Miami’s Telemundo scores big this World Cup even with fans who don’t speak Spanish

In the heart of downtown, the popular bar Lost Boy has shown every single World Cup game so far to a mostly packed house.

But since the tournament started one month ago, it has made one change.

“At the beginning we had it all on Fox,” Lemine Cheikh, the bar’s manager, told the Miami Herald. “But we had a lot of requests to put games on Telemundo.”

And so they switched to broadcasting many matches on Telemundo and now even the English-speakers get to join in unison with Telemundo narrator Andres Cantor’s trademark invocation of ¡Goooooool!

What happened at Lost Boy appears to have happened across the country: Telemundo’s broadcasts are growing in audience and drawing viewers who don’t even speak Spanish.

This Sunday German pub Fritz and Franz Bierhaus in Coral Gables will show the World Cup Final as it always has. Also as usual, customers and crowds will start lining up hours before kickoff. This year though, something is different.

“It’s our first final where we’re showing Telemundo,” owner Harald Neuweg told the Herald. “There’s no reason to play it in English,” he said, citing the two teams competing: Spain and Argentina.

Telemundo isn’t totally new to his bar, which is a hotspot for loyal soccer fans. For some European league games, Champions League matches, or say Real Madrid versus Barcelona, Lionel Messi’s old home, he has shown the Telemundo broadcast. But this year his crowds have been requesting the network.

“This year, more people are looking for Telemundo,” he said. “There’s a much bigger Latin American influence this year than before.”

The England versus Mexico round of 16 match drew 23.2 million viewers on Telemundo and Peacock, outranking the 21.7 million who saw the match on Fox Sports, according to Variety.

This World Cup’s quarterfinals were the most watched ones in Spanish language media history based on total audience even though only two of the eight teams participating represented Spanish-speaking countries.

Norway versus England led, drawing a total audience on July 11 of 13 million.

Total audience on Telemundo across the four quarterfinals was 154% greater than it was during the 2022 World Cup, one in which Argentina reached the final and won it.

While there aren’t precise ways to parse the English language speakers who watch the network, Miguel Lorenzo, senior vice president of sports content for NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, points out that while about 20% of the U.S. is Latino, Telemundo is accounting for nearly 50% of World Cup coverage.

Even Telemundo’s legendary soccer narrator Cantor, has attained cross-over appeal, recently starring in a Coors Light commercial.

American sport journalist Bill Simmons recently name checked Cantor.

One of the reasons for Telemundo’s boom could be the increasing influence of Latinos on U.S. culture, but the broadcasts themselves is another appealing factor. Telemundo didn’t cut to commercials during the mandated hydration breaks, newly installed in this year’s tournament. That makes fans watching on TV feel like they are at the game.

Lorenzo said the network has received praise from its viewers on minutiae like “how great its graphics package looked,” as well as its on-air talent, amount of programming and production strategy.

He said one unique thing from this tournament is “the specificity of comments” the network is getting from viewers.

“It’s been really gratifying how soccer audiences have resonated with our coverage plans and production plans,” he said.

Then there’s also the role of Lionel Messi and the success of Argentina. Messi is one of the few, if not only, athletes living in the U.S. who’s not been required to speak any English, even in TV commercials aired in the country. That’s also been a factor, the Telemundo executive admits.

On Sunday, the network will be ready, the executive said, with over 1,000 employees involved. They’ll run production out of the stadium in New Jersey for the first time this tournament. They’ll also have a large presence in Argentina and Spain. Programming starts at 9 a.m. eastern.

Lost Boy will have its TVs tuned in.

“It’s a more energetic vibe,” Cheikh said.