The Hispanic Sports Fan: ESPN’s expanded Research efforts yield Cross-Platform Insights.

By Robert DeFelice is Vice President, Client Service, in the Media team at Knowledge Networks.

Hispanic sports fans have become one of ESPN’s most important target audiences, across digital and traditional platforms alike. And to be sure its efforts are as relevant and engaging as possible, ESPN Research+Analytics has made understanding this audience a top priority.

glen enochESPN’s portfolio of platforms for reaching Hispanics is still growing. Now in its seventh year, ESPN Deportes is the company’s multimedia, Spanish-language sports brand, encompassing television, radio, online, print (La Revista), and wireless (ESPN Deportes Movil).

“This year, it is an ESPN company priority to intensify our efforts to serve U.S. Hispanic sports fans,” said Glenn Enoch, ESPN’s Vice President of Integrated Research, in a recent conversation with A:I/R. “Since 2007, viewing among Hispanics to ESPN on TV has grown by 39 percent; and estimates are that, by 2050, Hispanics will account for one-third of U.S. men aged 18-54.”
Emphasis on cross-platform research

Enoch and his research team have set in motion a variety of innovative programs to deepen its understanding of Hispanic consumers generally – and particularly Hispanic sports fans. Knowledge Networks has been a key part of these initiatives, helping ESPN learn…

How Hispanics used ESPN’s coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup (Total Touch)

When Hispanic sports fans intersect with all ESPN outlets over the course of a day – in the U.S. and three Latin American markets (All Day Every Day)

How an ESPN Deportes cross-platform campaign affected usage and attitudes for a men’s personal care brand

Where and when consumers connect with ESPN audio content (How People Use® Audio – recently presented at the RAB/NAB conference)

“Best available platform”: How Hispanics differ

This research has identified many key differences between Hispanic sports viewers and typical non-Hispanic sports fans. Among the biggest takeaways: Hispanics differ significantly in their choice and use of ESPN’s five main media platforms. “On any given day,” Enoch observed, “Hispanics are more likely to engage with ESPN content on radio, and they are also more likely to use our mobile platforms, when compared with non-Hispanics.”

“During our Knowledge Networks Total Touch project for the World Cup,” Enoch said, “we noticed that, while a lot of out-of-home usage of ESPN Radio was happening in cars, an appreciable percent was taking place at work. We know that sports fans choose the ‘best available platform’ for their sports consumption; these studies showed that the Internet is not always that ‘best available’ work platform. For some people – and apparently especially for Hispanics – it is likely to be radio.”
ESPN Deportes: Defining the brand lift

Knowing where and when ESPN media reaches Hispanic sports fans is crucial – but what is the impact of its platforms for a brand trying to engage Hispanic consumers? ESPN and Knowledge Networks set out to answer that question for a specific ESPN Deportes campaign. KN was able to tie pre/post brand lift results for a men’s personal care brand to usage of different ESPN Deportes properties.

The findings proved that the campaign drove product awareness and recommendation – and ESPN has used these insights to help sell five additional ESPN Deportes cross-platform brand campaigns.

“This year we put a big emphasis on making sure that we were properly representing Hispanics in all our research, especially Spanish-speaking Hispanics,” noted Enoch. “That’s a major reason that we decided to migrate our All Day Every Day survey from RDD to the KnowledgePanel.”

“There was a lot of attention to the U.S. Hispanic population in 2011 because of the release of the 2010 Census data, but we’ll continue to focus on the Hispanic sports fan for the foreseeable future.”

For more information at http://www.knowledgenetworks.com