ESPN
Deportes

Lino Garcia, General Manager, ESPN Deportes

#Hashtag of the year for 2012:
#Euro2012. The Euro 2012 Championship was a key driver to the successful year we had for ESPN Deportes; through the tournament we had more than 5 million people tuning into our live coverage. In 2012, we delivered our highest-rated event (Euro 2012), month (June) and quarter (April-June), and our most-watched fiscal year. We are very proud of the successful coverage across all of our platforms; it underscored the value of sports in the Hispanic market, and proved our commitment to serving fans with content they want to consume.

#Hashtag of the year for 2013:
#Baseball. ESPN Deportes will offer the most comprehensive Spanish-language coverage of baseball this year with important international tournaments prior to the MLB season as well as more MLB games through every week during the season.

A big prediction for your property in 2013:
Hispanics continue to increase their consumption across digital platforms, so our big prediction in the coming year is that we’ll continue to push the limits in the mobile and online space by stimulating the growth of ESPN Deportes+, ESPN Deportes Mobile and our digital video offerings.
By Gabriela Nunez[/box]

Editor’s Note: With this multi-week series — the Front Row Forward/Rewind, 2013/2012 — ESPN’s Communications Department takes the pulse of content executives throughout ESPN for their views on what’s ahead across ESPN for 2013 and some of what transpired in 2012. The snapshots provide a look at where ESPN has been, where it’s going and how it plans on getting there.

College basketball

Best off camera moment:
Dick Vitale having his picture taken with Jay-Z for his Twitter account at the Legends Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Dick’s energy and ability to feel comfortable in every setting never ceases to amaze me. You never know who he’ll be pictured with next on his Twitter feed (@DickieV).

Favorite segment or interview:
We had some great fun with our “Ask Bilas” segments on-site during the entire Georgia-Kentucky game last March. Jay Bilas has been able to really embrace Twitter (@JayBilas) to engage with fans and share his incredible depth of knowledge.

#Hashtag of the year for 2013:
#ZAGSFINAL4. I think the majority opinion among ESPN’s analysts is this is the year for Gonzaga. The Zags will follow in Butler’s footsteps and reach the Final Four.

New Year’s resolution for College Basketball unit:
With the depth and breadth of our conference matchups, we have a tremendous opportunity to make the conference season — the “Journey To the Tourney” — memorable. I think the Duke-NC State game this Saturday (ESPN, 12 p.m. ET) is an example. You look at the leagues across the country and you see several teams in each conference who could wind up on top. It could be parity, but I’m more of the thinking that the talent level continues to rise in the college game. We’re fortunate that we can bring these games to our fans and really tell the story of the teams we’ll all be following come NCAA Tournament time. If you want to be the most-informed bracket-maker, our coverage throughout the year will give you that leg up on your competition.

What makes your group a family:
It’s the same thing that makes all of ESPN a family: talented, devoted people with unique strengths all coming together as one to serve sports fans the best way we know how. It doesn’t matter if its Dickie V or a production assistant working here in Bristol, we are all invested in college basketball and continuing to show what it is that makes the game so special to so many.

Forward/Rewind logo by Samantha Baron