TelevisaUnivision Notches Upfront Gains By Taking Dollars from English-Language Rivals

TelevisaUnivision is speaking a different language in TVs weakened upfront market.

Where most media companies and media buyers expect the overall volume of ad commitments to decline owing to a tough economy and a Hollywood work stoppage, the Spanish broadcaster is anticipating gains and even rate hikes.

We expect to fare better than the market on pricing said TelevisaUnivsion CEO Wade Davis during a call with investors Thursday, a reference to measures known as CPMs, or the cost of reaching 1,000 viewers. In many cases, according to media buyers and other executives, advertisers have called for rollbacks of as much as 5%, with sports the only category notching true positive gains.

Davis said the company expected its volume of commitments to be up mid to single digits as Univision took share from its English-language rivals.

In 2022, the company expected to see a double-digit-percentage increase in volume, with CPMs, or the cost of reaching 1,000 viewers, rising as much as 8% to 9%.

TelevisaUnivision has been on a mission to lure Madison Avenue to Spanish-speaking American audiences, pressing the notion that its viewership is growing while the crowds flocking to English-language TV rivals is in decline.

Davis said the ongoing strike by writers and actors had zero impact on TelevisaUnivision, as the bulk of its production takes place in Mexico. It doesnt have an impact on us, which matters a lot to upfront advertisers, who know its schedule will not see any disruption. He said the uncertainty in the general market caused by the strike, however, was significant for potential sponsors. Some of those differences helped buoy TelevisaUnivisions performance in the market, he said.

The company said advertising revenue increased both in the second quarter and in the first six months of the year. TelevisaUnivision said its ad revenue for the second quarter came to $452.6 million, compared with $447.7 million in the year-earlier period.