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This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week.
The 2026 World Cup is breaking streaming records around the world: Brazil’s CazéTV YouTube livestream of that country’s opening game against Morocco surpassed 12 million concurrent viewers, a new milestone for YouTube. The South Korea versus Czech Republic game was streamed by 3.86 million viewers in South Korea at its peak, doubling a previous record set by BTS. And the BBC clocked more than 600,000 concurrent streams during the France-Senegal match-up, making it the biggest-ever live event streamed in 4K for the broadcaster.
Even in the United States, where soccer traditionally isn’t as widely watched as other types of sports, the Cup seems to be striking a chord. The Mexico vs. South Korea game attracted an audience of 6.1 million viewers to Telemundo’s streaming platforms, making it the largest Spanish-language soccer stream shown to US audiences to date. And the opening game of the United States team attracted 1.1 million streaming viewers on Tubi alone, turning it into the most streamed English-language match of the team in World Cup history.
The stateside success of the World Cup is the direct result of a series of unlikely business decisions, legal challenges, and regulatory pressures — a kind of perfect storm for the beautiful game.
Hot summer nights
A key decision impacting the 2026 World Cup was made in 2010, long before sports streaming was really on anyone’s radar.
Back then, FIFA awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, a country where summer temperatures often exceed 104 degrees Fahrenheit. When the soccer association considered moving the tournament to the winter, US broadcaster Fox threatened to sue because the change in schedule impacted its existing sports programming.
This led to FIFA striking a sweetheart deal with Fox and Telemundo for the 2026 rights in 2015, reportedly without considering any competing bids. Had Disney and Univision been part of the bidding process, the rights likely would have cost a lot more, and Telemundo owner NBCUniversal could have walked away empty-handed.
But thanks to that no-bid deal, brought about by Qatar’s scorching summer temperatures, NBCUniversal is now offering a Spanish-language feed of every game on its Peacock streaming service for just $11 a month.
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