Donna Speciale Won't Dance Around the Importance of Hispanic Media at Univision Upfront

Following upfront week, Adweek is sitting down for postmortems with all the ad sales chiefs who presented. Following previous chats with NBCU’s Linda Yaccarino and Fox Corp.’s Marianne Gambelli, next up, we have TelevisaUnivision's president of U.S. advertising sales and marketing, Donna Speciale. Following Univision and Televisa's merger last January, this was the first upfront event for the Spanish-language media and content company. Unlike other upfront presenters, according to Speciale, TelevisaUnivision was responsible for educating marketers about the Hispanic market, while also explaining the opportunities with both linear, which grew 7% across core TV networks—and its Vix streaming service. And she would go to any lengths to drive those messages home, even dancing salsa during the event to show the importance of having a good partner. While Speciale cut a rug onstage May 17 at the Javits Center, she refused to dance around any issue during her conversation with Adweek, including upfront negotiations, alternative currencies and exactly how long it took to put together her salsa routine. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Adweek: This is the first upfront as TelevisaUnivision. What can you tell us about how it came together? What feedback have you gotten?Speciale: Tuesday was a really special day for TelevisaUnivision. It was our first live event. I know everybody was in person for the first time, but it was our first event as a combined company, which was important for us to come together. Our upfront is somewhat unique from all the other media companies, because we're also talking about our audience and the Hispanic community. So our message is very different. But the feedback I have been getting has just been phenomenal. We had standing room only. The room covered 1,300-1,400 people—and we had at least 100 plus people standing. I felt terrible. So we were giving the clients seats—and my employees were in the back. Everybody just said the messaging was unbelievable. It was concise. It was a great story. We showed a lot of our content. People love that the talent was there. It was obviously very important to talk about our streaming service, but the fact that we are the only media company that has been growing—and having such a great linear story in combination with our streaming story—and that it's all additive. Univision Leans Into Streaming and Linear in First Upfront Since Televisa Merger So I have to ask you about the salsa dancing. Whose idea was it, and how did it come together?When I first got here, you get to know people, and I got to tell the team a little bit about myself. I told them I was a dancer and I love to dance—if I could do something else, that would be what it is. So they knew that. But my team had asked me whether I would consider dancing. One of the things we wanted to show that we felt was important was partnerships. For us, partnership and working with the clients are hand-in-hand—and the connection. It's not just a spots and dots buy. We don't work like that with our clients. It's such a combined partnership. How could we show it? That was the whole thing. How could we show how important collaboration and team effort and trusting a partner are? And they said, "Would you do it?" I didn't know what they meant initially when they said, "Would you dance?" But I put myself in their hands—and we went down to Miami about a month before the show. We laid out a full day. I met with the producers and they had it in their minds. They did not know how well I could dance. I don't think they thought it was going to take on the thing that it did. They didn't think I was going to be getting lifted. I'm quite sure I didn't either. So I went for it. And it was pretty good. I learned it all in literally two to three hours. Life's too short. I wanted to have fun. I wanted to do it in a very light-hearted way to make the point of how important trust was in partnership. And I think we did that.Donna Speciale on her salsa dance routine What? I think it took my fiancée two to three days to teach me basic salsa moves. Was it intimidating?You go to Miami—and they know how to dance. So it was a little intimidating, but they were so good. I know we're talking about partnerships, but Juan Carlos was unbelievable. He took the time. We did it together. He was very clear, concise. And I trusted him. The battle for me was trusting him and jumping on his shoulder and then bending. I'm not 20 anymore, so I wasn't sure what was going to be quite working. But it was great. Life's too short. I wanted to have fun. I wanted to do it in a very light-hearted way to make the point of how important trust was in partnership. And I think we did that. Yeah, I'd say so. You mentioned your priorities a little already—and it seems like educating clients about the Hispanic market was a major one.The opening with Kimberly Gomez was very important because we needed to bring the Hispanic market to what it really is. And so doing that opening started out directly. And then it was just really exposing. A lot of people are talking about it, but sometimes I feel like it's somewhat of a checkbox. Being 20% of the population now and growing, it's not an audience that you can [ignore]. Long-term, you're not going to grow your business—and that's really what the goal was. In a very elegant storytelling way, share who this audience is, what they bring to the party, their economic power, who they are, this population and how we can help them grow their business and make it simple for them. I think sometimes it looks overwhelming with all those capabilities. Now, add on our huge transformation. And us now being TelevisaUnivision, a global entity and a powerhouse—add it to the investment that we're doing in our linear business, which you see in our ratings growth—and bringing the streaming service to the forefront, which becomes additive to our current audience. And now we're a force to be reckoned with. What can you say about your efforts to bring in new brands and categories?I have a whole team that literally goes by category to the clients and brings our insights teams that I talked about on stage—and help educate them on the category. This is what's going on in the category. The purchase power that they have. A lot of people don't realize that it's very family-oriented unity. A lot of decision-making is made with family. It's not necessarily an individual decision. So there's a lot of insights that we kind of share that it's just very eye-opening for clients. But we have to do it on a category-by-category basis because it's not a one size fits all. An auto conversation is different than a telephone conversation. You talked about linear—and you mentioned your streaming platform, Vix and Vix+. How do they both factor into upfront negotiations?They're both huge priorities for us. Given the unbelievable genres, everything that was built on, it's adding to our reach. So again, if you're coming to and you want to get into this Hispanic audience and make a difference, you're really not one or the other. You should be doing both because it's added reach. Streaming lends itself to younger audiences. We're on average 14, 15 years younger than the general market, so we're already younger, even on our linear business—but we're going to hone in on the 34-year-old a little bit stronger on streaming. To me, you've got to do both. And it's where the consumer behavior is. It's really trying to follow that consumer behavior—and don't forget our content on linear is consumed very differently than the general market. Our novellas are stories and they're on five days a week. So we've been binging. It's not like appointment TV, where you watch must-see TV on Thursday at 9 and then you wait a week. It is storytelling five days a week. Which is why more than 90% of our content on linear is original, live. With Nielsen losing accreditation, are there any currencies you're excited about? What are you transacting on this year?I think it's still in the infancy stage. I did talk about on-stage representation. So I have been very vocal and making sure that the representation with any of these currencies, whether it's LiveRamp, VideoAmp, 605, they've all been talking to us about their datasets and making sure that they are represented, but I will deal with any third party vendors that the clients want us to. If they want us to test with one, we'll test with that. I don't think anybody has all the answers. But I will do right now what our clients want us to do in testing to see which is resonating most. I do believe long-term it's not going to be in the clients' best interest to have too many currencies. I think what we did this week is that TelevisaUnivision is basically now looked at as a media company equal to all the other media companies in the marketplace.Donna Speciale What can you tell us about early negotiations?Negotiations, they're every day. I mean, we've been talking about upfronts for a while now. I think the marketplace is buzzing. I will tell you everybody was really happy to be in person. I do think it helped seeing everybody live. We all realized we need it, a little bit more personal time—and I think everybody missed it. So I think that was great. I do think that in the marketplace, everybody's talking now, gathering budgets and having conversations. It'll take its course between now and throughout June. What TelevisaUnivision’s New Global Spanish-Language Streamer Means for Marketers What message do you want marketers to take away from the presentation?I was so happy about it. I think what we did this week is that TelevisaUnivision is basically now looked at as a media company equal to all the other media companies in the marketplace. And it's not any Hispanic company. It is a media company with huge growth potential.