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HISPANIC TV UPFRONT REPORT-2017 EDITION HispanicAd.com/HispanicMarketOverview.com
“We feel like we’ve got a great partner with Golden Boy that brings great fighters, and we are seeing tremendous growth in our boxing initiative.”
Most of the bouts are aired in prime-time, which is also a plus for ESPN Deportes.
That’s led to nice growth in the West Coast, where the 8pm Pacific and 10pm Pacific editions of
Sports Center and the 9pm Pacific edition of Fútbol Picante is revving up the ratings.
But, where does ESPN Deportes go from there? Are non-scripted series on the horizon? Fitzgerald says the network is busily figuring out way to create new storytelling platforms.
New to the network is its “Beisbol Experience.” This centers on the Latino Major League Baseball player, and close to 50 are getting treatment in the feature. The rollout includes short-form and long-form pieces in print, audio and video form, spread across ESPN Deportes’ digital audio and video platforms.
“We feel very excited about that, and believe we’re on to a model that we can take to the World Cup,” Fitzgerald says. “It shows how we can take our strength in all media in both languages and find stories that both resonate and empower the Hispanic sports fan.”
To that end, ESPN Deportes is looking to its bigger sibling for Hispanic adaptations of We The Fans, which recently saw its debut on ESPN by putting the spotlight on Chicago Bears superfans. “The World Cup is ripe for that treatment,” Fitzgerald says.
ESPN Deportes is also making strides in the digital arena—again. A pioneer with bringing audio and video to smartphones and digital devices, ESPN has delivered something new for ESPN mobile app users who don’t want English as their preferred language.
Click on the settings button, and you’ll be able to change editions of the app.
“U.S. – Spanish” is now listed, along with versions for Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Venezuela.
With a lift of between 3% and 6% coming from the digital availability of ESPN Deportes, Fitzgerald has another opportunity to reach consumers with both programming and advertising.
Case in point: A flip to “U.S. – Spanish” resulted in advertisements for Presidente beer appearing on the iOs version of the ESPN Deportes app.
Meanwhile, Fitzgerald is aware of the discussions in the marketplace regarding ESPN and its struggles of late. This includes the late April departure of dozens of employees.
Fitzgerald commented on the chatter by saying, “When decisions have to be made at companies, I hate to see people not working here. But, as a company, I think we have more people here than we did a few years ago. ESPN is just trying to resource in the places that make the most sense to us today, and one of those places is in the multicultural space. It is making sure we have the best soccer talent not just here in the U.S. but also in Mexico and in Argentina. All of our resources being put against the Hispanic initiative – it’s working. We feel good.”