Goooooooaaaallll!!! KMEX Scores One : World Cup ’90
Spanish-language TV station KMEX Channel 34 has scored a goal of its own with its coverage of the 1990 World Cup soccer action:
High ratings.
KMEX research manager Maureen Schultz said that the station’s audience has gone up 25-50% during time periods with soccer games since the tournament began on June 8.
“I’m very pleased with the numbers,” said General Manager Emilio Nicolas. “People who have an interest in soccer, no matter how minute, no matter what language they speak, are tuning into the World Cup on KMEX.”
The station drew some of its biggest ratings of the tournament last weekend. In a 7:30 a.m. game between soccer powerhouses Argentina and Brazil on Sunday, KMEX scored a 3.2 in the Arbitron ratings, representing 12% of all the people watching television at that time. The audience was larger than for any other program between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m. except the Michigan 400 on KCBS Channel 2, which got a 3.7 rating.
KMEX estimated that 331,800 local viewers tuned in for that game, and another 424,200 watched Germany beat the Netherlands 2-1 at noon. Normally, weekend soccer games on KMEX are seen by less than 100,000 viewers.
KMEX, part of the Univision network, is broadcasting 41 games and a total of more than 100 hours of soccer during the once-every-four-years Copa Mundial. The station will air all remaining games, including the finals on July 8. Today, the last two second round games are on at 7:30 and 11:30 a.m.
The local ratings surge began with the first game between Argentina and Cameroon on June 8 at 9 a.m., when KMEX drew a 3.9 rating (with each point representing about 49,000 local homes), and a 15% share. The usual fare for that time slot is a movie that draws only a .9 rating.
Since the games are carried live from Italy, and often end up on TV during early morning hours, Schultz wasn’t sure if people would watch. “But I was happily surprised. People are setting their alarm clocks to wake up early for games. And in restaurants around the city, I’ve seen the TV kept on KMEX during lunch,” she said.
Schultz predicts the numbers will get better as World Cup action heats up, and there are fewer games and better teams. “This kind of country-versus-country thing stirs up feelings. Hopefully, the people we picked up at the beginning of the tournament will stay with us,” she said.
But general manager Nicolas is quick to point out that ratings are not all he’s interested in. He’s proud to bring the game to his viewers, the Los Angeles Latino community full of soccer fans. “It’s an important cultural event in our community, and it has become a tradition for us to present the World Cup,” he said. So in addition to getting good numbers, the cup is an image builder for KMEX, Nicolas explained.
Besides catering to its regular viewers, KMEX has picked up a new group of non-Spanish-speaking followers for the soccer telecasts. According to Schultz, the station’s normal viewership is 95% Spanish speaking. She predicts that for this World Cup, about 35% of the audience will be non-Spanish speaking.
Why are these non-Latino soccer lovers choosing KMEX, where they cannot understand the commentary, over the TNT cable channel, which is carrying about 24 of the games and does its coverage in English?
“We don’t break that major taboo, which is breaking for a commercial during play,” Nicolas explained. “That establishes bad will with soccer fans.”
Unlike football and basketball, which are full of time-outs, the action in soccer doesn’t normally stop except at halftime. So when TNT cuts to a commercial, it leaves the action. One pitch for beer and the TV audience can miss a major play--maybe even a goal.
The Univision stations instead use superimposed graphics during the action. An ad for Honda or Budweiser will appear in the corner of the screen without interrupting play.
An Arbitron telephone survey, paid for by KMEX, showed that five times as many local viewers are watching the World Cup games on KMEX than on TNT. It found that KMEX’s broadcast of the match between the United States and Italy on June 14 drew 23% of all those watching television, while TNT was seen by only 5%.
Don McGuire, TNT’s executive producer of the World Cup, said that he is not miffed that Univision stations like KMEX might be stealing his audience.
“Yeah, I’d like to have the whole audience. But we have no other opportunity but to run commercials,” he said. “Our viewers may not like it, but I think they understand it. The purists will watch Univision.”
He said that he is not disappointed with TNT’s ratings. “I’m getting exactly what I expected,” he said.
TNT will probably lose money on the soccer coverage, which cost $10 million for rights and production, McGuire said. Univision, which paid about $4 million for the Spanish-language rights, will make a small profit, said Nicolas.
At KMEX, Nicolas noted that the carry-over to other shows has been good. The local newscasts and the weekly soccer wrap-up shows are experiencing higher-than-average ratings, because people are hungry for soccer information.
The station does not plan to make efforts to keep the non-Latino viewers it has picked up during the games. “We love to have them,” said Nicolas. “But we’re not here to serve them.”
