The 2026 World Cup is completely reshaping the U.S. sports fan landscape.

A new kind of American sports fan has emerged: younger, more diverse, more digital, and connected to the game long before the tournament ever reached home soil. This summer, the World Cup lands on American turf for the first time in 32 years. A cultural moment as much as a sporting one, and a once-in-a-generation chance for brands to build real relationships with an audience the traditional sports playbook was never designed to reach.

For marketers, the question isn't whether this audience is coming. It's whether your strategy is ready for it. Brian and Julie sit down with one of the sharpest minds in media measurement to unpack what the World Cup really means for the business of sports.

About our guest: Mike Mulvihill

President, Insights & Analytics, FOX Corp. Mike has spent most of his career at FOX shaping the business behind the biggest rights deals in sports, including the NFL, MLB, and the FIFA World Cup in 2018, 2022, and 2026. As he puts it, he's not an expert in any one sport. He's an expert in sports fandom and how that passion translates into business value.

Chapters:

00:00 Soccer's Arrival in the U.S. The new American soccer audience and why 2026 is the inflection point

02:57 Welcome to The Round Out. Meet your hosts, Brian Fuhrer and Julie DeTraglia

03:25 Meet Mike Mulvihill. A career in measurement, and being an expert in fandom rather than the game

10:42 Broadcast, Scheduling & Free TV. Why FOX is putting most matches on free TV, plus lessons from IndyCar and Tubi

18:03 Inside the 2026 World Cup. Reach like a second NFL regular season, compressed into five weeks

26:24 The Metrics That Matter. Co-viewing, out-of-home, and the numbers insiders actually watch

31:44 Streaming & the New Audience. Tubi, Peacock, and a younger, more diverse, more fragmented viewer

What you'll hear

• Why the 2026 World Cup is essentially "a second NFL regular season compressed into five weeks"

• Mike's case for broadcast and free TV, and why FOX is willing to trade some of soccer's famously affluent audience to broaden its reach

• The metrics insiders actually watch, including co-viewing and out-of-home viewing

• How a home-soil World Cup landing on America's 250th anniversary could turn a sporting event into a national cultural moment

• Why streaming is reshaping who shows up, drawing a younger, more diverse, more fragmented audience

About the show

The Round Out is Nielsen's podcast about the most significant expansion of sports fandom in a generation. Hosted by Brian Fuhrer and Julie DeTraglia, the show takes the numbers Nielsen sees every day and rounds out the picture with the cultural context that tells you what they actually mean.

Listen and subscribe New episodes of The Round Out drop throughout the 2026 World Cup. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss what the data is telling us next.

Get every episode, plus the numbers behind the show, at theroundout.com.

Nielsen's The Round Out tells the developing story of the most significant expansion of sports fandom in a generation and what it means for the brands trying to win over a new wave of fans. Hosted by insights experts Brian Fuhrer and Julie DeTraglia, the podcast pairs decades of media measurement expertise with the cultural fluency to make the numbers mean something. Brian and Julie don't just read the data they round it out, putting every figure in the context of the fans, stories, and shifts reshaping American sports. As FIFA's official media intelligence supplier, Nielsen brings unparalleled insight to the 2026 World Cup and beyond, covering the sports, stories, and communities driving fandom's next chapter. Tune in to hear who the new fans are, what they care about, and how brands can earn their loyalty.