Univision Latest Presenter to Rejoin Upfronts Week in May

May’s upfronts week—which Covid-19 wiped out last year—is almost back at full capacity for 2021. Univision is the latest presenter to confirm that it will return to the annual tradition for TV advertisers and buyers. The company has set a virtual event for marketers on Tuesday, May 18—the same time that it would normally have been hosting buyers for its in-person gathering in New York. The company is following Disney, ViacomCBS, Discovery, WarnerMedia and Fox in returning to its usual May position. Additionally, ahead of the upfront, Univision will hold a separate virtual event called A New Vision at Univision on March 24. At that presentation, new CEO Wade Davis and new president of advertising sales and marketing Donna Speciale will explain their vision for the company to marketers. Meanwhile, Speciale, who joined as Univision ad sales chief last month, replacing Steve Mandala as part of an executive overhaul under Davis, has hired two of her former lieutenants from when she headed up WarnerMedia ad sales: Dan Riess, who will be evp and chief growth officer, and Dan Aversano, who will be svp of data, analytics and advanced advertising. Riess had exited WarnerMedia alongside Speciale in July 2019, while Aversano had remained with the company prior to leaving for Univision. “Univision is focused on aggressively evolving our ad sales strategy to better serve our clients, and we are excited to share with them our recent progress and layout the new vision for Univision," Speciale said in a statement. "To advance our efforts, I'm thrilled that Dan Riess and Dan Aversano will be joining Univision to be a part of my leadership team. Together with our broader team, they will play a critical role in transforming our business, optimizing our advanced advertising capabilities and leveraging data and analytics across the Univision ecosystem to accelerate growth for our clients.” After canceling its annual in-person upfront presentation last spring, the company held a virtual event in June and also conducted what it called a virtual “business update” in its usual afternoon time slot for advertisers, in what then-ad sales chief Steven Mandala said was an effort to provide a “sense of normalcy” during the pandemic. This will be the first Univision upfront overseen by Speciale, who recently spoke with Adweek about how she’ll shake up ad sales at the company. The upfronts week return began last Wednesday, when Adweek broke the news that Disney had become the first company to set its upfronts week return for 2021, as part of a three-pronged approach this year. Over the next two days, ViacomCBS, Discovery, WarnerMedia and Fox each announced that they would also be holding virtual events during upfronts week. NBCUniversal and The CW are now the only remaining major presenters who have yet to set their upfronts week plans. Keep track of the most up-to-date TV upfronts and NewFronts event information with Adweek’s 2021 calendar.

TV Upfronts

Univision Latest Presenter to Rejoin Upfronts Week in May

Plus, new ad sales chief Donna Speciale hires two of her former WarnerMedia lieutenants

Jason Lynch

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Jason Lynch