Isiah Pacheco of the Kansas City Chiefs scored a one-yard touchdown during the third quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium on February 12, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona.
Earlier this month, a well-known musician attended a Kansas City Chiefs game as part of the National Football League’s (NFL) ongoing efforts to attract a new audience. Unlike previous occasions where pop star Taylor Swift had been seen supporting Travis Kelce at Kansas City games, this time it was Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee, famous for tracks like “Gasolina” and “Rompe.” Daddy Yankee attended a Monday Night Football game at Arrowhead Stadium and spent some time with Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco, who allowed the rapper to try on his two Super Bowl rings. This interaction occurred as part of the NFL’s “Por La Cultura” campaign, now in its fourth year, which is integral to the league’s initiative to expand its Latino and Spanish-speaking audience.
Despite its robust television ratings and status as a dominant sport in terms of viewership on both traditional television and streaming platforms, the NFL is seeking further expansion both domestically and internationally. A crucial element of this growth strategy is increasing Hispanic viewership, as confirmed by league and media representatives speaking with CNBC.
Olek Loewenstein, global president of sports at TelevisaUnivision, mentioned that with the NFL’s current success, there is limited room for growth within the existing American English-speaking demographic. The Hispanic population is one of the largest and fastest-growing, as well as one of the younger demographics in the U.S., he noted.
Marissa Solis, senior vice president of global brand and consumer marketing at the NFL, highlighted that the league’s growth strategy focuses on targeting three main groups: viewers 35 and younger, of whom a significant proportion are Latino; women; and Latinos. Solis stressed that without the Latino audience, it is mathematically impossible for the league to grow. This audience is crucial for both domestic and global growth due to the extensive cross-border connections and the transcendent nature of fandom.
According to Loewenstein, Hispanic audiences in the U.S. tend to favor soccer, followed by baseball and boxing. Meanwhile, the NFL is working on fortifying its brand in the global market, which is predominantly ruled by soccer and other sports. He expressed optimism that the NFL is well-positioned to expand rapidly among Hispanic fans.
As the season began, the NFL extended its outreach to non-Spanish-speaking Latino audiences by hosting a game in Brazil for the first time, bringing more games to international venues. The game, streamed exclusively on Comcast’s Peacock, became the platform’s second-most-watched live event after an NFL postseason game earlier in the year. Solis noted that four years ago, at the inception of the “Por La Cultura” campaign, about 31 million U.S. Latinos were identified as NFL fans, a number that has now increased to 40 million.
The campaign has not only focused on the expressions of fandom within the Latino community and the personal stories of players like Pacheco and New England Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez but also on expanding broadcasts in Spanish. The NFL has made over 75 Spanish-language broadcasts available this season, which Solis claims have contributed significantly to fandom growth.
Paramount Global’s CBS aired the Super Bowl featuring the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs but licensed the U.S. and Mexican Spanish broadcast rights to TelevisaUnivision due to its lack of a Spanish-language counterpart. TelevisaUnivision’s over-the-air broadcast network set records with its Spanish broadcast of the Super Bowl, averaging 2.3 million viewers, the largest audience for a Spanish language Super Bowl telecast. However, this was only a small fraction of the total 123.4 million viewers for the 2024 Super Bowl. Surprisingly, 70% of those who watched the Super Bowl hadn’t viewed any other playoff games that year, according to Lowenstein.
The first Spanish broadcast of the Super Bowl occurred in 2015 on Fox Deportes cable network. In 2022, NBCUniversal’s Telemundo aired the Super Bowl for the first time on an over-the-air broadcast network in Spanish. As the NFL prioritizes expanding broadcast availability, Spanish broadcasts have gained importance even though they aren’t part of the NFL’s media rights agreements.
This development was underscored when Fox Deportes and Telemundo announced both networks would air the Super Bowl in February, providing the most extensive Spanish-language distribution of the Super Bowl in U.S. history, with each network producing its own broadcast. Since broadcasting the Super Bowl in 2022, Telemundo has maintained “significant growth in viewership” of the NFL, stated Joaquin Duro, executive vice president of sports at NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. Telemundo provides Spanish broadcasts of “Sunday Night Football” on both television and its streaming platform Peacock, which has been particularly successful in attracting younger, tech-savvy viewers.
Moreover, like the NFL, Telemundo Deportes emphasizes the narratives of Hispanic players and has increased its coverage of NFL events with a presence at games and more extensive interviews. Rolando Cantú, a former NFL player and analyst for “TNF en Español” and Telemundo Deportes’ “Sunday Night Football,” expressed enthusiasm about the NFL’s evolution and expansion.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.
