[an error occurred while processing this directive] Univisión scores with World Cup ratings

Growing soccer base, animated coverage have fans tuning network in

06/20/2002

By DIANNE SOLÍS / The Dallas Morning News

The Spanish-language network Univisión continues to score with the growing U.S. interest in the World Cup, the planet's premier sporting event.

Ratings from Nielsen Media Research show that Univisión had 42 percent more viewers than ESPN early Monday morning, when the underdog U.S. team eliminated the national team of soccer-loco Mexico.

Univisión's viewership has led ESPN's throughout the monthlong tournament.

The ratings solidify what many have said for years: Immigrant America is wild about fútbol, as soccer is known in Spanish. And that's true even with the nocturnal telecasts from South Korea.

Moreover, there appear to be many crossover fans who prefer the more animated coverage of Univisión, one of three U.S. Spanish-language networks operated by Univisión Communications Inc. of Los Angeles.

'They get it'

"Certainly, the ratings are due to the explosion in the Latin population," said Dr. David Sedman, a media professor at Southern Methodist University who studies sports programming. "But it is also that Univisión understands the cadence of the game better. You don't have to understand Spanish to understand that they get it."

Dr. Sedman likens it to Canadian hockey coverage of the 1980s, which he argues was superior to that of the United States, where enthusiasm was more muted.

Soccer aficionados are a growing community. The U.S.-Mexico second-round match drew about 4.3 million viewers to Univisión, nearly the same number Univisión had for the championship match in the 1998 World Cup, a network spokeswoman says.

Better than '98

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, that match drew higher ratings per household than any match in the 1998 tournament, the spokeswoman added.

Univisión is now the fifth-largest broadcaster in a nation of 35 million – and growing – Hispanics. It operates the network that bears its name, a newly launched network called TeleFutura and the cable network Galavisión. Its roots go back four decades to San Antonio, and it owns and operates two stations in Dallas.

Univisión paid $150 million for the rights to telecast the 2002 World Cup, the 2006 World Cup and more than a dozen other soccer events.

Some marketing experts say the World Cup could put as much as $100 million in advertising revenue into Univisión's coffers.

That has meant big business for Texas, where several Spanish-language advertising agencies are concentrated. In the overall U.S. advertising market, meanwhile, spending is expected to decline, though not as sharply as it did in 2001.

So will Univisión remain the network of choice with the Mexican team on its way home?

Some say that Mexican fans will simply switch allegiance a team that also has an underdog image – maybe even the U.S. team.

"I think they are going to continue to register some impressive measures," says Victor Ornelas, who heads a Dallas advertising agency. "There is so much momentum, and passion is spreading. And the U.S. is doing so well."

In 1998, the United States flopped majestically, finishing 32 out of 32 teams. It meets Germany, a tough opponent, at 6:30 a.m. Friday. It is the first time since the World Cup's inaugural year of 1930 that the United States has advanced so far.

"There is no getting around that through the years, [Univisión has] established itself as a real force. I think they will maintain that dominance," Dr. Sedman said.

E-mail dsolis@dallasnews.com

[an error occurred while processing this directive]