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Sports Magazines and Newspapers: Will Sports Publishers Shout Goooooool?

Toyota, Century 21, Budweiser, Sears and Volkswagen have already purchased print media space in sports publications geared toward Hispanics.

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March 1, 2003: Sports magazines and newspapers: Will sports publishers shout goooooool?


TV and radio generally receive the biggest portions of advertisers' budgets for Hispanic sports, but what about print media? The potential is there. Gordon Borrell, president of Borrell Associates, told Portadatm, that a sports publication targeted to Hispanics “might hit a sweet spot.” Borrell adds that in a “typical, daily newspaper CPMs run in the $18-$30 range. A targeted print publication, such as a Hispanic sports publication, might get as much as 50% more.”


Toyota, Century 21, Budweiser, Sears and Volkswagen have already purchased print media space in sports publications geared toward Hispanics. However, Felix Sención, publisher of the bi-monthly magazine Fútbol Mundial, claims that “the market for sports print media targeted to Hispanics is still grossly underdeveloped.” Industry insiders add that advertising in Hispanic sports publications has a long way to go and blame the lack of momentum on the advertisers' ignorance about sports popular with Hispanics (e.g. soccer), and the general paucity of advertising budgets for the Hispanic market. A further hindrance is that Hispanics tend to read less than their US counterparts.


A few US publications do target the Hispanic market. Hispanic Beisbol was launched last fall and Gol USA Internacional has been published on a weekly basis since 1992. However, most sports publications targeted to Hispanics are published by media companies in Latin America and Spain. Examples are Deportes Internacional (Editorial Televisa, México) and El Gráfico (Editorial Atlántida, Argentina). It is difficult to understand the scarcity of US Hispanic sports publications, especially considering that sports print media is definitely a big business in the US. In 2001, Sports Illustrated was the 14th most read magazine in the US with an average paid circulation of 3,206,000 copies.


Are US Sports publications ready to jump into the Hispanic sports niche? How about a Sports Illustrated en español? Sources at Time Inc. told Portadatm that they have looked in to this and other possibilities, but for the time being there is nothing in the works. Are there any other publications covering the sports Hispanics love?


Baseball…


Baseball has scored big with Hispanics. According to the research firm Gould Media, “of all the major U.S. team sports, baseball has been the most successful in developing a Hispanic following.”


MLB (Major League Baseball) has a long history of courting Hispanics. The Los Angeles Dodgers began marketing to Hispanics when they moved from Brooklyn to LA in the late 1950's.


According to Strategy Research Corporation, MLB is most popular among Hispanics of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican origin (these groups form the majority of the US Hispanic population). In addition, approximately 25% of Major League Baseball players are Hispanic.


The main print media property for baseball in the Hispanic market is Major League Baseball en español. It is published by Major League Baseball Properties (MLBP) as a bilingual (Spanish and English) magazine geared toward Latinos.


Through inserts in major Hispanic dailies, the publication reaches approximately one million households in the seven largest Latino markets in the United States. La Opinión (Los Angeles), Daily News (New York), El Nuevo Herald (Miami), La Raza (Chicago), La Subasta (Houston) and La Subasta (Dallas) all carry Major League Baseball en español.


The publication is published three times a year, with the second and third issues published in July and October, in conjunction with the All-Star Game and World Series, respectively.



…football…


For the 2002-2003 season, Hispanics were the NFL's top marketing priority. The NFL hired the New York firm, Lumina Americas, to develop a Latino marketing campaign. Coors is one major advertiser, marketing to Hispanic consumers between 21 and 29 years old. Sources at Coors told Portadatm that newspaper and sports magazines for Hispanics play a major part in Coors' Hispanic marketing campaigns.



…and, of course,Goooooool!!!…


US publishers distinguish two soccer markets – the all-American “soccer crazy kids” and the Hispanic “soccer crazy family.” Focusing on primarily “soccer crazy kids” is 90:00 Minutes Soccer>Magazine, published by Soccer Development of America with a circulation of 25,000.


Felix Sencion, publisher of the bimonthly Fútbol Mundial, targets the “soccer crazy families,” and describes them as “Hispanic families in which fathers and uncles pass on the tradition of the sport.”. Fútbol Mundial, a mass vehicle to reach the “soccer crazy family,” was launched on the eve of the 2002 World Cup. The publication, written in Spanish with English story summaries, reaches 1 million readers. Fútbol Mundial is currently published as an insert in 20 newspapers in 15 different DMAs, but plans to be a monthly by 2004.all carry Fútbol Mundial> Sensación Marketing pays an insert fee and then offers advertisers a “one time national buy” in the publication.


While Fútbol Mundial and Major League Baseball en español are published as inserts in Hispanic newspapers, Gol USA Internacional is one of the few independently distributed newspapers. Launched in 1992, Gol is published every Monday and has a circulation of 66,200 copies, more than 50% of which are sold in New York City and the rest in suburbs of New York and other states in the Northeast. Its main content is soccer and it is read primarily by Hispanics of Colombian and Mexican origin.


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