Univision Sets Sights on Ratings Gains

MIAMI: Speaking with World Screen‘s Anna Carugati at NATPE, César Conde, president of Univision Networks, outlined how the U.S. Hispanic broadcaster plans to become the number one network in the country, regardless of language, in five years.

"We’ve been very vocal and very open about this [goal]," said Conde, who oversees Univision Communication’s television networks and Univision Studios, in his NATPE session yesterday. "We are one of the top five networks in the country when you look at adults 18 to 49. We’re focused at Univision Network on beating those four English-language networks [ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC]. We’ve begun to close that gap, particularly in the last 12 months, between the number five position and number four."

Articulating the steps needed for Univision to climb the ratings scale, Conde noted, "We have to reinforce this underdog mentality. We’re not number one, we’re number five. and we’re focused on becoming number one—instilling that hunger, that focus across our organization, is fundamental. Second is [the need for] flawless execution over the next few years. The third thing we have to do is continue to push the envelop and be very forward leaning when it comes to programming and developing content in our marketplace. We have to be able to pull from the best of all worlds. Do we have the perfect formula? I don’t think so. We have a pretty good formula that we’re constantly trying to tweak, to adjust in this very fast-changing environment."

One part of the programming formula that has been working very well for Univision has been the prime-time novela, many sourced from its long-term partner and, as of last year, part owner, Mexico’s Grupo Televisa. "Our Televisa partnership was clearly one of the corporate highlights for Univision in 2010," Conde said. "We are extraordinarily excited about it. This is one of those situations where one plus one equals four, equals five. One of the nice things about this partnership is that it allows both companies to take advantage of opportunities that were previously denied for each of [us], particularly in the digital space. We believe that these two companies partnering, collaborating closely together, can really be a force to be reckoned with."

Asked about how the relationship with Televisa impacts its deals with other content providers, Conde noted, "Televisa has been extremely supportive of all of our partnerships that we’ve had in place and continue to invest in. Our Venevision partnership has been fantastic on a personal and professional level. We had a tremendous success when we collaborated on Eva Luna, one of prime-time novelas on air right now."

While Univision does rely on external providers for much of its content, it has set up a production and co-production arm, Univision Studios. "The impetus was we wanted to create a vehicle … that would allows us to customize programming more proactively and more opportunistically for the Latino experience in the U.S. The objective is for it to be the central point of original productions, co-productions for our networks as well as for other platforms."

He continued, "We have and will continue to tap into the exclusive access to what we think is the best Spanish-language programming from all of our partners. As important is complementing that where appropriate with customized content for the Latino experience that fills in areas or genres that we may not have access to or that needs to be produced here. The ability to have both of those of things, to have our cake and eat it too, has been a little bit of the secret to our ability to continue to program successfully."

Carugati then asked about the increasingly competitive nature of the U.S. Spanish-language marketplace, and if that dynamic has caused Univision to re-think its reliance on the telenovela staple. "There are a lot of new entrants; we are very cognizant of that and are constantly watching what our friends in the business are doing," Conde said. "In the same breath I can tell you that the novela genre is a force of nature. It has transcended generations, it transcends language and it certainly transcends geography. We see nothing but a continuation of that strength. Do we think that there are other genres that work and can complement that? Absolutely."

The discussion then moved to the ad market, with Conde noting that the U.S. Hispanic community, if it were a standalone consumer market, "is the 14th largest consumer market in the world, with a trillion dollars in purchasing power. So when you speak to a Fortune 500 CEO or CMO and put it in that context and ask them what type of investment they are making in consumer market 15 that doesn’t have the growth trajectory and doesn’t have some of the underlying fundamentals that exist here in their backyard, I think it hits home. When you begin to extrapolate what we’re going to look like as community over the next 10, 20, 30 years, any company, any organization that wants to be successful in the U.S. and wants to invest in ensuring organic growth has to invest in the Hispanic community."