2009 World Baseball Classic off to great start on ESPN Deportes.

ESPN Deportes’ exclusive Spanish-language coverage of the 2009 World Baseball Classic is off to a strong start, scoring new records for the network.  Since the start of the World Baseball Classic, ESPN Deportes has been the most watched ad-supported cable network among Hispanic Men 18+, topping all other cable networks regardless of language.  The first round of the World Baseball Classic on ESPN Deportes (19 telecasts) averaged a 1.6 Hispanic rating and 70,000 households.  
 
World Baseball Classic Highlights:

The Mexico vs. Cuba telecast on March 12 posted a 3.4 Hispanic rating, 146,000 households and 221,000 viewers, to become the network’s most-viewed World Baseball Classic game; 

The seven highest-rated, non-soccer events on ESPN Deportes have all been World Baseball Classic games, including Sunday, March 8, with Mexico vs. Australia which delivered a 2.2 Hispanic rating; Netherlands vs. Puerto Rico on Monday, March 9, with a 2.4 Hispanic rating; Cuba vs. Australia on Tuesday, March 10, with a 3.3 Hispanic rating and peaking with the Thursday, March 12, Mexico vs. Cuba telecast (3.4 rating);

ESPN Deportes total day (6 a.m. – 6 a.m. ET) programming is averaging a 1.0 Hispanic rating (43,000 Hispanic homes) during the World Baseball Classic, a 115 percent increase.  Ratings for news and commentary since the beginning of the World Baseball Classic have also increased, averaging a 0.6 Hispanic rating, up over 40 percent;

The World Baseball Classic has also shown to have strong appeal among Hispanic viewers in local markets. The Netherlands vs. Dominican Republic game on Tuesday, March 10, delivered a 5.4 Hispanic market rating in New York and 67,000 Hispanic households, the most-watched program to air in that market. In Miami, the same Netherlands vs. Dominican Republic game was the network’s second highest-rated program in that market, delivering a 3.5 Hispanic market rating and 23,000 Hispanic households (the previous high was June 29, 2008, the day of the Euro 2008 final, with a 3.6 Hispanic rating and an equivalent 23,000 Hispanic households).

Tuesday, March 10, was ESPN Deportes’ most-viewed day ever, delivering 71,000 Hispanic households (the previous high was June 29, 2008, the day of the Euro 2008 final, with 63,000 Hispanic household);

The World Baseball Classic helped drive ESPNdeportes.com to its biggest traffic day ever (Wednesday, March 11), with more than 9.6 million minutes spent and nearly 5.6 million page views.  

ESPN and ESPN2 Delivering Hispanic Viewers:

Since the start of the World Baseball Classic, ESPN has been the second most-watched ad supported cable network among Hispanic Men 18+, trailing only sister network ESPN Deportes;

ESPN and ESPN2 are averaging 95,000 Hispanic households and 141,000 Hispanic viewers, up 30 percent from 2006 for both households and viewers;

Hispanic viewers comprise 30 percent of the 2009 World Baseball Classic audience on all ESPN networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes).