NFL to Blitz Latinos at Super Bowl

Not content with its place as the biggest U.S. sporting event of the year, the National Football League wants to make the Super Bowl the most-watched sports event among Hispanics.

The NFL is gearing up to launch a series of Latino-targeted marketing efforts around Feb. 7's Super Bowl XLIV with music and sports events featuring Latin celebrities, and educational and informative programs at the grass-roots level. CBS will televise this year's game from Miami's Dolphin Stadium.

At stake is a growing viewership and a potential gold mine derived from Hispanic-targeted events, sponsorships and advertising.

The NFL is gaining momentum among Hispanic fans: according to the league, 2009 regular-season game telecasts averaged 1.1 million Hispanic viewers, the largest audience since 2003. (That year, NFL games averaged 780,000 Hispanic viewers.)

In addition, Hispanic viewers accounted for 6.7% of the NFL's total viewing audience, with five games averaging more than 2 million Hispanic viewers, the most ever for one season.

"We are thrilled with the way this season has been going from a Hispanic fan perspective," said NFL vice president of fan strategy and marketing Peter O'Reilly. "But the growth is not limited to TV. We are seen growing engagement across all platforms, including online, radio and print."

Also according to the NFL, overall traffic to NFLatino.com, a site powered by Univision.com, has grown 80% this season over the 2008-09. READ FULL STORY