Miss Universe Pageant Announces Multi-Year Deal with Roku Channel, Telemundo
Do The Roku Channel and Telemundo get tiaras, too? Perhaps they should, as the two platforms have locked up broadcasts of the Miss Universe pageant in English and Spanish respectively for multiple years to come.
The Miss Universe pageant streamed on The Roku Channel for the first time in 2023, leaving its longtime broadcast home of Fox. As of its January 2023 broadcast date, the pageant became the most-streamed live event in Roku Channel history, reaching millions of users during the stream and on-demand once it had concluded.
Telemundo also saw big ratings for the most recent edition of the Miss Universe competition. It attracted 2.4 million linear viewers, and was the No. 1-ranked Spanish-language TV program in its time slot in the Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Dallas, and Chicago markets.
“We’re very excited to be moving forward with The Roku Channel and Telemundo for the next few years,” said Amy Emmerich, CEO of the Miss Universe Organization. “To me, this is a legacy brand that people should be watching for what we’re going to do next, not what we’ve done in the past. The women we work with, and the fans who make up our core audience, are an exceptionally tuned-in crowd. We appreciate seeing them show up for us every single year - and our broadcast partners have seen that firsthand.”
This year’s Miss Universe will take place in El Salvador, and the finale will air on Nov. 18. Women from more than 90 countries around the world will be competing, each of them getting an opportunity to bring a cherished social cause to the attention of the pageant’s audience. Recent past winners include India’s Harnaaz Sandhu, who founded a coalition for menstrual equity, and current titleholder R’Bonney Gabriel of Houston, TX, who has her own sustainable fashion line and has partnered with sustainable initiatives like RCGD Global.
“It is a pleasure to build on our partnership with the Miss Universe Organization, and we look forward to exclusively bringing the live experience to The Roku Channel once again,” said David Eilenberg, Head of Content, Roku Media. “The success of last year’s broadcast, which also marked The Roku Channel’s first-ever live event, not only demonstrates viewer appetite for live programming, but also the success that live programming can find in a free streaming environment.”
The livestreaming portfolio at The Roku Channel is about to grow even larger. The service announced this summer it had sealed its first live sports rights deal, agreeing to host 11 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship races next season. These live events should help the company boost its viewing time, which plateaued at 25.1 billion hours during the second quarter of 2023.
Roku Channel
The Roku Channel is a free live TV streaming service that provides 350+ live linear streaming channels and more than 80,000 free movies and TV shows. The library contains entertainment from several different decades, including some major hits.