With Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump heading toward what could be their eventual nomination as presidential candidates, the nation’s roughly 27.3 million Hispanic voters could very well be the deciding factor in who succeeds President Obama.

That’s what led HITN-TV and Azteca to both launch separate educational initiatives designed to aid Hispanics in understanding how the complicated U.S. electoral system works.

HITN officially launched Tu Momento 2016 on April 26. The programming initiative is centered on voter research that suggests Hispanics under-index as voter participants. According to the network, it is estimated that fewer than 50% of eligible Hispanics will vote in 2016. 

HITN divided its Tu Momento 2016 programming into segments that cover the primaries and caucuses; the electoral process; delegates and superdelegates; and the voter registration process and Election Day. The first of the three installments aired April 25, with the second installment airing April 30. A third installment airs May 15.

Additionally, HITN has made vignettes based on the three episodes and is making them available to educational institutions and organizations that can benefit from their use. The short videos can be accessed from a special microsite created for the 2016 election, tumomento2016.org.

“The 2016 election is an opportunity for Hispanics to demonstrate their strength as a community by influencing the outcome of the presidential contest,” HITN president and CEO Mike Nieves said in a statement. “Spanish-language media has a responsibility to deliver content to its audience so more Hispanics can participate in this important election. HITN understands this responsibility and is committed to helping Hispanics better understand on how the electoral process works.”

Azteca also understands the importance of voter education among U.S. Hispanics.

On April 25, the Mexican media giant’s U.S. arm launched a voter education and awareness drive in conjunction with the media advocacy group Voto Latino. A microsite — http://www.aztecaamerica.com/votolatino — includes a wide variety of news stories dealing with such subjects as the importance of voting, and why the Latino vote is so decisive.

Facebook and Twitter feeds tied to @AztecaUS can also be found on the microsite.

The efforts by HITN and Azteca follow extensive efforts by Telemundo to hold voter-registration drives across the country as part of its #YODECIDO initiative, and Univision’s Ya es Hora … Liberta tu voz voter-registration drive. The latter effort resulted in the successful registration of some 19,000 Latino voters at more than 100 voter drives hosted by Univision affiliates and O&Os nationwide.

Univision in March joined forces with Democracy Works for the TurboVote Challenge, aimed at increasing voter turnout to 80% by the year 2020. It’s a part of its “Univision Contigo Vote for Your America campaign, launched by Univision in February with the intent of providing “unique, nonpartisan and culturally-relevant resources to Hispanic citizens with a goal of mobilizing the 27 million eligible Hispanic voters in the 2016 general election.” 

Since the launch of Univision Contigo Vote for Your America, 92 nonpartisan local community events have attracted nearly 41,000 attendees. Univision also has hosted 12 phone banks for calls on citizenship and voting answered by local community organizations.

Ford believes its F-150 line of trucks is as strong as a boxer.

Now, thanks to a newly forged agreement with U.S. Spanish-language broadcast network Azteca, it hopes Latinos in the market for a new vehicle feel the same way while also learning about what it takes to jab and score a knockout punch.

On July 7, Azteca unveiled “Fuerza Ford,” the first installment in a 10-episode webisode series offering a tutorial for would-be boxers. Users can view each episode on Azteca’s website; the network’s Facebook and Twitter feeds are also updated with links for new installments of “Fuerza Ford” as they are made available for viewing.

Ford’s F-150 is featured prominently in every installment — as are Mexican professional boxers Giselle Leal, Edgar Juárez Calzada and Michel de la Vega Esparza Oteo.

The webisodes will offer expert boxing tips, provide an inside look into the fighters’ lifestyles and show how the boxers’ determination, passion and hard work “echo the spirit of a Ford owner,” Azteca said.

“Fuerza Ford” extends Ford’s relationship with Azteca; the automotive company has sponsored the network’s boxing series Box Azteca since 2010.

"Ford is a leader in content marketing for U.S. Latinos, which is why we're so honored to work together on the ‘Fuerza Ford’ boxing video campaign,” Azteca executive vice president of network sales and digital for the U.S. Hispanic market Court Stroud said.

Ford multicultural marketing manager David Rodriguez added: “Ford is proud to partner with Azteca to create a unique co-branded online hub as a source for Hispanic boxing lovers and newcomers alike to come and enjoy extended content beyond the matches in the ring – something we know the audience is passionate about.”

Coral Gables, Fla.-based Zubi Advertising, Ford’s longtime U.S. Hispanic agency of record, assisted in producing the webisodes. The sponsored-content initiative is a natural extension of Ford’s relationship with Azteca, Zubi associate media director Michael Roca told Hispanic Television Update in an interview.

“Given the passion of boxing among Ford’s key Hispanic audiences, the partnership with Azteca America over the years has concentrated on their robust boxing platform, across broadcast and digital channels,” he said. “In an effort to further engage audiences on a personal level, Ford, Zubi and Azteca came up with a concept of a custom digital series of boxing tutorial videos that organically fused in the F-150 ‘Fuerza’ messaging and vehicle attributes. The videos’ objective is to provide a source of ‘Boxing 101’ tips while showcasing the fuerza of the F-150 from a unique perspective.”