February 02, 2007
By Nancy Ayala
Millions will be glued to TV sets Sunday for Super Bowl XLI, and the NFL is doing its part to make sure more Latinos will be counted among the fans. For radio listeners, the game will be carried live nationwide for the first time on Univision Radio.
In the buildup to the game, Telemundo will broadcast two events on Saturday: Pepsi Smash Super Bowl Fiesta (4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT), a concert featuring bachata/R&B boy band Aventura, and reggaeton singers Don Omar and Ivy Queen; and the Coors Light-sponsored Tazón Latino I (5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT), the first nationally televised flag football game between former NFL players such as Anthony Muñoz, Eric Dickerson and Marcus Allen pitted against Hispanic celebrities, including Miguel Varoni, Edgar López and Leti Coo. Frankie J will perform the national anthem for the game, and Omar will perform at halftime for the taped event, which took place Thursday at the NFL Experience Built By The Home Depot, an area adjacent to Dolphin Stadium.
"Last season we looked at the entire fan base, and it really brought to life how active and interested Hispanics are [in football]," said Peter O'Reilly, NFL director of marketing, based in New York. Internal NFL research points to 72 percent of U.S. Hispanics engaging in the NFL, compared to 74 percent of the general market, be it through broadcast, online, newspapers, magazines, video games or fantasy football, O'Reilly said.
As in years past, the NFL will be comparing the bicultural audience watching general-market TV, which O'Reilly said is the largest opportunity for growth, as well as Spanish-dominant viewers.
An average of 15.7 percent of Hispanics, or approximately 6.1 million viewers, watched the 2006 Super Bowl, according to Nielsen Media Research. About 19.1 percent of Hispanics over age 55 watched the game, the highest rating for any age category of Hispanic viewers.
Despite efforts to reach out to Hispanics -- including launching Spanish-language portal NFLatino.com -- many still consider the switch from soccer to football a tough battle, and some question the outreach to the Latino community during the year.
"With all their wealth, [the NFL] should be getting more involved with Hispanic organizations," said Sam Pagán, partner, integrated communications, of New York-based Hispanic agency Grupo PyR, who had worked with the NFL during 2001-2002 while at Lúmina Americas. Pagán said the league's outreach also suffers from not having enough Hispanic players to win over the community.
To build a closer connection, the NFL has created bilingual and Spanish-language NFL spots that have aired nationwide for all audiences. They feature young Latino kids engaging in impromptu football games, Hispanic celebrity endorsements such as from Kansas City Chiefs' Tony Gonzalez and classic moments from games past.
As part of a new partnership with Telemundo, special NFL programming has run intermittently since the beginning of the football season, starting Sept. 9, running more prominently during Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15).
O'Reilly said that this year NFL has had three times the media weight than last year to reach out to Latinos. "We had gains on ESPN Deportes [which aired Monday Night Football], and now this partnership with Telemundo has been great," he said.
Besides TV and radio spots, NFL print campaigns could be found in USA Today and the Spanish-language sports magazines Fox Sports en Español and ESPN Deportes. Ads also ran in AOL Latino's "Deportes" pages, O'Reilly said.
Like the general market, Super Bowl highlights will be on sale for live streaming on iTunes Latino beginning Monday, Feb. 5.
Source: Marketing y Medios
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