Corante

About this Author
CORANTE John Yunker is founder of Byte Level Research and author of the widely acclaimed book, Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies and editor of Global By Design.

He has covered the emerging field of Web globalization for half a decade and has published a wide range of reports dedicated to best practices in Web localization and internationalization.
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Going Global focuses on the risks and rewards of expanding into new geographic and cultural markets, from Web globalization to international marketing to global usability.
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September 14, 2004

A Cautionary Tale About the US Spanish Market

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Posted by John Yunker

The Wall Street Journal features an excellent article on one man's attempt to capitalize on the booming Hispanic market in the US. He purchased Spanish broadcast rights to the Boston (this is the year) Red Sox and has found it a lot harder to make ends meet than he expected. His company is the Spanish Beisbol Network and here's an article excerpt:

    "It looks so easy from the outside, but it's not," says Amaury Pi-Gonzalez, the Cuban-born voice of the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics, two teams that have stumbled in their Spanish broadcasting ventures.

    A combination of factors contributes to baseball's Spanish slump. Demographics play a role: Cities where Mexican immigrants dominate el barrio are more likely to listen to soccer than baseball.

There are countless outstanding Mexican restaurant here in San Diego and I have yet to enter one that has a San Diego Padres game (or any other baseball game) on the air. It's always a soccer match.

Sports are intricately tied to culture, which means any major shift usually requires a generational shift as well.

Now if the Red Sox make it into the playoffs, Spanish Beisbol Network will make it into the black. Prediction: This will be a profitable year for the Spanish Beisbol Network.

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