Netflix, YouTube, Disney reportedly eye US rights to next two World Cups

ESPN held US rights to the 2010 World Cup

Steve Evans via CC

Netflix, YouTube and Disney are all said to be interested in pursuing the US rights to the 2030 and 2034 Fifa World Cup tournaments, although the price will likely increase steeply from this year’s event.

According to a report from CNBC, all three are weighing whether to challenge current English-language rights holder Fox for the next two World Cups.

While Fox reportedly paid US$485m for the English-language rights to this year’s event and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo paid US$600m for the Spanish-language rights, the combined cost could leap to between US$1.5bn and US$2bn for each of the next two tournaments, said CNBC, despite them taking place in less favourable time zones.

Football’s governing body Fifa is reportedly inclined to sell the English- and Spanish-language rights together for the upcoming tournaments, with discussions set to begin at some point in the next three months, said CNBC.

In 2011, Fox did a deal with Fifa to clinch the English-language US rights to the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, before extending the deal for the 2026 event. Prior to that, Disney’s ESPN held US rights to the 2014 and 2010 competitions, the latter of which was held in South Africa.

Similarly, Telemundo had the Spanish-language rights for 2018 and 2022 before extending through to 2026.

In addition to Netflix, Disney and Google-owned YouTube, CNBC reported that Amazon and Apple could also enter the fray.

The report comes shortly after the USA men’s national team crashed out of the tournament with a 4-1 loss to Belgium in the round of 32.

While the team has been criticised for its defensive display, the game attracted an average audience of roughly 42 million across the US, making it the most-watched soccer telecast in the country’s history. On the English-language side, broadcaster Fox, FS1 and other digital services attracted an average audience of 30 million, according to early Nielsen data, while another 12 million came from the Spanish-language airings on Telemundo and Peacock.

A few days before that, USA’s 2-0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina drew an average audience of 24.4 million viewers in its English-language telecast on Fox.

While the tournament as a whole has posted strong ratings in the US, it has been helped by the fact the games are in favourable time zones, given the US is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico. The USA versus Belgium game on Monday, for example, kicked off at 20.00 ET, squarely in primetime.

The 2030 World Cup is set to be held primarily in Morocco, Portugal and Spain, which are between five and six hours ahead of the Eastern time zone. The 2034 tournament will be staged by Saudi Arabia, which is seven hours ahead of the eastern time zone.