Coca-Cola, Sprint and Volkswagen Will Sponsor Telemundo's World Cup Coverage

NBCUniversal has barely caught its breath from broadcasting the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics, but it’s already time to focus on the company’s third major sports event of the year: the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which Telemundo has Spanish-language rights to. And NBCU’s ad sales team, which just brought home more than $1.4 billion in ad revenue between the Super Bowl and Olympics, has lined up Coca-Cola, Sprint and Volkswagen as its major sponsors for the World Cup. Laura Molen, evp, lifestyle and Hispanic advertising sales group, NBCUniversal, made the announcement during a New York press event kicking off Telemundo’s 100-day countdown to the start of the World Cup. With 100 days to go, advertising inventory for Telemundo’s World Cup coverage is “approaching 75 percent sold out,” said Molen. More than 20 advertisers are on board, with representation from nearly every single category. Coca-Cola, an official FIFA sponsor, will be the presenting sponsor of the Telemundo Deportes Post-Game show, called El Resumen del Partido, for all 64 World Cup matches, as well as the in-game match clocks. Coke brand Powerade will be featured in social activations during the tournament. Sprint will be the official halftime sponsor of all 64 matches and will feature exclusive World Cup content in the Telemundo Deportes En Vivo app. Volkswagen has signed on to be presenting sponsor of the network’s World Cup primetime show, airing at 7 p.m. ET each night. It will also have a presence within each of the 64 matches and will be featured in Telemundo Deportes livestream coverage. The automotive brand will spotlight its new Jetta and Tiguan models in the partnership. “Soccer is a global sport, and Telemundo’s audience is global as well,” said Molen. Dan Lovinger, evp ad sales, NBC Sports Group, told Adweek in January that while the elimination of the U.S. men’s soccer team from World Cup contention last October may not be a good omen for Fox Sports, which holds the U.S. English-language rights to the tournament, it has driven more advertisers to Telemundo. “We’ve seen a bit of pickup in activity since then,” he said. Volkswagen is also involved with Fox Sports’ World Cup coverage, and will sponsor its postgame shows. Verizon has signed on to sponsor Fox’s halftime shows. “The World Cup is the biggest event on the planet,” said Ray Warren, president, Telemundo Deportes. And Telemundo has “the biggest, best global sports content in Spanish language television. … This is not a one-trick pony.” As part of its World Cup coverage, Telemundo is partnering with Vice Media to produce short-form features and stories around World Cup culture and fandom. Eli Velazquez, executive vice president of programming, production and content for Telemundo Deportes, said the partnership will allow the network to expand its coverage beyond Telemundo’s core countries, and look at fandom around the world. Those Vice features will air across Telemundo’s linear and digital platforms. Telemundo is also collaborating with NBCU Digital Lab on Somos el Mundial, a digital docuseries—Velazquez called it an “intimate portrait series”—that will appear on TelemundoDeportes.com and Telemundo Deportes’ YouTube page. BuzzFeed will also distribute short-form content from the series across its platforms.