For brand marketers trying to reach the elusive male, sports is a universal language most of them speak. It is a common bond that, even in a room full of strangers, can start a dialogue or stoke old rivalries. At Univision Deportes, we are fortunate to have a large, passionate, and engaged group of young male fans we affectionately call fanáticos. These fanáticos return to us match after match to view the sporting events they love, and engage with additional content across our digital and social platforms.
Many marquee brands focus their male-targeted dollars on the major U.S. sports leagues, which is a sound strategy to maintain the status quo. But if growth is the goal, might it be time to consider scoring with an audience of more than 24 million sports fans who aren’t regularly tuning in to watch baseball, football, or basketball?
Univision Deportes – the sports division of UCI – offers marketers an unparalleled opportunity to reach millions of passionate fans who are largely being overlooked – and therefore not reached – via English-language sports.
With that in mind, Univision Deportes offers a powerful solution.
UDN – Univision Deportes’ 24/7 sports network – has been on a meteoric rise since launching in April of 2012. It was the fastest-growing TV network in 2013, regardless of language or genre. The trend has continued with double-digit growth in both 2014 and 2015, and UDN was ranked the No. 1 sports network in the United States (tied with ESPN), regardless of language among men 18-34 this past July.
More recently, the first leg of the 2015 Apertura Liga MX final aired on Thursday, December 10 exclusively on UDN. The broadcast of the match between Tigres and UNAM averaged 792,000 adults 18-49, and delivered a total of 1.241 million viewers 2+. The telecast was the most-viewed UDN exclusive match in the history of the network, besting the previous record holder by 11%.
Further, our fanáticos are largely that – ours. 85% of UCI Sports viewers (Hispanics 18-49) did not watch ESPN in the second quarter. 90% didn’t tune in to Fox Sports 1. A majority of our viewers don’t even tune into the smaller Spanish-language networks, like ESPN Deportes and Fox Deportes.
UDN is the home of Liga MX, MLS, the Mexican and U.S. National Soccer teams, the once-in-a-lifetime Copa America Centenario 2016, and so much more. With content that is second to none, it is evident why our fans keep coming back day after day, and week after week. These fanáticos are loyal to our brand, and for the marketers who make real efforts to reach them, they could be loyal to yours.
