TelevisaUnivision Revenue: World Cup Lifts Subscriptions, U.S. Ads Slide

TelevisaUnivision's third-quarter revenue rose 9% to $1.4 billion, helped by subscriptions and licensing tied to World Cup telecasts in Mexico and Latin America. Subscription and licensing revenue grew 30% to $640 million. About $90 million of that came from sublicensing FIFA World Cup rights across Spanish-speaking Latin American countries, alongside growth in ViX's premium tier.

Advertising revenue overall fell 5% to $717 million. Ads connected to World Cup broadcasts in Mexico contributed $389 million to that figure. In the United States, advertising revenue declined 24% to $328 million, partly reflecting comparisons with the prior-year period that carried Gold Cup activity. In Mexico, advertising revenue fell 22%, while U.S. subscription and licensing revenue increased 5%. Fox and NBCUniversal's Telemundo held U.S. rights to show the World Cup.

The company posted an operating loss of $119 million for the quarter, against operating income of $265 million a year earlier. TelevisaUnivision recorded a non-cash impairment loss of $372 million for the write-down of television broadcast licenses.

Wade Davis, the former Viacom CFO who led the 2020 buyout of Univision and later merged it with Mexico's Grupo Televisa in 2022, handed the CEO role to Daniel Alegre, a former Activision Blizzard executive. Alegre joined in 2024 and has worked to combine operations that had been organized by geography. The company owns media assets in both the United States and Mexico.

Alegre said in a prepared statement that the results reflected "disciplined execution against our multiplatform strategy," citing World Cup results in Mexico and higher engagement in the U.S. across the fall content slate and sports coverage.