“In the last 12 months, our distribution has been growing tremendously,” ESPN Deportes General Manager Lino Garcia told Portada in an exclusive interview, which preceded the network’s 2008 upfront at The Gotham in NYC on Wednesday.
“One huge step for us is the Nielsen ratings we received two weeks ago, which showed us leading the pack in some key areas, most notably in the news and information category. One reason that this is so important is because our news and information reporting is produced daily. If you’re relying solely on live events, you are going to have your good days and your not-so-good days. But if you can consistently put up strong numbers on daily programming, you’re in good shape,” said Garcia.
He cautioned that these ratings reflect the network’s standings over just the last couple of weeks, “So we’re not staking a definitive position on them, but they are certainly encouraging, and well-timed going into this upfront season.”
One of the shows that has delivered for the network in a big way is “Futbol Picante,” a daily studio show analyzing developments in Mexican soccer. “In addition, Sports Center has consistently performed well for us and has been a big draw,” said Garcia. The network also recently launched its show Cronómetro as a daily program.
The numbers…
Garcia notes the recent Nielsen measurement of 3.4 million daily viewers that the network is garnering. “Our internal figures reflect a daily audience closer to four million viewers—we know how many subscribers we have from our internal numbers— so we feel that both figures are worth reporting.”
Nielsen reported that 15 of top 20 Spanish-language news and information shows are found on ESPN Deportes. Garcia added that of the six national Spanish-language networks, ESPN Deportes is highest rated in terms of viewership.