What Ratings Issues? NBCU Telemundo Chair Touts World Cup Success for Live TV

Luis Fernández, chairman of Spanish-language media powerhouse NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and former Telemundo news chief, was one of the high-profile keynote speakers on Thursday afternoon at the sixth edition of Iberseries & Platino Industria in the Spanish capital, Madrid. In his appearance, he spent some time modestly taking a victory lap for Telemundo’s success with the soccer World Cup 2026, as well as touting the power of live and linear TV.

Telemundo is part of entertainment company NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast but is scheduled to be spun off by the cable and telecom giant next year.

“The FIFA football World Cup was the most-watched sports feature in Spanish [in the U.S.]. We never had those ratings,” Fernández told the Madrid event during his appearance entitled “Leadership, relevance and transformation of the Spanish-language audiovisual industry.” He particularly lauded the combined World Cup offerings across both streaming and linear services, emphasizing: “We were able to bring together Telemundo and Peacock, our streaming platform. Five out of the 10 most-watched programs on Peacock were events that happened during the World Cup.”

Fernández also told the Iberseries crowd that based on how the World Cup was presented and consumed, his company’s advertising sales team signaled to him that they were expecting better Los Angeles Summer Olympics 2028 ad momentum than previously thought.

The exec on Thursday further touted the importance of constant reinvention in the media and entertainment sector. “This industry has to reinvent every year, every month, every day,” he said. “And if you’re not adapting and reinventing yourself, you will be out of the system.”

That means rethinking approaches and taking some risks. “If we fight, if we work, are bold and fearless, and also creative, we’ll be able” to succeed, he concluded.

As one example of the change he has brought to Telemundo, Fernández pointed to his early efforts to move beyond the image as a reality TV-centric broadcaster despite some initial skepticism within the company. “I was thinking of what we could do to improve the channel, to be more competitive, and to be more relevant,” he said. “We have reality TV, but we also have news, we have sports, we have fiction. So we had to get rid of that image that had formed.”

How does the Telemundo chair feel about the outlook for linear TV versus streaming? “I think that streaming services are our rivals and our competitors, and I think that linear TV really has a lot of power in live shows,” Fernández offered. “The streaming services eventually will be able to be good at live TV, but right now, live TV is something where we have much more to offer.”

Pointing to the World Cup again, he also shared: “I always hate when people say that linear or traditional TV is falling in viewership, ratings.”

It will not surprise you that, in this context, Fernández also told Iberseries about his interest in continuing to offer up sports programming, including beyond soccer. “For me, that’s one of the key pillars of our strategy for the upcoming years,” he emphasized. “Sports licensing is one of the things that we’re investing in.”

Asked about his view on AI, the exec replied: “It is an opportunity.” Without going into too much detail, he mentioned that the media space has always faced technological changes.

Wednesday’s conference day saw creators of series that address far-right politics, the climate crisis and more discuss whether great dramas can change the world. And Mediawan executives shared insights on their strategy and focus, including such hits as F1: The Movie, Slow Horses and Call My Agent!

On Tuesday, Amazon MGM Studios executives discussed the success of the Mercedes Ron young adult novel adaptations and Spanish zombie horror film Apocalypse Z, while Parrot Analytics shared data trends and estimates for the subscriber impact of Netflix’s Argentina hit series The Eternaut. And a YouTube top executive predicted at Iberseries that more Obsession– and Backrooms-style film hits from online creators. The sixth edition of the industry gathering wraps up on Friday.