Univisión
squeezes English-language networks -
Univisión hopes to translate its highest ratings ever into
advertising dollars.
BY CHRISTINA HOAG
Published: May 15, 2005
Miami Herald
In the realm of Spanish-language television,
the ratings battle has traditionally been between longtime heavyweight
Univisión and Telemundo, the perennial underdog.
But these days Univisión no longer brandishes
its Nielsen numbers at Telemundo. It has moved up to take the
role of David fighting the top national networks.
Yes, that's the alphabet soup of English-language
stalwarts that Univisión President and Chief Operating
Officer Ray Rodriguez dubs ``the Big Four.''
''Univisión is no longer looking up
to the Big Four networks,'' Rodriguez told shareholders at last
Wednesday's annual meeting. ``Univisión is firmly established
as a player in that league.''
The Los Angeles-based company is the fifth
most watched network in the country among 18- to 34-year-olds
-- behind Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS -- delivering 1.425 million prime-time
viewers from September to April, according to Nielsen Media Research.
That's just 470,000 pairs of similarly-aged
eyeballs fewer than No. 4 network CBS and 1.1 million ahead of
Telemundo, which ranked No. 15 on the list, according to Nielsen.
The numbers have pumped Univisión executives
full of brio as they head into the crucially important ''upfronts''
this week, when networks unveil their programming plans for the
upcoming fall season to advertisers with the goal of preselling
commercial time.
''Revenue really does follow ratings,'' said
Dennis McCauley, co-president of network sales. ``We're going
into the English-language marketplace and talk to them about where
the ratings shift has been. We think we can capture a share of
the market from English-language TV and Spanish-language.''
Moreover, ratings show that Univisión's
prime-time viewership is consistently outpacing at least one of
the four English-language networks.
On 137 nights, more 18 to 34 year-olds tuned
in to Univisión than to one of the top four networks, and
on 19 nights, Univisión was the No. 1 national network
among that demographic.
Ratings sensations included smash hit telenovelas
Amor Real and Rubí, plus glitzy music awards show Premio
Lo Nuestro.
Media buyers said the numbers put Univision
into a new competitive sphere -- and with prices estimated at
about 30 percent less than the English-language networks.
''If you're buying general market, you need
to consider Univisión,'' said Daniel Flynn Huerta, managing
director of Austin, Texas, media buyer, Amistad Media Group. ``It's
only a couple hundred thousand [viewers] less than CBS.''
ALTERNATIVE
At its upfront presentation on Wednesday, Univisión
is expected to stick to its ''counterprogramming'' strategy, which
entails offering alternative types of shows in the same time slots
on its two broadcast networks, Univisión and TeleFutura,
and cable network Galavisión.
The goal is to thus capture the majority of
Hispanic viewers at any one time. The three networks heavily promote
shows on their sister channels.
Networks commonly sell about 75 percent of
their inventory in the upfronts. For Univisión, that translates
into about $1 billion worth of sales, according to analysts' estimates,
or the the bulk of the total $3.7 billion Hispanic advertising
market.
''Univisión gets the lion's share of
the audience and therefore gets the lion's share of the investment,''
said Jorge Percovich, executive vice president and managing director
of MPG Diversity, media buying agency. ``It offers the best mix
of programming to reach the target.''
Telemundo and newcomer Azteca América
are also expected to see more green in this upfront.
Spanish-language TV overall should see a 9.5
percent boost in ad dollars this year, far outpacing the 2.9 percent
hop predicted for mainstream networks, projected New York research
firm TNS Media Intelligence.
The increased advertising spending comes as
Spanish-language TV viewership is up across the board -- by 16
percent in the 18- to 49-year-old age range and by almost 25 percent
among 18- to 34-year-olds, according to Nielsen.
A slice of that gain can be traced to the expanding
Spanish-speaking population, via immigration and intergenerational
growth, and another chunk to bilingual viewers lured by the broader
array of programs now available in Spanish, experts say.
''Most Hispanics speak some English and watch
some English TV. But some of those English TV hours are moving
back to Spanish,'' said Carlos Santiago, chief executive of researcher
Santiago Solutions Group. ``There are so many more interesting
programs now, like reality shows, new types of shows beyond the
novelas.''
A weightier reason, analysts say, may simply
be the slip in popularity of the traditional networks.
Nielsen reports that this season the English
broadcast channels have lost 0.4 percent of their 18- to 49-year-old
viewers, while English-language cable is up 6.1 percent.
FRAGMENTED
''It's easier to avoid the mainstream networks.
The audience has really been fragmented by cable and ethic channels,''
said Gary B. Arlen, president of Arlen Communications, a TV industry
consultant. ``Specialty networks like Univisión have taken
advantage of that.''
The challenge Univisión faces now is
getting advertisers to latch onto the skyrocketing ratings and
charging commensurate prices.
''The ratings gain has not translated into
improved [advertising] revenue gains,'' said Phil Remek, senior
equity analyst for Guzman & Co. in Coral Gables.
He estimated that Univisión charges
about a third less than English-language networks for its commercial
time while its portfolio of clients includes only half of the
nation's top 300 TV advertisers.
THE GAP
That gap, Remek said, means there's plenty
of upside to goosing the company's future cash flow, but to reel
in those advertisers Univisión must overcome hard-held
perceptions by some marketing chieftains that Hispanics do not
have disposable income.
McCauley said advertisers are dribbling in
faster and easier in recent years -- the financial sector is now
a firm and fast client for example, but some big-spending industries,
such as pharmaceuticals, remain an elusive target.
''For some reason we've been unable to figure
out, they've been very slow,'' he said.
In this upfront, the network hopes to seduce
prospective clients with not only its rosy ratings, but also with
its ''cross-platform'' packages, which involve buying a combination
of commercial time on Univisión, TeleFutura, Galavisión,
60-plus radio stations and website.
Univisión also is stepping up efforts
to meet advertiser clamor for product placement.
It has been stymied from putting products directly
into shows because most of its prime-time programs come prepackaged
from Latin American producers Televisa and Venevision. But Univisión
is getting creative,by offering select clients promotional tie-ins
with shows.
