Hispanic teens are dribbling a heck of a lot more than kicking "goles", for instance. The NBA has taken note and has a pretty smart effort targeting that demographic. They've just rolled out a new TV campaign to capitalize on the popularity of the game, titled "ene-be-a"--NBA spelled phonetically in Spanish. Interesting to note, however, is the fact that the majority of Hispanic NBA fans are actually US Born/English dominant. Although the campaign seems targeted to the Spanish dominant group (they even have a site in Spanish) the campaign would probably do well with US-born Hispanics, if they cared to target them (a smart move, in my opinion).
And it's not just hoop dreams for Latinos. The pigskin is getting its fair share of attention as well. According to the NFL, the top two rated programs in English among Hispanics are actually NFL games. Add to that the fact that Latino NFL fans are super-fans spending 30% more time watching games than the average non-Hispanic and you've got an incredibly rich, targettable fan-base. The NFL has noticed and is going after this lucrative group to further grow the fan-base.
Bottom line: given the fact that everybody and their abuelita is sponsoring soccer among Hispanics, brands would be wise to make a more noticeable splash in the relative white space of what were once considered all-American sports.
6 comments:
Have you gone mad with this ???
Basketball will NEVER take over soccer with Hispanics .... sports is about culture, passion, and IDOLS. Latin America produces the world's best footballers ... you better believe that makes us US Hispanics proud!
Keep your ONE PERSON opinion please to yourself because when a Mexican, Argentine, Brazilian, Colombian, Peruvian, Uruguayan scores in the World Cup ... they make us all proud!
Estas louco ...
Perhaps I should've posted some numbers: Among US Born Hispanic Men in the US, soccer ranks a very distant 6th in interest, ranking only a hair above NASCAR.
49% love NFL, 34% love MLB, 32% love NBA, 31% love college football, 27% love UFC, 24% love college basketball, 17% love Soccer, 14% love NASCAR.
If you add in all US and Foreign born Hispanic men in the US, soccer beats out the NFL by .89% (Soccer: 29.51%, NFL: 28.45%).
Given the way the population is shifting, I give it 3 years before the NFL is more popular among Hispanics than Soccer.
As a second generation Hispanic male born and raised in the US. I can tell you that though I do find Soccer interesting I can not and will not sit through an entire game. I am a fan of the Hispanic teams only during the world cup. As a Colombian Soccer was in my blood, my dad and uncle played semi pro and still follow soccer religiously today. However among me and my friends we would rather watch Football, Basketball, Baseball and boxing before we watch a Soccer match. Our interest only peaks during WC. I think that is Ken's point as 2nd and 3rd generation Hispanic population increases we continue to distance ourselves from Soccer because it simply is not popular where we grow up which is firmly in between two worlds. Does that make me any less proud to be Hispanic?
Nicely put E2. Culture is a complex filter through which we interpret and interact with the world. Superficial--sometimes stereotypical--elements of the culture (like soccer), are meaningless compared to that more profound base of interpretation/interaction.
Unfortunately, most marketers think "Latin Culture??" Soccer!!
Ken,
I realize this post is almost a year old, but do you happen to recall your source for those stats in your comment above? Thanks.
Sure John. It's actually Simmons NHCS 2009 (fall, I think). Be well!
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