NBCUniversal’s Cesar Conde

PREMIUM: Cesar Conde, the chairman of NBCUniversal International Group and of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, talks to World Screen about growing the influence and reach of Telemundo and its digital extensions.

WS: How has the Hispanic media landscape in the U.S. shifted and what is Telemundo Enterprises’s role in it?
CONDE: We’re going through a transformational time in our industry’s history. With so many new formats and platforms, the way that consumers are watching and interacting with content is constantly evolving. There is what I like to call a “tectonic change” in Spanish-language media, as Hispanics prefer Telemundo more and more.

In our view, Telemundo has played an important role as the most innovative media company in Spanish-language television today. As a response to changing viewing habits and more demanding viewers, we have consistently raised the bar in production quality and have helped evolve scripted drama by successfully introducing new genres such as the “Super Series” El Señor de los Cielos and Señora Acero and the bio musical Celia to Hispanic audiences in the U.S. We have also continued to diversify our portfolio by bringing new reality programming such as La Voz Kids and Gran Hermano, coupled with the launch of our first variety show for Saturday nights, ¡Que Noche!. All these shows have been developed, produced and marketed with the new consumer in mind, coupled with innovative digital and marketing initiatives that speak to and resonate with the younger Hispanics.

WS: How diverse is the U.S. Hispanic audience? How is Telemundo Enterprises satisfying today’s Spanish-speaking as well as the bi-cultural members of the audience?
CONDE: The U.S. Hispanic audience is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly diverse as it continues to become part of the political, cultural and social fabric of our country. NBCUniversal is uniquely positioned to serve this community across the entire spectrum, both in English and Spanish.

On one hand, different NBCU properties reach Hispanic viewers with their English-language content. And on the other hand, NBCU Telemundo Enterprises is super-serving Spanish-dominant and bilingual Hispanics with content made by and for Hispanics who live in the U.S., not somewhere else. And because of the quality of our content and the young median age of our viewers, Telemundo reaches a significant amount of Millennials who tend to be bilingual with shows like El Señor de los Cielos and Señora Acero because of their fast-paced, action-packed episodes.

WS: What responsibility does Telemundo’s news department feel towards viewers, especially with the upcoming presidential elections?
CONDE: The Latino vote will decide the future president of this country and therefore we have a tremendous responsibility with our audience. Last October we announced details of our electoral coverage under the signature-banner #YoDecido, the largest multiplatform effort in the history of the network, conceived with a simple but critical objective in mind: to produce information that empowers Latinos nationwide. #YoDecido is a one-of-a-kind effort to inform and empower Hispanic voters nationwide in close partnership with the leading news organization of the country, NBC News. In total it will bring an unprecedented 275 of hours of political coverage, coupled by the deployment of a robust digital platform designed to reach younger voters.

We understand Hispanics have various points of view and concerns, and we want to celebrate that diversity and focus on providing the facts and covering all sides of the issues, not just one point of view. We embrace this responsibility.

In addition, Telemundo has launched several innovations in the news division this year, including “The Selfie Interview,” a news entertainment segment in which the person interviewed asks and answers his/her own questions, and “Mi Lente,” a story fully recorded with portable cameras to profile compelling characters in their own environments. This past November, exactly one year from the presidential elections, we also launched the Noticias Telemundo news app, a best-in-class Spanish-language mobile app featuring the latest in news content customization.

WS: How has Telemundo Enterprises been using digital platforms to reach the diverse Hispanic community and its young demographic?
CONDE: NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises has seen great performance this year across all its digital platforms. Telemundo.com had the best year in site history in 2015, averaging 6.4 million monthly unique users, a 147-percent increase year-over-year. Telemundo became the first ever Spanish-language television network to surpass the 1-million subscriber mark on YouTube and receive YouTube’s “Gold Button” Award. In addition, Telemundo’s main social accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram grew 60 percent year-over-year in fans, adding 4 million to its social footprint for a total of 10.6 million global fans, the largest social footprint of the U.S. Spanish-language broadcast networks.

A great example of how we reach the diverse Hispanic community and its young demographic was the innovative marketing campaign for El Señor de los Cielos, which included a digital special featuring 15 additional, digitally exclusive episodes, a collectible comic book, a dedicated Facebook application and a 19-hour surveillance feed footage available hours prior to the premiere for fans to monitor the protagonist of the series, Aurelio Casillas, behind bars.

In addition to the already existing apps, such as Telemundo Novelas, Telemundo Now and NBC Deportes, we have continued to focus on innovation and the Millennial market by launching our first ever Apple Watch news app. This app is the companion to the news app, which launched November 8, 2015 for iPhone and represents our first foray into wearable technology.

Coming soon we also have Double Acción, the first-ever concurrent scripted experience, which plays out storytelling on two screens via a mobile device while the TV show is airing, and R.A.V.E. (Real-time Augmented Virtual Experiences), which complements the viewing experience with multiple camera angles and incremental stories by combining a simple attachment to a smart phone.

WS: Your responsibilities have increased. What do they now include?
CONDE: My new expanded responsibilities include oversight of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, in addition to my previous responsibilities [for] NBCU International and NBCU Digital Enterprises. We have incredible teams across these three growth areas and I am very excited to be working with them. We will be working closer than ever to explore ways to work together and continue with the momentum across these three teams.

Specifically, at the NBCUniversal International Group, I am responsible for the operations and international expansion of NBCUniversal businesses outside of North America. The group is comprised of the NBCU International TV and Film group, NBCU International Networks and NBCU International Production divisions.

At NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, I am responsible for expanding the company’s Hispanic franchises and all of its Hispanic content efforts, including Telemundo Network, NBC Universo Cable Network, Telemundo International, Telemundo Digital Media & Emerging Business and NBC Deportes.

WS: Tell us about NBCUniversal’s commitment to the Hispanic community and to Telemundo Enterprises. What investments is NBCUniversal making in Telemundo Enterprises?
CONDE: Our parent company, NBCUniversal, is a pivotal contributor and supporter of our Hispanic businesses. As a matter of fact, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises leads NBCU’s strategy in serving the U.S. Hispanic community across all its networks and platforms, reaching more than 90 percent of U.S. Hispanics, regardless of language—the only media company with its own Hispanic division—and making NBCUniversal the only true ambicultural media company.

NBCUniversal started investing in NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises early in the game. Their first strong signal was the acquisition of the Spanish-language video rights of the single most important property in the Spanish-language media world, the FIFA World Cup. On the entertainment front, NBCUniversal has continued to support Telemundo’s original content strategy, which has fueled the network’s unprecedented growth in the last two years with the development of super series, bio musicals and reality shows that have significantly helped to close the gap with its main competitor. In addition, since 2013, we have greatly benefited from NBCUniversal’s commitment to the local Telemundo stations where they have made a series of investments, including boosting live, local news, weather and sports coverage in all stations. At the network news level, last year Telemundo launched a national weekend newscast, Noticiero Telemundo Fin de Semana, and has continued to push the envelope leading them to deliver their best season ever.

WS: In what ways are NBCU and Telemundo working together?
CONDE: Telemundo has been working more and more with other properties across NBCUniversal. From a content perspective, Telemundo has launched multiple cross-company initiatives including the reality competition shows La Voz Kids and Top Chef Estrellas, the weekly news segment “Access Hollywood Al Rojo Vivo,” and offered multiple simulcasts between NBC’s TODAY show and Telemundo’s morning show Un Nuevo Día. USA Network is producing Queen of the South based on Telemundo’s novela La Reina del Sur, and NBC News is producing Viva TODAY (a series celebrating the richness and diversity of Hispanic culture on the TODAY show), in addition to working closely with Telemundo Noticias in covering the upcoming presidential elections. On the talent front, Telemundo’s news anchor Jose Diaz-Balart is expanding his role on NBC News to now include weekly NBC Nightly News and a guest role on Meet the Press, in addition to his anchor duties on MSNBC and Telemundo. And we will closely partner once again with NBC Sports to bring the most extensive Olympic Games coverage from Rio to the Hispanic community.