How Fox Deportes and Telemundo Are Reaching Hispanic Sports Fans

According to the Census, there are more than 60 million Hispanic people in the United States. 

And out of that number, the NFL has 15.4 million avid Hispanic and Latinx fans in the U.S, per a Nielsen/LiS study.

For Super Bowl 59, Fox Deportes and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo are collaborating with the NFL on the simulcast for the Big Game. Each network will produce its own distinct broadcast.

Angelina Losada, vp of business development and growth initiatives at Fox Deportes, said this kind of deal has never been done with any property.

“It’s history in the making as we move into the Super Bowl because we want to reach collaboratively between a network and the NFL,” Losada told ADWEEK. “The NFL is also a big player, so we need them to raise the fan base for Hispanic audiences.”

Losada said what makes this simulcast unique is how the Fox Deportes and Telemundo viewership skew a little differently demographically. With Fox Deportes, they’re attempting to reach a multigenerational and younger audience.

“It’s the kids that are attracting the uncles, the fathers, the cousins, and then everybody gets together, and it’s an event, but it’s really being driven by the younger audience and the bilingual audience, and we understand that,” Losada said.

This year, some of the things that viewers can expect is a video that Fox Deportes shows every year featuring artists setting the stage right before the broadcast of the game begins.

While it has often featured more traditional Mexican artists like Los Tigres del Norte, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, and Banda MS, Fox Deportes chose Puerto Rican artist Anuel AA and Mexican artists like Gabito Ballesteros, who are more popular with younger Hispanic consumers.

Beating records and making history

Losada said ultimately the goal is to beat all records.

This is the fifth time Fox Deportes will broadcast the Super Bowl since being the first Spanish-language network in the United States to air the game in 2015.

According to the network, they’ve aired the three most-watched Super Bowls in Spanish on cable:

• Super Bowl 56: 951,000 viewers
• Super Bowl 54: 762,2000 viewers
• Super Bowl 51: 654,000 viewers

Breaking records is also a goal at Telemundo, according to evp of sports Joaquin Duro. This will be the second time the network will air the Super Bowl in broadcast after being the first one to air it back in 2022—and it’s expanding to more than eight hours of live coverage.

In 2022, Telemundo’s was the most-watched NFL game in Spanish-language history, delivering a record-setting average of 1.9 million total viewers. It ended up ranking as the highest-rated Spanish-language non-soccer sporting event of the decade.

Duro said the deal was an opportunity to bring the game to people via broadcast and free-to-air, and overall, to broaden access.

“We feel it’s very entertaining, comprehensive coverage throughout different topics,” Duro said. “From everything to looking at 20 years ago at Katrina [the 2025 Super Bowl will be played at the New Orleans Superdome, which housed hurricane refugees] and transitioning into more family-friendly content like food, music, and everything that surrounds not only the Super Bowl itself—that’s obviously an incredible day for Americans and Hispanics in the country—but the city of New Orleans itself.”

Closer to the game, Telemundo will have internet personality Miguel Gurwitz and former football player Rolando Cantú to commentate on the game.

“We have a very good knowledge of our fan base and Hispanics following the NFL,” Duro said. “And the benefit, obviously for us, it’s the Spanish audience in the country having access to Telemundo in a broadcast network free to air,” which broke ratings records in 2022.

Advertisers should not ignore Hispanic consumers

Losada said when it comes to reaching the Hispanic audience, it would be remiss of advertisers not to add Spanish language into their mix because the demographic continues to grow, reiterating that a substantial segment of that population is bilingual.

“We know it, the advertisers know it, Telemundo knows it, and the NFL knows it,” Losada said. “In agreeing to do this three-way partnership, it’s exactly for that. It is to make sure that we’re giving the advertisers what they need to grow within the Spanish language marketplace. At the end of the day, we want the fans to grow, but we’re also giving the advertisers something they’ve never had before.”

Duro shared the same sentiment, noting it’s important for advertisers to pay attention to Hispanic consumers in the live programming space.

“Telemundo has live programming in sports, and it’s very natural for us,” Duro said. “Live programming benefits advertisers and this is a trend now. Most—if not all—of the content that we do right now is live from news, to entertainment shows, reality programming, and sports.

“For many years, live sports has been the way to go. But reaching Hispanics through the cultural aspect of of an Hispanic production on Fox probably will tell you the same thing, and that diversity that comes from a production—from talent to producers to the topics that are being produced or handled—that is important because you’re reaching them in a space that makes them feel more connected.”

When it comes to Super Bowl 59, Duro, who will be working on his 18th Super Bowl this year, said he’s looking forward to seeing how everything comes together on Sunday night. Losada is also looking forward to is seeing the simulcast and the partnership come to life.

“I’m thankful for the leadership at Fox Sports, the NFL, obviously, and the openness of Telemundo, and seeing this all come to life is going to be an amazing moment because it’s never been done before,” Losada said.