Qatar 2022.
Linear viewership averaged 2.6 million per match window, a 73% increase. Streaming surged even faster, with an average minute audience (AMA) of 2.0 million on Peacock and Telemundo’s digital platforms – a 251% jump from 578,000 in 2022.
In total, viewers consumed 39.9 billion minutes of coverage across Telemundo, Universo, Peacock and Telemundo’s streaming platforms, a figure 50% larger than the Qatar 2022 and Russia 2018 group stages combined.
Kaan Ayhan #22 of Turkey scores his team’s third goal, giving Turkey the win against the USA at Los Angeles Stadium on June 25, 2026. Despite the victory, Turkey was eliminated from the tournament. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)
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Record-Breaking Matches
Mexico led the group stage in viewership, delivering the three most-watched soccer matches in Telemundo’s history.
The U.S. Men’s National Team posted its own landmark, with three group stage games ranking as the most-watched Team USA World Cup matches ever in Spanish.
Brazil, Uruguay, Ecuador, Colombia and Portugal each set their all-time U.S. Spanish-language viewership highs.
TOP 10 MOST-WATCHED MATCHES — Group Stage (TAD)
1. June 18 — Mexico vs Korea Republic — 14.0 million
2. June 24 — Mexico vs Czechia — 12.3 million
3. June 11 — Mexico vs South Africa — 10.1 million
4. June 27 — Colombia vs Portugal — 9.2 million
5. June 16 — Argentina vs Algeria — 8.6 million
6. June 13 — Brazil vs Morocco — 7.9 million
7. June 25 — USA vs Turkey — 7.4 million
8. June 19 — Brazil vs Haiti — 7.3 million
9. June 17 — Colombia vs Uzbekistan — 7.2 million
10. June 12 — USA vs Paraguay — 7.0 million
TOP 5 MOST-STREAMED MATCHES — Group Stage (AMA)
1. June 18 — Mexico vs Korea Republic — 6.1 million
2. June 24 — Mexico vs Czechia — 5.5 million
3. June 11 — Mexico vs South Africa — 4.4 million
4. June 27 — Colombia vs Portugal — 4.2 million
5. June 13 — Brazil vs Morocco — 3.8 million
On social media, the network generated 1.6 billion video views across its platforms, with the tournament trending on X every match day.
All viewership data is sourced from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, as provided by Telemundo.