Telemundo’s World Cup viewership miscount has industry insiders skeptical of NBC audience figures

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A significant downward revision to Telemundo’s World Cup audience figures for the first six days seems to have left some industry insiders skeptical about how NBC measures its streaming audiences, according to a recent report.

Telemundo, the Spanish-language network owned by NBCUniversal, is the exclusive Spanish-language broadcaster for the ongoing World Cup. Recently, the network needed to revise viewership data taken from the first six days of the tournament downward by about 36 percent, according to a report by Austin Karp in Sports Business Journal. The issue seems to have stemmed from a miscount of streaming viewership on Peacock.

For years, NBC’s insistence on using internal streaming data measured via Adobe Analytics to track Peacock viewership has rankled other networks, which use the third-party audience measurement firm Nielsen to track streaming viewership. NBC adds the Adobe Analytics-measured Peacock viewership to Nielsen’s linear television measurements to create a total it calls Total Audience Delivery (TAD). Meanwhile, every other major network uses Nielsen for both streaming and linear measurements, allowing for consistency in the data across competitors and ensuring there is no impropriety coming from the use of first-party data.

The sizable World Cup mishap has brought the issue back to the forefront for those within the industry. Per Karp, “some industry insiders are concerned with the recent correction,” noting that during a match between Mexico and South Korea, measured after the issue was identified and corrected, half of the 14 million Spanish-language viewers watched via Peacock.

It’s unusual for half of an audience tuning in for a major sporting event to watch via streaming. But even taking that abnormality at face value, that means half of Telemundo’s World Cup audiences are being measured using a completely different methodology than the industry-standard Nielsen methodology. That creates quite a conundrum for ad buyers trying to parse out the value of a 30-second spot on Telemundo versus, say, Fox.

Per Karp, NBC “is not supposed to be combining internal numbers under Nielsen policy, because it can create ‘honest mistakes,’ which looks to be the case here.”

Even if it is an honest mistake, it doesn’t change the fact that NBC’s TAD measurements are fundamentally different than the numbers every other network is putting out.

“One source told SBJ that while they understood why NBCU may have opted for internal data a decade ago with streaming, Nielsen is ‘obviously capable of measuring it’ in 2026,” Karp writes, highlighting the industry’s frustration.

Between the sizable downward revision and the share of audience purportedly watching on streaming, it’s natural that NBC’s insistence on using first-party data would raise an eyebrow or two from its competitors. Nevertheless, it seems the network is committed to continuing the practice.

“NBC Sports will likely still be using TAD numbers for [Sunday Night Football] this coming season,” SBJ reports.

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