From Fútbol to Football. a Matter of Passion
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WHAT FROM FÚTBOL DRIVES TO FOOTBALL. NEW A MATTER OF PRODUCT PASSION SUCCESS? REPORT A NEW JOINT STUDY FROM APRIL 2013 PRS AND NIELSEN EXAM- INES THE ROLE OF PACK- AGING AND IN-STORE EN- VIRONMENT FROM FÚTBOL TO FOOTBALL... A MATTER OF PASSION 2 FÚTBOL TO FOOTBALL HAS THE NFL EDGED OUT FÚTBOL AMONGST HISPANICS? To talk about sports among Latinos is to talk about the “beautiful game”, or fútbol, or soccer or football (whichever you prefer). Fútbol is embedded in the Latino culture; after all, Latin America is the birthplace for stars who are to soccer what Ruth, DiMaggio and Mantle are to America’s pastime. Names like Maradona, Pelé, and Messi stand out in the minds of many throughout the world, not just Hispanics. And so, for countless decades it was considered the king of sports for Latinos. Today, this sport still thrives in Hispanic communities; however, another sport is winning the hearts of many Hispanics – the NFL. Given the high rate of US Born Latinos, and the number of young Latinos under the age of 30, it’s not surprising that football is starting to get a larger audience. Marketers who can tap into this fast growing group are setting themselves up for success. But there is much more to the story. Not all Hispanics are the same, and savvy marketers need to know the difference. Last season, the NFL averaged a high number of Latino viewers, with Super Bowl XLVII seen by almost 10 million Hispanics ages 12 and up, the largest Hispanic audience to date. With these impressive numbers, the big question is: Has the NFL edged out soccer as the king of sports amongst Hispanics? On a macro level, the gap is wide for viewing between these two sports, but will unique idiosyncrasies develop as we decompose viewing and focus on influencers such as language and country of origin. AVG VIEWERS (000) A12+, 2012 SEASON 2,637 1,484 404 55 29 LIGA MX MLS INT'L SOCCER MEXICO NFL 2012 APERTURA NAT'L GAMES Read as: An average of 404,000 Hispanics 12+ tuned in to the Liga MX Apertura for the 2012 Copyright © 2013 The Nielsen Company 3 THE POWER OF LANGUAGE Viewing NFL games is driven by Hispanics that speak mostly or only English, while an inverse relationship occurs with Mexico national games, also known as “El TRI”. Here, the largest share of viewers is Spanish speaking Hispanics. Bilingual Hispanics watched the NFL, but a greater percentage tuned into Mexico’s national soccer games, also known as “El Tri”. % DISTRIBUTION BY LANGUAGE FOR 2012, 12+ 56% 2% 15% 60% 29% 37% NFL 2012 EI TRI ENGLISH DOM SPANISH DOM SPANISH/ENGLISH EQUAL Read as: 56% of the Hispanics ages 12+ that tuned into the NFL 2012 season were Hispanics that speak mostly or only English. Nielsen research shows that engagement of Spanish speaking Hispanics to the NFL season may have been low, but how much of a bounce did the Super Bowl in particular see from this audience? The majority of Hispanics that watched Super Bowl XLVII were still those that speak mostly or only English; the percent of Spanish speaking Hispanics improved slightly. Specifically, while 56 percent of Hispanics 12 and up who tuned into the 2012 NFL season speak mostly English, 48 percent of these same viewers tuned into the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Spanish dominant speakers increased by 3 percentage points from the regular season to the Super Bowl. Looking a little deeper, we evaluated viewing levels from Hispanic viewers throughout the NFL season. 4 FÚTBOL TO FOOTBALL INCREMENTAL REACH % FOR NFL SEASON BY RACE / ETHNICITY & LANGUAGE, 12+ PLAYOFFS HISPANICS - 9.4 SPANISH DOM - 9.7 EQUAL - 10.3 ENGLISH DOM - 8.0 BLACK - 6.4 WHITE - 7.5 ASIAN - 10.2 REGULAR SEASON HISPANICS - 50.2 SPANISH DOM - 34.2 EQUAL - 47.9 EMNGLISH DOM - 73.7 BLACK - 77.3 WHITE - 72.9 ASIAN - 59.6 Read as: 50% of Hispanics 12+ tuned into the regular season, with another 9.4% tuning into the playoffs. Copyright © 2013 The Nielsen Company 5 Breaking the analysis into two phases, regular season and playoffs, we found that English speaking Hispanics had the highest reach during the regular season, confirming once more that Hispanics who speak English dominate Hispanic viewing of the NFL. Also, viewing increased from Spanish speaking Hispanics once the playoffs began. When compared to ethnicity, English speaking Hispanics viewership was as strong as non-Hispanics. In fact, only African Americans had a greater overall reach. In addition to our prior analysis of viewing by language to ‘El TRI’ games, we also examined a Mexico vs. USA game, which to fútbol aficionados, is as compelling as the Super Bowl. Mexico vs. USA games have similar language distribution trends as all TRI games, except that Hispanics that speak mostly or only English may have an increased interest in the USA vs. Mexico matches. HISPANIC 12+ AVERAGE VIEWERS & DISTRIBUTION BY LANGUAGE “EL TRI” GAMES 2012 Hispanic 12+ 3,357 English Dominant 2% Spanish Dominant 60% Spanish/ English Equal 37% MEXICO VS. USA - GOLD CUP FINAL 2011 Hispanic 12+ 6,326 English Dominant 5% Spanish Dominant 63% Spanish/ English Equal 32% Read as: “El TRI” games during 2012, averaged 3.4 million Hispanics ages 12+. 2% of Hispanics that tuned into EL TRI games spoke mostly or only 6 FÚTBOL TO FOOTBALL COUNTRY OF ORIGIN COUNTS Successful marketers understand there are common customs and habits amongst Hispanics, but it is vital that they remain keenly aware of their diversity. Hispanics come from various regions with distinct culture and interests. While some Latinos breathe and live fútbol, the intensity is not quite the same across all Latin American Countries. The following data illustrates the role cultural diversity plays in sports viewing. AVERAGE RATING BY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, L+SD 12.8 12.0 8.9 8.4 5.0 4.0 3.9 3.6 2.8 2.3 1.2 1.7 NFL EL TRI 2012 COPA AMERICA MEXICO CARIBBEAN SOUTH AMERICA CENTRAL AMERICA Read as: Hispanics of Mexican descent had a 3.9 average rating during the NFL season Copyright © 2013 The Nielsen Company 7 NFL games are more likely to be watched by Hispanics of Mexican and Caribbean descent; while Mexican Americans tune into the NFL with solid numbers, their average rating more than doubles when ‘El TRI’ plays. With the exception of Caribbean Hispanics, fútbol tournaments draw huge Hispanic audiences; however engagement varies by tournament and is usually influenced by participation of country of origin. The chart below illustrates the country of origin effect by comparing the Copa America, played in Argentina with all South American countries, vs. Gold Cup, played on US soil with US, Mexico & Central American nations participating. VIEWING TO COPA AMERICA AND GOLD CUP BY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN AVERAGE RATING L+SD COPA AMERICA 2011 GOLD CUP 2011 6.2 5.7 MEXICO MEXICO 4.2 11.8 1.5 1.0 CARIBBEAN CARIBBEAN 1.8 2.5 8.8 3.0 SOUTH SOUTH 15.4 6.9 11.0 10.9 CENTRAL CENTRAL 12.6 20.2 GROUP PHASE KNOCKOUT STAGE Read as: Hispanics of Mexican origin averaged a 6.23 during the group phase of the Copa America, and a 4.16 during the knockout stage. 8 FÚTBOL TO FOOTBALL Copa America drew the largest number of viewers from Americans with South American descent, but The Gold Cup was a different tale. Hispanics with South American descent tuned in the least, while Hispanics of Central American ancestries were the most engaged through the whole tournament. Mexican Americans tuned in to both tournaments, but at a higher rate during the Gold Cup. The Mexican team did not qualify for the knockout phase of the Copa America, but competed in the finale of the Gold Cup – thus explaining the vast difference in viewing to the knockout phases. To complete the analysis, we compared each sport’s marquee event: the Super Bowl vs. the World Cup final: VIEWING TO COPA AMERICA AND GOLD CUP BY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN AVERAGE RATING L+SD AUDIENCE COMPOSITION FOR A12+ BY LANGUAGE & COUNTRY OF ORIGIN FOR THE SUPER BOWL & WORLD CUP OF 2010 ENGLISH SPANISH SPANISH/ SOUTH CENTRAL SPORTING EVENT HISPANIC MEXICAN CARIBBEAN DOM DOM ENGLISH AMERICAN AMERICAN Super Bowl XLIV 2010 37% 11% 17% 21% 19% 22% 27% 12% *World Cup 2010 4% 15% 11% 11% 11% 6% 17% 16% World Cup 2010 UNI 3% 29% 20% 19% 20% 9% 27% 31% World Cup 2010 ABC 5% 1% 3% 3% 2% 3% 8% 2% Super Bowl XLVII 2013 38% 12% 23% 25% 22% 27% 23% 19% World Cup for combined telecast by Univision & ABC Read as: 37% of the Hispanics that speak mostly or only English tuned in to Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 Language spoken and country of origin continue to be compelling factors: Hispanics of South or Central America watched the Super Bowls, but preferred the World Cup finale, for its own. Caribbean Hispanics overwhelmingly prefer the Super Bowl, while Mexican Americans viewing was almost identical to each. Language drives what is watched, as well as where it is watched and for fútbol, Latino viewers say: “En español por favor”. Copyright © 2013 The Nielsen Company 9 FÚTBOL, REMAINS CULTURALLY RELEVANT The key question is whether football had replaced fútbol as the king of sports among Hispanics. If at first blush it seems as if the NFL has successfully courted the lucrative Hispanic market, capitalizing on English speaking Hispanics, the NFL still has opportunities with the Spanish speaking or bilingual Latinos.