Spanish-Language TV Networks Poised for Advertising Fiesta

The Big Five TV networks are expecting to receive a record $9.5 billion at the upfront ad market this year. But they're going to be giving up some of their commercial dollars to fast-growing Spanish-language broadcasters Univision and Telemundo, which are expecting their own upfront haul to be, well, mas macho, according to John Consoli writer for The Wrap.

When the official selling season begins -- after all the major networks present their 2011-12 schedules to advertisers next week -- expect the two Hispanic networks to take in between 15-20 percent more ad dollars than they did in last year's upfront. In total, it’s expected that Univision will rake in about $1.3 billion, while Telemundo will tally about $450 million.

A good portion of those added dollars will come from new advertiser brands, but there will also be money moving from the English-language networks into Hispanic. Why? Because while primetime ratings in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 age demo are down for all five major English-language networks this season, ratings and viewership are up for the Hispanic networks.

What’s more, the results of the new census show that there is a potential audience of about 50 million Hispanics in the U.S. and many of them can be reached through the two Hispanic broadcast networks.

David Lawenda, president of ad sales for Univision Communications, told TheWrap that the awareness of advertisers about the growing importance of Hispanic television has resulted in his network bringing in 150 new brands over the past year, and he expects that to continue in this upfront. "We belong in the same [media buying] conversation with the Big Four broadcast networks," Lawenda said. "We are no longer a niche network."

In the recent February sweeps month, Univision on 22 nights had higher ratings than at least one of the Big Four English-language networks in the 18-34 or 18-49 demos in primetime. And Telemundo had its best first quarter of the year in 2011 in its history in viewers, averaging 1.2 million in primetime per night. It also had its most watched April primetime.

Telemundo's current 10 p.m. novela “La Reina del Sur” has peaked at more than 3.3 million viewers and on several nights has drawn more than 2.2 million 18-49 viewers to edge out Univision in that hour. And Univision's 9 p.m. novela “Teresa” premiered on March 30 with 4.9 million viewers and 2.7 million 18-49 viewers. It has outdrawn both ABC and NBC on certain nights since in those demos.

While Telemundo is not a threat to take a lion's share of dollars away from Univision, it is making its own inroads. Once commanding below a 20 percent share of primetime Hispanic audience, it’s now averaging about 28 percent, compared to Univision's 72 percent in the 18-34 and 18-49 demos.