Univision | Principles & Practices

by Juan Alvarez

(Photo courtesy of Univision Corporate website) [4]

605 3rd Ave.
New York, NY, 10158 United States
(212) 455-5200

http://corporate.univision.com

http://www.univision.com/

Key Figures

(Picture Courtesy of Univision Corporate Website) [1]

Randy Falco

Joined Univision Communications in June 2011 as President and Chief Executive Officer. Before joining the company he was Chairman and CEO of AOL. Since his arrival, Univision has added three new cable networks and steadily increased its net revenue. [1]

Cesar Conde
(Picture Courtesy of Univision Corporate Website)[1]

Cesar Conde

Mr. Conde is president of the Univision Networks and is responsible for every television network including Univision Network, Unimas and Univision Cable Network. He is also responsible for the Univision Studios which were established in 2009. He previously served as Executive Vice President of Univision Communications. [1]

Andrew W. Hobson
(Picture Courtesy of Univision Corporate Website)[1]

Andrew W. Hobson

Joined Univision Communications in 1993 as Executive Vice President of Univision Network. In 2007 he became Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Univision Communications playing a vital role in the company’s recent financial growth. [1]

Profile

Univision Communications is the leading spanish broadcaster in America with a pedigree of television, radio and interactive media operations. The company’s primary audience are Latin American families in the United States. Univision Communications runs the top-rated Univision Network, as well as sister networks UniMas and Galavision. In addition, the company owns and operates about 60 local TV stations and 70 radio stations all across the nation and an online division which owns and distributes a network of online and mobile products like Univision.com. Some major competitors include TV Azteca, S.A. de C.V, Liberman Broadcasting, Inc. and NBCUniversal Media, LLC. [2] Some of the most successful current programs are Sabado Gigante, which has been on the air since 1997, and Primer Impacto since 1994.

The following video summarizes what Univision’s vision consists on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsf76kXaiKw

Television: The television segment owns a large number of TV stations and networks of which the most successful is Univision Network, the driving force behind the company. Univision Network has the largest spanish speaking television audience in the world and has reached parity with the 5 major english television networks outranking The CW several times. The television department also owns UniMas a spanish language broadcast television network, as well as Galavision a cable network in the U.S. In addition to the three major networks the company recently added three single format 24-hour cable networks: Univision Deportes Network, ForoTV and Univision Telenovelas. In 2009 the company founded Univision Studios, their own production division. Last year the company announced the creation of Fusion, an english language joint venture with ABC targeted at hispanic americans. [3]

Univision and ABC joint venture (photo courtesy of mediabistro.com) [10]

Radio: The radio segment owns and operates 69 radio stations in the United States. In 2003 Univision completed the acquisition of the Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation to form Univision Radio, the largest spanish language radio broadcasting company in the United States. In addition, the company founded Univision America this past summer, which is a spanish talk radio network that operates in major states like California, Texas and Florida. [3]

Univision America (photo courtesy of mediamoves.com) [11]

Interactive Media: This segment is responsible for operating a network of online products of which Univision.com is the most important. Univision interactive media was launched in 2009 to house Univision Movil and Univision.com, an online publisher that features entertainment, news and information. The interactive media segment also includes UVideos, a bilingual digital network and Univision Partner Group, a publishing network. [3]

Univision.com Homepage
(photo courtesy of Univision.com) [12]

History

In 1955 KWEX-TV, the first full time Spanish language station in America was founded. The station changed owners several times until in 1968 the new owners decided to name it Spanish International Network after buying channels in New Jersey and LA. By the mid 1970s the company had grown into a national network in the United States. In 1986 a Partnership of Televisa (a major media production company) and Hallmark cards bought the network formally naming it UNIVISION. Univision online was launched in 2000. [4]

In the past decade Univision Communications has grown in many fronts of the industry launching UniMas, formerly known as Telefutura (2002), Univision Radio (2003), Univision Studios (2009) and Univision Interactive media (2009). [4]

Financials

During 2012 Univision Communications Inc. reported a steady rise in their financials. Both their OIBDA and their total net revenue increased in comparison to the previous numbers of 2011. For the full year, net revenue increased 7.4 percent to $2,442.0 million from $2,273.5 million in 2011 and OIBDA increased 7.4 percent to $1,003.2 million from $933.9 million in 2011. Moreover the increase took place in each of the three media production areas of the company (Television, Radio and Digital). [5]

(photo courtesy of Univision Corporate financial statement 2012) [5]

In the News

January [6]:

The new revamped UniMas was launched coast to coast on January 7th premiering two prime time series that same night: Made In Cartagena and Quien eres tu.

(photo courtesy of underconsideration.com)

“Quinceañera” the groundbreaking production that catapulted Thalia and Adela Noriega is being rebroadcasted by Univision Telenovelas on January 7th.
Univision Communications announced a partnership with Samsung to carry their digital video network UVideos, in all 2013 Samsung smart TVs and connected devices.
Univision Network launches new talent competition show “Lo que mas quieres” on January 27th.

Lo que Mas Quieres ad campaign (photo courtesy of latinospost.com) [13]

February [7]:

Univision’s “Despierta America” established itself as the fastest growing morning show in the current season regardless of language registering its seven month of consecutive growth among adults 18-49 and 25-54.

Despierta America (photo courtesy of tucuentas. com) [14]

Univision’s “Premios Lo Nuestro“, which is Television’s longest running Latin music award show, aired on Feb 21 reaching 11.6 million viewers and making Univision No. 2 network for the night among adults 18-34 for fourth consecutive year.
WXTV Univision 41 New York received 22 Emmy Award nominations. According to Nielsen, Univision 41 was also the #1 newscast in the 6pm slot during the month of January.
On February 11 ABC and Univision announced their joint venture news and lifestyle network for Hispanics is being named Fusion and is set to launch during the second half of 2013.
Univision set milestone as the No 4. network in February sweeps ahead of NBC. Univision out performed NBC establishing a 26% margin among adults 18-49 and a 47% among adults 18-14.

The following video demonstrates the recent rating success of Univision.

UNIVISION COMMUNICATIONS INC from Univision Insights on Vimeo.

March [8]:

Premiere of new romantic comedy telenovela “Porque el amor manda” on Univision Network set for March 11.
“Nuestra Belleza Latina” a beauty competition show is set to launch its seventh season March 10 on Univision Network. The show includes sponsors like AT&T and Subway.

Seventh season of Nuestra Belleza Latina (photo courtesy of lagranciudad.net) [15]

The season finale of “Por ella soy Eva” made Univision stations #1 among adults 18-49 and adults 18-34 in several cities like Los Angeles and Houston and Chicago.
On March 11 Univision Radio and TuneIn announced an alliance to extend the reach of 50 terrestrial stations via TuneIn.
Univision Studios announced the premiere of “Arranque de Pasion, La historia de Ela“, an original webnovela produced exclusively for Univision Online and mobile properties set to begin April 1.

Arranque de Pasion webseries (photo courtesy of univision.com) [16]

Univision signs a major contract with DirecTV enabling the satellite provider to carry all of Univision’s own and operated broadcast stations, as well as the network feeds for Univision, UniMas, and Galavision.

Future of Univision

ABC News and Univision News merge to create Fusion in 2013
(photo courtesy of Univision Corporate Website) [4]

When it comes to its future Univision Communications seems stronger than ever. If the current trends continue the network could become a recurrent top four in the United States Television market because of the constant increase of the Latino population. Furthermore, Univision is on the verge of launching a great number of new series including “Los Heroes del Norte” (NotiMas) and “Que Bonito Amor“ (Univision), which are two long awaited primetime series set to premiere this April. Last but not least, Univision News is focusing greatly on the creation of the new joint venture with ABC news called Fusion (to be launched sometime this year). The new network will be carried by 5 cable operators and will serve 50 millions Hispanics; a number expected to double by 2050 [9]. This measures are expected to further enhance the company’s presence in the multimedia market during the next decades.

Sources

1. Key Executives http://corporate.univision.com/corporate/executive-leadership/#axzz2PxOlER2b

2. Univision Company Information Hoovers http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/company-profile.Univision_Communications_Inc.a9ff6a528ba4bf61.html

3. Company Overview Bloomberg http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=352350

4. The Univision Story http://corporate.univision.com/corporate/#axzz2PxRZSjvT

5. Financial Statement 2012 http://corporate.univision.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/FINAL-Press-Release-Q2-2012-1.pdf

6. January Press Releases http://corporate.univision.com/corporate/press/press-releases/?date=2013-1#axzz2PxUQXB7G

7. February Press Releases http://corporate.univision.com/corporate/press/press-releases/?date=2013-2#.UWPlYqvwIx4

8. March Press Releases http://corporate.univision.com/corporate/press/press-releases/?date=2013-3#.UWPldavwIx4

9. April Press Releases http://corporate.univision.com/corporate/press/press-releases/?date=2013-4#.UWPlnKvwIx4

10. ABC / Univision picture http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/files/2012/08/abc-news-univision-logo.jpg

11. Univision America logo http://www.mediamoves.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/UNIVISION_America-logo-e1338509306117.jpg