The Wait for the FIFA World Cup is Halfway Over

By Carlos Deschapelles, Senior Vice President, Univision Sports Sales

An important milestone was reached a few weeks back: the 2014 FIFA World Cup is now less than two years away. As the World Cup’s Spanish-language home since 1970, Univision Deportes is thrilled to once again be broadcasting the biggest soccer tournament in the world.

Not since 1950 has the tournament been held in Brazil, home of the five-time World Cup champions and practitioners of “the beautiful game.” With the 2014 tournament being held in Brazil, the World Cup has the potential to be the best ever.

Now that the two-year mark has been reached, it is time for greater focus on the road to the World Cup. We call this “Camino a la Copa.” It’s a huge, 203-nation qualifying competition to determine the 32 berths in Brazil. Across all platforms, Univision Deportes will cover the action like no one else can. That includes exclusive Spanish-language broadcasts of all the home games for the U.S. and Mexican national teams, and enhanced “Camino” programming on the new 24/7 Univision Deportes Network.

Univision Deportes is coming off a hugely successful 2010 World Cup. For that event, held in South Africa, our platforms delivered 35.3 million total TV viewers, 58.7 million World Cup related visits to Univision.com and more than 10 million hours of live streaming. In 2014, our offerings will again feature up-to-the-minute news, stats, analysis and audience interaction across television, radio, online, mobile and social media.

This engaging viewing experience brings passionate sports fans to Univision Deportes. In fact, according to a Nielsen 2010 World Cup Study, Univision’s viewers watched an average of 10.1 games, four more than the viewers on the English-language broadcasts. Our viewers also watch longer – an average of 15 percent longer per game than the English-language broadcast viewers.

While Hispanics turn to Univision Deportes for the passion and excitement of the matches, non-Spanish speakers also enthusiastically tune in. As Nate Berg of The New Republic wrote, “One of the only bad parts about being here in South Africa for the World Cup is missing out on Univision’s Spanish-language coverage. I should probably note that I don’t speak Spanish.”

And if you think the wait for the World Cup is too long, Univision Deportes will be broadcasting next summer’s FIFA Confederations Cup, also in Brazil. The Confed Cup serves as an amazing dress rehearsal, one year before each World Cup, in many of the same stadiums. The 2013 Confederations Cup will include soccer powerhouses such as Spain, Italy, Mexico, Japan, Uruguay and host Brazil.

As we cover the World Cup qualifiers, the Confederations Cup and head towards the World Cup’s kickoff on June 12, 2014, we’ll be bringing you updates on the teams, players and fans that help make this the world’s most widely viewed sporting event.