Super Bowl XLV & NFL Hispanic Viewership
Super Bowl 2011
It is no secret that the National Football League (NFL) has continued to focus on minority outreach and specifically to the Latino community. Beginning in October 2005 with a crowd of 100,000, the NFL played its first regular-season game outside of the United States; and in the following years, the NFL has aggressively tried to connect to the growing Hispanic population. In 2010, more than half of the teams celebrated Mexican/Hispanic Heritage events, and there have been numerous other outreach campaigns to support their initiatives.
According to Nielsen “significant gains in minority viewership were contributing factors” to the record audience of 106.5 million Super Bowl viewers for last year’s Super Bowl XLIV. While African American viewership was up 4%, for the Hispanic market, the increase was 9% with 44% of that 8.3 million being female. How will 2011′s Super Bowl XLV, featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Green Bay Packers, end up? While the game will be played in the 6th largest Hispanic market, the teams playing, while popular, are not from the Top 20 U.S. Hispanic markets according to Ad Age’s 2010 Hispanic Fact Pack.
Based on the results from the 2010 regular season and other statistics from the NFL’s Hispanic focused website NFL Hispanic, all indications are pointing towards another very successful Super Bowl:
- The 2010 NFL Season was the most-watched season ever among Hispanics.
- The NFL is the most-watched American sports league among Hispanics.
- Hispanic NFL fans spend nearly 15 hours engaged with the NFL each week during the regular season.
While the Super Bowl and the NFL do not draw nearly as many fans globally as the World Cup, it is the king of the advertising world, drawing an estimated $2.8 million plus for a 30-second spot for Super Bowl XLV versus a similar spot in the World Cup finals costing only $250,000. Will the game and the value of the advertising be worth the hype? Only time will tell. While waiting for the 2011 flurry of Super Bowl ads, have a look at some of last year’s Super Bowl XLIV ads.
Related Research Reports and Articles:
The Americano: The NFL Scores Big with Latinos of Mexican Descent