It’s a significant week for Telemundo. The network is televising the FIFA Women’s World Cup, but more germane to TVNewser, it is also co-hosting the first Democratic primary debate of the 2020 election cycle, which takes place tonight and tomorrow in the network’s hometown of Miami.
This will be the first time that a Spanish language network has co-hosted a U.S. presidential primary debate, joining fellow NBCU news outlets NBC News and MSNBC as hosts.
We spoke with Telemundo svp of digital Romina Rosado last week to learn more about the network’s overall strategy for digital news coverage, not just when it comes to this week’s festivities, but also for the entire 2020 presidential election cycle.
The first point she stressed to us: Hispanic America is young and it is tech-savvy.
Rosado told us about a study that was done at around the time of last year’s midterms which found that 65% of eligible Latino voters are under the age of 44—and for that demo, the majority of their Spanish-language content consumption occurs on digital, not linear.
Rosado’s job is to make sure the under-44 set is engaging with Noticias Telemundo before and after the 6:30 p.m. Noticiero Telemundo nightly newscast, anchored by José Díaz-Balart.
Basically 23 1/2 hours per day, which is no small task.
Right now, the majority of Noticias Telemundo digital content consumption is happening on mobile, and Rosado says she is really focused on building the brand’s voice on Twitter. “I think that the political and news conversation has really been happening on Twitter, especially in the last four years,” said Rosado.
The Telemundo executive also said Instagram is a platform the network is using “for a different type of storytelling,” and that YouTube “is really big business for the company, and and we have a large and loyal user base.”
When it comes to 2020, Rosado’s role going forward is to ensure that Telemundo is in the conversation 24/7.
If anyone knows how to engage young news consumers on digital, it’s Rosado. She arrived at Telemundo only nine months ago after spending six years at E!, where she was tasked with overseeing news and branded content creation for E! News.
But what about the present? How will Telemundo be covering tonight and tomorrow’s debates from a digital standpoint?
Yes, they’ll be live-tweeting them in Spanish, but in a bit of a twist, Noticias Telemundo will also send out some English language tweets “because we are recognizing that while our audience consumes our content in Spanish, sometimes in their social expressions, they tend to switch languages,” said Rosado.
They’re also making sure its digital team is able to ensure its content reaches Twitter influencers so that they can amplify the video.
A successful example of this transpired during the last State of the Union. While watching the address, a Noticias Telemundo producer noticed that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was wearing a pin with the face of a girl who died in detention during the family separation crisis. “She discovered that and immediately created a digital video and got it out within 15 minutes, and it became the most viral tweet in Telemundo history because AOC re-tweeted it and then a lot of people jumped on it,” Rosado recalled.
NoticiasTelemundo.com will live-blog and provide real-time fact-checking by PolitiFact during the debate. Additionally, the network will stream the debates live and in full on: NoticiasTelemundo.com, on mobile and OTT apps, as well as on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
“During the commercial break, we’re doing some second-screen programming that is very much focused on the social conversation, what you’re not seeing on TV right now, and what’s happening,” said Rosado.
On the linear side, beginning today, the network’s morning show Un Nuevo Día will air at 7 a.m. ET, Noticias Telemundo Noon at 12:30 p.m. ET, both from their usual home at Telemundo Center.
The network’s debate pre-show on today and tomorrow will begin at 8:55 p.m. ET with more analysis after.
