TelevisaUnivision Adds Super Bowl Broadcast to Upfront Pitch

It’s been a busy time for TelevisaUnivision, completing its first full year as a combined company and rolling out a plethora of content and products, including fast-growing streamer Vix. For the company, 2022 was about transformation, and 2023 is focused on differentiation, ad sales chief Donna Speciale told Adweek ahead of TelevisaUnivision's Tuesday morning upfront week presentation in New York. “Our audience is just such a powerhouse. It has been growing, and clients are now realizing the potential and the growth potential of it, building their business and driving growth in this crowded ecosystem,” Speciale said. Adweek Podcast: Why HHM Is More Than Translating Ad Copy Into Spanish Based on continually increasing demand, TelevisaUnivision left the Javits Center for new venue Pier 36 this year. The company also finds itself relatively unaffected by the ongoing writers strike, as most of its content is produced in Mexico. Unlike some other upfront events this week which will forgo talent, TelevisaUnivision brought celebrities on stage, and picketers skipped the morning presentation, instead opting to head to ABC’s The View. Demand is strong Just ahead of the 2022 upfront, the Spanish-language company launched its two-tiered global streaming service, Vix, which has now surpassed 30 million monthly active users, the company announced during today’s presentation. But though many media companies are taking a streaming-first strategy for the upfront, TelevisaUnivision is reminding audiences that linear is just as important and demand has been strong in scatter for both linear and streaming. Showcasing the strength of its linear offering, the company is partnering with the NFL and CBS Sports to televise Super Bowl 58 in Spanish in 2024, TelevisaUnivision's first-ever national broadcast of an NFL game. “Linear is really, really important to us,” Speciale told Adweek. “The content on Vix and on our broadcast networks are very distinct, which is very different than what goes on in some of the other companies. We try to really have very distinct content on all the platforms, which obviously helps to extend our reach and bring in new viewers.” TelevisaUnivision Changes Upfront Venue to Meet Demand for 2023 Event Since Speciale took the stage in 2022, TelevisaUnivision added more than 110 new brands to its portfolio, and now more than 150 clients are activating against the company’s Hispanic household data graph. During last year’s upfront, the graph covered 85% of U.S. Hispanic households. Now, it reaches nearly 100%. “The reason that I talk about measurement is that we’ve been so undercounted and underrepresented for decades. Now, with a lot of the conversations that are going on with big data, we need to lean in,” said Speciale. The company will be utilizing Nielsen’s Big Data Plus panel solution, which Speciale believes is a big step for equity in the industry. “There’s finally a currency where Hispanics and their media behaviors are accurately measured,” Speciale said during Tuesday’s presentation. CMOs from Hyundai, Wells Fargo, Expedia and Fetch appeared in a pre-recorded video discussing their partnerships with TelevisaUnivision and leaning into the Hispanic audience, as well as the business results. “I can talk until I’m blue in the face, but when marketers hear from other marketers, it resonates a lot stronger,” said Speciale. New content incoming In addition to promoting Vix's growth, Pierluigi Gazzolo, CEO of the streaming service, said that 80% of the consumption goes to content that no other media company has. “Importantly, 63% of users on Vix are incremental to the massive audience we serve on linear, which means greater cross-platform reach for all of you,” said Gazzolo. And that content is growing as well. On Vix, Ilia Calderon will host the new true crime series Señales Del Crimen, and Angelique Boyer and Sebastian Rulli will star in El Extraño Retorno de Diana Salazar, an adaptation of the popular telenovela. And as part of a first-look deal with Eugenio Derbez, Vix is developing new series Circo Gomez. TUDN and TelevisaUnivision will also broadcast the 48th edition of Copa America, hosted in the U.S. for the second time in history. Never dancing around the issues While marketers may still be talking about Speciale's iconic dance moves at last year’s upfront, they’ll have something new to chatter about this year. Speciale traveled to Mexico City to train and play soccer with all-stars from the Mexican league and scrimmaged with the women’s team against the men’s team. She then headed to Azteca Stadium for a match and spent time with the announcers, including her own “Gooooooool” call—and it was all captured on video. “I’m learning just as much as everybody, and all I do is educate, educate, educate our clients, and this was a way to show them the bit, and have fun with it, and bring it to life,” said Speciale.

TV Upfronts

TelevisaUnivision Adds Super Bowl Broadcast to Upfronts Pitch

Spanish-language streaming service Vix passed 30 million monthly active users

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Mollie Cahillane