Posted on 06/23/2002 10:11:38 AM PDT by HennepinPrisoner
In New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, the No. 1 network for nightly news among adults ages 18 to 34 is not ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox or CNN.
It is the Spanish-language network Univision.
In Houston, Univision, Channel 45, has been ranked No. 1 throughout the day among adults ages 18 to 49 for almost a year, according to Nielsen ratings.
A population explosion among U.S. Hispanics is changing the television and radio landscape and creating a bright future for Univision and other Hispanic broadcast networks.
Traditionally, Hispanic media networks have been considered part of a niche market as opposed to the mainstream or general market, but such terms may no longer apply.
"This has been building and building and building," said Alex Lopez Negrete, president and chief executive officer of the marketing and advertising firm Lopez Negrete Communications in Houston.
The world began paying more attention after the 2000 Census came out, Lopez Negrete said. "It was like, `Oh, my God, there are Hispanics in America.' "
The census showed that Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population.
Some observers argue that population trends can be misleading because many U.S. Hispanics are entrenched in the cultural mainstream and watch and listen to general market TV and radio. And even immigrants will turn to English media once they assimilate.
Still, it is hard not to notice the footsteps of Univision, the giant among Hispanic broadcast media.
On June 12, Los Angeles-based Univision announced a deal to acquire Dallas-based Hispanic Broadcasting Corp., the powerful 55-station radio chain, for $3.5 billion.
Previously, Univision paid more than $150 million for the rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, and its soccer broadcasts have been drawing big audiences. In Los Angeles, for example, Univision's coverage of the U.S.-Mexico World Cup match drew 3.5 times more viewers than ESPN's.
In April, Univision's smaller rival Telemundo made news when it was bought by NBC for $2.7 billion.
Such mergers are causing the industry to take the Spanish-language market seriously, said Hector Orci, CEO of La Agencia de Orci, a Hispanic advertising agency based in Los Angeles.
He noted that within the past year, many major financial organizations have begun designating Latin media analysts in their firms, which shows that they understand that Hispanic media companies are sources of profit.
Victor Miller IV, a broadcast analyst with Bear, Stearns & Co., is a strong believer in the Hispanic broadcast market. Compared with the general market, Miller said, Spanish-language companies like Univision are showing faster growth and better population trends, while facing more limited competition.
The Hispanic market also reflects improved disposable income trends, Miller said.
In the past three years, the average income of U.S. Hispanic households has risen 15.9 percent, the biggest increase for that group on record.
According to Orci, spendable income among U.S. Hispanics is larger than the gross national product of Spain or Mexico.
Opinions, however, are mixed on the significance of Univision's acquisition of HBC.
On a national level, the deal is probably making Univision's main rival Telemundo and HBC's rival Radio Unica worry, said Lopez Negrete, because Univision can now offer advertisers one-stop shopping packages covering radio, TV and the Internet.
"They want 100 percent of the national Hispanic budget," he said.
On a local level, however, the merger won't mean as much, Lopez Negrete said, because Telemundo and Radio Unica are still strong among advertisers.
The Univision-HBC union will be "occasionally effective" in creating a one-stop shopping package, Orci said, but generally, most advertisers do not have big enough budgets to cover every platform, he said. They pick and choose.
Univision is also powerful on other media fronts, and Lopez Negrete said the company is poised to become even mightier.
Univision.com is by far the most widely used online Spanish-language portal, he said, and the company also owns one of the largest Spanish record labels, Univision Music Group.
Univision officials were not available for comment on their company. For a company in the communications business, it is amazingly publicity-shy.
One industry insider noted that Univision once hired a public relations firm whose job was to keep the news media away from it.
Univision seems to be doing quite well without seeking publicity. It controls about 80 percent of the Spanish TV market.
It's a well-managed company, with high-powered stations, said Lopez Negrete, who attributes Univision's strength to longevity and persistence.
"Over the years, they've been hammering and hammering at the same audience," he said. "They never take their eye off the ball."
Univision, the first Spanish-language station in the United States, was founded in 1961 under a different name, Spanish International Network. Televisa, a Mexican entertainment group, produced much of its programming and had a big financial stake in the operation.
In 1986, the Federal Communications Commission found SIN in violation of U.S. law prohibiting foreign ownership of U.S. stations, and the company was sold to Hallmark Cards. Hallmark diversified SIN with more programs designed for bilingual viewers but never showed a profit.
In 1992, the station was sold to a consortium led by entertainment financier Jerry Perenchino of New Jersey, who took the network back to its roots, focusing on Televisa productions.
Orci credits Univision's Mario Rodriguez, who heads the entertainment division, and President Ray Rodriguez, saying they are "obsessed with quality."
The idea of a homogeneous Latino market is relatively new. Less than 20 years ago, it was believed that there were three distinct categories of Hispanic viewers: Puerto Ricans on the East Coast, Cubans in Florida and Mexicans in the Southwest.
Research commissioned by Univision showed it was possible to find common programming ground among all Latino immigrants.
Most viewers of Univision are immigrants. About 70 percent hail from Mexico.
Houston is the fourth-largest Hispanic market in the United States.
Houston is a ripe market for Spanish-language media because most Hispanics here are foreign born, said Nestor Rodriguez, a sociologist at the University of Houston.
About 75 percent to 80 percent of Hispanics are Spanish-capable, a range from Spanish-speaking only to speaking more English than Spanish. About the same numbers of Hispanics are English-capable.
As a result, general market and Spanish broadcast networks both have their eyes on bilingual Hispanics.
On the Hispanic network side, for example, Fusion, an MTV-style program on Telemundo's cable network Mun2, is aimed at young bilingual Hispanics.
Telefutura, another Univision network, will soon feature Spanish-language art movies.
On the general market side, KRIV Fox 26 news anchor Mike Barajas said his station is second only to Univision among Hispanic viewers, and the station aims to build on those numbers.
In April, Fox 26 joined other local TV stations in offering Second Audio Program, which allows viewers to push a few buttons on their remotes to hear the local news in Spanish. Nationally Fox, like the other majors, has been offering SAP for years.
Fox 26 is still a distant second to Univision among local Hispanic viewers.
Barajas said he is confident that many members of the Spanish broadcast audience will eventually cross over to the general market.
It is a process, Barajas said. Immigrants initially watch and listen to Spanish-language broadcasts. Over time, as their English improves and they become more assimilated, they move to the general market.
"They came to America to succeed and know that to do so they have to learn English," Barajas said. And the longer they are in the United States, the greater their interest in mainstream culture. Eventually, he said, "you bring them in."
Wall Street is keenly aware of Spanish broadcast media's clout, but advertisers are slower in coming over.
Only Hyundai, MCI, Colgate-Palmolive and Sears are spending advertising dollars commensurate to the Hispanic consumer market, said Ingrid Otero-Smart, president of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies.
Jeff Williams, Hispanic Broadcasting Corp.'s corporate research director, said that for many Spanish-dominant listeners, Spanish-language ads are effective.
When they hear ads on English stations, "they don't perceive that the message is intended for them," Williams said. "But on a Spanish station, they think, `They're speaking to me, in my language and my culture.' "
HBC's programming is music-based. Mark Masepohl, HBC's vice president and regional manager for Texas, said he did not anticipate any changes in programming from new owner Univision.
In Houston, HBC's KLTN-FM 102.9 is among the top-rated stations in Houston.
HBC's rival Radio Unica, by contrast, focuses on talk, news, entertainment and sports.
In the world of Hispanic TV programming, both Univision and Telemundo focus heavily on soap operas, telenovelas, to fill air time.
Roel Medina, vice president and general manager of Telemundo's Houston station Channel 48, said his network runs telenovelas from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., five days a week.
He described the telenovela as a soap opera with an ending. They run from 13 to 29 weeks and, he said, are addictive.
Soccer is also hugely popular among Hispanics.
Lopez Negrete said Univision cleverly spread the World Cup games over its three networks. The games are aired live on Univision, while Univision-owned Telefutura and Galavision show World Cup repeats and news capsules.
The game between the United States and Mexico was Univision's most watched program ever, garnering more than 4.2 million viewers.
Telemundo made a bid for the World Cup, but the Federation Internationale de Football Association stuck with Univision, FIFA's TV home since 1978.
Rob Spallone, media planning director at Lopez Negrete, said many bilingual Hispanics prefer Univision over English broadcasts because Univision's camera crews are more adept at covering soccer, and the announcers show more passion when, for example, shouting, "GOOOOOOOLLLLL! Gol! Gol! Gol!"
Such a fiery voice is needed, Spallone said, when you are watching a soccer game at 4 a.m.
I hope you are joking about Speedy G...the Cartoon Network won't show him anymore?
Hmmm...glad you 'signed' your post...at first I thought you were Jorge Bush.
There was some FR threads on Speedy about a month or two ago. Basically some Mexicans are upset b/c they felt the cartoon makes fun of Mexicans.
I can see being offended if he was running around with a weedeater (doh!), but come-on...it's a cartoon!
Banco Popular is growing down here in FL.....guess the hispanics are taking Florida back!
Gee, and the fact that, if you don't have cable or if you want to see games live, the local Univision affiliate is the only option might have a wee bit to do with the World Cup ratings.
You are correct about the Univision comment with WorldCup soccer....I don't know what the announcers are saying (except gooooal!), but anything is better than the ESPN announcers. I got so tired of hearing them bash the US team.
You are correct about the Univision comment with WorldCup soccer....I don't know what the announcers are saying (except gooooal!), but anything is better than the ESPN announcers. I got so tired of hearing them bash the US team.
And most all English language TV channels here in LA carry a Spanish language SAP’s feed (I not sure if there required or heavily encouraged to by the government)
But never have I seen a Spanish language (or in fact any non English language) TV channels carry a English language SAP’s feed
I think it’s time non English language channel be required or heavily encouraged to by the government to carry a English language SAP’s feed
First it would be good business for the non English language channel as they would pick up English language viewer ( to be honest the Spanish language channels here in LA carry a lot of interesting looking programs and American movies all dubbed in Spanish)
Second non English speaking viewer could still watch programming aim at them and in English to improve there command of the common national language
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