Fútbol and football – the U.S. variety – took a back seat to Major League Baseball for the week ended November 1. But soccer from across the globe certainly continued to draw a healthy audience.

La Liga Barcelona FC on Gol TV. Soccer from Italy and Spain on ESPN Deportes, along with a Major League Soccer playoff match and Fútbol de Inglaterra on Fox Sports en Español. Together, the soccer programming attracted a total of 547,000 Latino viewers ages 2 and older last week, according to cable TV viewership data for Hispanic households compiled by Nielsen.

"Monday Night Football" featuring the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins, broadcast by ESPN on October 26, delivered 790,000 Hispanic viewers over the age of 2. It was the top-rated English-language cable program among Latinos last week.

Fox Sports en Español aired the first four games of the 2009 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies. For Hispanic cable viewers, the four games outranked everything except the Barcelona match on Gol TV, drawing a combined audience of 942,000 viewers ages 2 and older for the four games. By comparison,  nearly 8.2 million Latinos tuned to the English-language telecasts aired by Fox.

Wrestling was also a sport worth its mettle in the Hispanic market. "Lucha Libre" and "Luche de Vuelta" on Galavisión - along with two installments of "WWE-RAW" on mun2 – brought in 190,000 Latinos over the age of 2 last week. WWE-Entertainment on USA attracted 681,000 Hispanics for its October 26 broadcast.

 

Among the other top programming last week:

“Reventón,” mun2’s review of the regional Mexican music scene, brought in 96,000 viewers and put the show among the top-10 Spanish-language cable programs last week.

Discovery en Español’s “Trabajo Sucio” consistently ranks among the top 25 daytime Spanish-language cable programs.  The network said last week that an increase in viewers made October its best month.

In key demographic groups – Hispanics over the age of 2 as well as 18 to 49 and 18 to 34 – Discovery en Español ranked No. 2 behind Galavisión.

Several shows saw a double-digit percentage gains in viewers last month: “Pesadilla Animal,” up 50 percent; “Destruído en Segundos,” up 163 percent; “A Prueba de Todo,” up 66 percent; “Hora Extraordinaria,” up 44 percent; and “Discovery Presenta,” up 36 percent.

Six installments of George López’s brand of comedy on Nick at Night bought out more than 3.8 million viewers last week, placing it among the top 25 English-language cable programs watched by Hispanics ages 2 and older.

However, SpongeBob and iCarly on Nickelodeon and Teen Titans on Toon continue to be big favorites for weekend fare among Hispanics.

Galavisión continues to dominate Spanish-language cable programming on weekends and in weekday prime-time. It had nine programs among the top 25 last week, including “Bienvenidos,” “Casate y Verás,” and “Las Más Picudas.”

 

Source: The Nielsen Company.