The Round Out

Nielsen

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.

Episodes

  1. 1d ago

    ESPN Built the Way We Watch Sports. Now It's Rebuilding It with Flora Kelly

    For forty years, ESPN didn't just cover sports, it shaped how we talk about them. The highlight, the catchphrase, the shared vocabulary all trace back to a cable channel that launched in Bristol, Connecticut in 1979 on the bet that America wanted sports around the clock. The bet paid off. What's remarkable is what happened next. Cable, the thing that carried ESPN to the top, has been shrinking for years, and the brand has only grown more central, moving its entire portfolio into a single app built for how people actually watch now. That reinvention is the story of this episode. Brian and Julie sit down with Flora Kelly, who has spent her career studying the ESPN fan, to get inside how the leader in the category is reading a fast-changing audience and rebuilding around it. The conversation runs from the rise of women's sports to the shift from one-to-many broadcasting to a personalized, one-to-one experience, and lands on the question every marketer is asking: what does the next sports fan actually look like, and how do you reach them. When the leader reinvents itself, the rest of the market gets a preview of where things are going. Our guest: Flora Kelly is Senior Vice President of ESPN Research, where she leads audience measurement and consumer insights across ESPN's linear and digital platforms. Her roots are in primary fan research rather than ratings, and much of her team's work has become the standard others in the industry follow. Chapters: 00:00 ESPN Reinvention Story01:15 Meet Flora Kelly02:41 Career Path in Research05:22 Measuring Sports Year Round07:29 How ESPN Stays Relevant10:32 College GameDay Evolution11:41 Out of Home Viewing Data14:30 Gen Z and Gen Alpha Fandom17:46 Boom in Women's Sports21:05 College Football Changes24:03 AI Personalization Features26:36 Streaming Expands Fandom28:25 Future of Sports Fans31:38 Super Bowl Preparations33:33 Post Interview Takeaways 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, not just who the new fans are, but what they mean for the brands trying to earn their loyalty. It's a front-row seat to American sports fandom as it shifts beneath our feet. Find us anytime at nielsen.com/theroundout

  2. Jul 21

    Joe Franzetta of Roku on Solving the Sports Discovery Problem

    Finding what to watch has gotten harder than watching it. As leagues sell rights to more partners and games scatter across a dozen apps, the hard part of being a fan is no longer the game. It is finding the game. That search usually starts on the home screen, and for millions of homes that screen is Roku.  Our guest Joe Franzetta, Head of Sports at Roku. Joe leads sports across Roku Media, where he built the Sports Zone and the league-branded destinations that turn the scattered landscape of streaming rights into something a fan can navigate in a couple of clicks. Chapters 00:00 The pandemic that rewired how we watch 01:12 Welcome to The Round Out 01:39 Meet Joe Franzetta of Roku 02:10 From streaming device to content portal 04:36 Scale, reach, and 100 million homes 05:15 Fragmented rights and the discovery problem 05:52 Building the Sports Zone 07:27 Personalization and machine learning 08:17 What aggregation does for leagues and brands 09:12 Advertising that aids tune-in instead of interrupting it 10:24 Marquee sponsorships and branded destinations 11:23 Official and non-official brand partners 12:15 The front door to sports 14:23 Scaling the tentpoles: World Cup, Olympics, March Madness 17:55 World Cup viewing milestones 22:16 Close: who won the discovery battle What you'll hear How the pandemic turned Roku from a device maker into the front door for half of US broadband homesWhy the fragmentation of sports rights created a discovery problem, and how the Sports Zone was built to solve itThe way league-branded destinations like the NFL Zone, NBA Zone, WNBA Zone, and NWSL Zone became always-on fan hubsHow favoriting and machine learning surface the right game to the right fanWhere brands fit in, from marquee home-screen sponsorships to branded destinations and microsites that aid tune-in rather than interrupt itHow Roku scales a tentpole like the World Cup, launching soccer destinations in seven countries in 2026 versus one in 2022 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. It is a front-row seat to American sports fandom as it shifts beneath our feet. Find us anytime at nielsen.com/theroundout

  3. Jun 23

    Why Hispanic Sports Fans Are the Most Brand-Responsive Audience in America, with Fede Garza

    Live sports remain one of the few moments where a fragmented audience still shows up at the same time, and increasingly that audience is multicultural. You can watch it happen any time a big match lands, when watch parties spill out of living rooms and into the streets. But look under the hood at who is actually watching, and the makeup of that audience is shifting fast. The last World Cup told the story clearly. Matches featuring Team USA drew a broad audience, but the rest of the rounds were powered by multicultural viewers, and that was on English-language broadcast. Shift to Spanish-language coverage, and the level of fandom moves to another level entirely. That is the audience that will define the 2026 World Cup, and it is the most brand-responsive one Nielsen tracks. Authentic connection here is not a nice-to-have. It is a core business strategy. To unpack what that looks like, recording just two days before the tournament kicks off, Brian and Julie sit down with one of the people who knows this audience best. Our guest: Fede Garza Fede Garza, SVP, Research Strategy & Insights, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. Fede sits at the absolute forefront of tracking how Hispanic audiences consume media and how brands can authentically connect with them. With Telemundo holding the Spanish-language rights to the 2026 World Cup, few people have a sharper read on the audience that will define the tournament. Chapters 00:00 Live Sports as the Last Cultural Anchor — why everybody still shows up at the same time 00:00 Welcome to The Round Out — meet your hosts, Brian Fuhrer and Julie DeTraglia 00:00 Multicultural Audience Flows — how each fanbase spiked at the last World Cup 00:00 Meet Fede Garza — tracking Hispanic audiences at Telemundo 00:00 The Cultural Energy of the Hispanic Sports Fan — the World Cup runup at Telemundo 00:00 Doubling the Numbers — why Spanish-language coverage resonates the way it does 00:00 Multi-Platform Measurement — streaming, broadcast, and the road to Peacock 00:00 The Takeaway for Marketers — building trust with a growth audience 00:00 The Ad Spend Disconnect — 20% of the population, a fraction of the budget 00:00 The Festival Fan Lifestyle — music, social causes, and the opportunity beyond the broadcast What you'll hear Why live sports remain the one cultural moment where everyone still shows up at once, and why the audience underneath is changing faster than the ratings suggestHow multicultural viewers powered the last World Cup, with Asian viewing jumping to 15% when Japan played and Mexico driving a 20% Hispanic audience against PolandWhy Spanish-language coverage of the World Cup easily doubles English-language numbers among Hispanic fans, and why that engagement matters to brandsHow Telemundo reads an audience that overindexes on streaming while broadcast still dominates Spanish-dominant homes, and what the World Cup means for PeacockThe ad spend disconnect: why Hispanics make up 20% of the U.S. population while targeted ad investment lags far behindWhy the 2026 World Cup audience wants more than the match, with 76% of Hispanic World Cup fans interested in live music and 63% who care deeply about social causes The takeaway for brands Multicultural sports fans are highly engaged consumers who actively reward the brands that show up for their communities. When audiences make active purchasing decisions or switch brands based on who shows up, that is where the real commercial opportunity lies. It is about building authentic trust and long-term partnerships, not just securing impressions. 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, not just who the new fans are, but what they mean for the brands trying to earn their loyalty. Anchored by the 2026 FIFA World Cup, it's a front-row seat to American sports fandom as it shifts beneath our feet. Find us anytime at theroundout.com.

  4. Jun 9

    FOX's Mike Mulvihill on America's Soccer Moment and Why the 2026 World Cup Changes Everything

    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.

  5. Episode 1

    The Round Out

    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.  Tune in to hear who the new fans are, what they care about, and how brands can earn their loyalty. nielsen.com/theroundout

    The Round Out

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

4.8
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    Nielsen
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    5
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    Copyright © 2026 The Nielsen Company (US), LLC. All Rights Reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Round Out