Looking to connect with an audience increasingly interested in the space, Univision Interactive Media, Inc. has forged a partnership with GameSpot that will provide content for a new Spanish-language video gaming site on Univision.com.
The new online and mobile site will give users access to complete videogame information, including Spanish-language content from GameSpot's award-winning Web site, from news and reviews, to editorials and videos on the top-selling games worldwide.
"[The] partnership enables GameSpot to extend its reach to one of the fastest-growing segments of the video gaming community," said Simon Whitcombe, vice president-games, CBS Interactive, which owns GameSpot, in announcing the deal. "Univision Interactive Media offers the largest and most comprehensive online network dedicated to U.S. Hispanics. By adding GameSpot content, Univision Interactive Media's Hispanic video gaming audience will now have access to award winning videogame content that will inform their purchase decisions."
Noted Univision Interactive Media president Kevin Conroy: "Our new video games site will be an industry-leading, fully comprehensive U.S. Spanish-language source for video game news, content and information. This launch is part of Univision's company-wide commitment to providing U.S. Hispanics with best-in-class, Spanish-language video gaming content not currently available to them anywhere else."
The April 1 announcement came as Univision shared results of a proprietary gaming research study it revealed at the MI6 Conference at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco.
Among the key findings: Hispanic survey respondents ranked 100% higher than non-Hispanic survey applicants when asked if they planned to purchase a videogame in the next 30 days; Hispanics demonstrated a greater propensity overall than non-Hispanic consumers for purchase of in-home and portable video game systems; and Latinos are not as price-sensitive, with Hispanic respondents indicating that they were 15% less likely than non-Hispanics to say cost was a primary reason for purchasing video games.
Perhaps more importantly, the study results suggested that Hispanics still represent fertile ground for video game growth, as many consider themselves beginners, Indeed, 50% of respondents positioned themselves at the ‘novice' level player, versus 30% of non-Hispanic players.
The quantitative research used a national survey administered to 524 Hispanic and non-Hispanics. The screening criterion included Hispanics18 to 54 who watched eight-plus hours of Spanish-language television weekly and non-Hispanic18 to 54 who watched English-language TV to the same degree.
