This week at
the CSE Sports Marketing Symposium, Univision will unveil
the results of a new, nationwide study conducted in partnership with Vital Findings on
the differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic sports fans. Our results show that while all sports fans
are valuable
consumers, Hispanic sports fans, “
fanaticos” as we call
them at Univision,
are the best.
They consume more sports via more mediums, engage in more sports celebrations and conversations and spend more money overall.
The study proves that Hispanics
are the “more” sports
consumers.
First, consumption. Forty-one percent of Hispanics watch sports every day, compared with 34 percent of non-Hispanics. Also, Hispanic women were nearly twice as likely (28 percent to 16 percent) than non-Hispanic women to watch sports every day.
Why do Hispanics watch more often? Because they follow more leagues.
This phenomenon is partly due to the fact that the Hispanic reality is a duality. U.S. Hispanics feel 100 percent American and 100 percent Latino. That means a Colombian living in Miami may follow the Miami Heat, the Colombian soccer national team … and any club team that features Colombian players such as World Cup breakout star James Rodriguez playing for Real Madrid.
When you combine all of the soccer leagues out there, it becomes very clear that soccer remains king for Hispanics … by a very big margin over non-Hispanics. More Hispanics follow soccer than non-Hispanics, almost 2-1.
Hispanics also consume in more ways.
It’s no surprise that live TV is still the No. 1 way to consume for both Hispanic and non-Hispanic sports fans.
What is notable is that Hispanics are 35 percent more likely to stream their sports content at least once per week and to use digital devices to do so, which may mean Hispanics are watching two games at once. Hispanics are also more likely to use TV network apps. Univision Deportes experienced this during the World Cup when 71 percent of our highlights were viewed on the Deportes app compared with just 29 percent on the Web.
Next, Hispanics celebrate sports more.
What does this mean?
Hispanics are more likely to dress up for games — and that includes Hispanic women — and they are 13 percent
more likely to watch sports with friends and family. For Hispanics, sports is about community.
The fact that Hispanics are consuming sports with more people also could be why Hispanics spend more money on their celebrations. Hispanics spend an average of $78 per sports occasion versus the non-Hispanic who spends $44. The effect is multiplied when you consider that they watch more leagues, more often, with more people.
One last thing our study found: language matters. Overall, Hispanics said sports in Spanish is four times more exciting, which is why they spent, on average, nearly 50 percent of their sports viewing time in Spanish. Even English-dominant Hispanics, whom some marketers argue act like non-Hispanic consumers, spent a quarter of their time watching in Spanish.
These numbers come despite the fact sports in Spanish makes up just 11 percent of all sports content.
There are nearly 56 million Hispanics in the U.S. today, but over the next six years, 100 percent of the growth in the age groups sports marketers care about — 13-17, when fans are falling in love with a team, and 18-49, when they are fully living out their passion — will come from Hispanics. It’s time we all get to know our fanaticos.
Roberto Ruiz (RRuiz@Univision.net) is a senior vice president of strategy and insights at Univision.
