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Telemundo's "Victoria" (on home page) and Univision's "Amas de Casa Desesperadas" (above) are using contemporary storylines and modern themes to draw viewers.
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Hispanic Marketing Report: Social Networks
May 05, 2008
By Della de Lafuente
NEW YORK One crude measure of the power and reach of the growing U.S. Hispanic marketplace is that five years ago seven of the dozen Spanish and bilingual TV networks mounting upfront presentations this month didn't even exist.
Three of the upstart networks—LATV, Spanish Broadcasting System's Mega TV and V-me—all launched nationally in the past year and are hosting presentations for advertisers for the first time. The others, including industry leaders Univision and Telemundo, are sharing a widening marketplace that includes startups turned emerging network players: Azteca América, ESPN Deportes, Fox Sports en Español, GolTV, MTV Tr3s, Discovery en Español, SíTV and ¡Sorpresa!.
But there's another factor leading to the proliferation of new networks: a vastly splintered media marketplace that bears little resemblance to one even five years ago. That means these new networks, just like their brethren in the general market, are fighting not only for ad dollars for TV programming, but for programming that appears on the Web and on mobile phones.
"Established marketers who have an understanding of the Hispanic market recognize that a video strategy versus a TV-centric plan is a way to serve the consumer who is now consuming media differently than in the past," said Ken Cervantes, vp/activation director, MediaVest 42 Degrees, the multicultural unit of Starcom MediaVest Group. "While they may not be where the general market is, as far as fragmentation is concerned, they still are on broadband and very dependent on mobile. It's trying to incorporate these new emerging media into a mix that is going to be effective."
New networks have more competition on various fronts, but they soon will have reams of data at their disposal. Upstarts including MTV Tr3s and GolTV are expected to announce agreements to report program ratings via measurement services such as Nielsen Media Research (which, like Adweek Media and the Hispanic Marketing Report, is owned by The Nielsen Co.). Hispanic cable channel ESPN Deportes also announced April 24 that its programming will be measured and reported as part of the Nielsen Homevideo Index Hispanic (NHIH) Service beginning April 28.
"Advertisers want to be able to gauge the impact and effectiveness of their measurement so that they can know how valuable it is," said Rachel Mueller-Lust, evp of networks at IAG Research, New York. "Bravo to the networks for actually stepping up to the plate and getting the research to do that."
As in the general market, the move by Hispanic networks to report program ratings is a necessary next step to become competitive in the marketplace, and snag even a fraction of the ad dollars pulled in by ratings juggernaut Univision. (Getting rated is an important rite of passage for a new network. To do so, they need to have national distribution in place, among other factors.)
Media buying agencies such as MediaVest's 42 Degrees increasingly are expecting networks to demonstrate they can deliver an audience and ROI. "Ideas are great and networks can get very creative, but the biggest thing that we owe our clients is an ROI analysis that shows what exactly these things are delivering," said Cervantes.
As a result, for the first time, Univision, which dominates the Hispanic media market, will face some new energized competition. "The buzz you're hearing is about the networks coming to market with news that they will be measured," Cervantes said. "A lot of people have not been willing to pull the trigger because investing $100,000 in a network that isn't measured is a gut call. Now, you can at least say: If it's got a .5 rating, somebody is watching it."
Great news for media buyers. For the networks themselves, not so much. With a general (but slow) move away from network TV and a recession taking hold, the goal for 2009 is to maintain growth from ad revenues, albeit at a slower pace, but with the expectation that new business opportunities may emerge as marketers venture into the Hispanic space for the first time.
Nielsen Media Research reported last month that ad spending in domestic Spanish-language TV increased 1.5 percent to $5.8 billion in 2007, falling the same percentage for network TV in English. Overall, ad spend was up by a mere 0.6 percent last year with the top 10 advertisers spending $17.9 billion in measured media in 2007. Against that backdrop, Hispanic networks big and small are heading into the upfronts this month. Here's a snapshot of what the Hispanic networks say they have in store for marketers and media buyers. (For more, visit marketingymedios.com.)
UNIVISION
Univision is positioning itself as the starting point for advertisers wading into the Hispanic media waters for the first time and as a guide for established advertising clients who want to experiment with new media platforms such as online, radio, mobile and spot TV, and step up their ad spending in 2009.
"We're on a mission to make sure every marketer realizes the seismic opportunity and power of the Hispanic consumer to grow their business and we're bringing English-language advertisers over," said David Lawenda, president of sales and marketing at Univision Communications, hinting that negotiations for some major cross-platform deals are already under way.
Lawenda said this is part of the network's new "go-to-market" strategy that coincides with the recent reorganization of the sales department. "Our new strategy isn't necessarily focused on the 80 share that we have, which is the way we went to market in the past. We led by: 'We're No. 1. Look at our strong ratings, which are undeniable.' But the real story is: look at the power of this consumer segment."
Lawenda argues that Univision can best reach that segment not only with its huge share of the marketplace but with its reach, which extends to various media: "We have network advertisers now who are realizing that with one conversation they are able to do a spot radio or spot TV overlay to really activate consumers on a local level, bringing in radio, local TV and mobile."
The network's reach also extends to its audiences, a key selling point for Univision which long has led the ratings race with programs such as the highly-touted "Damas de Casa Desesperadas." The Spanish-language version of the ABC hit series "Desperate Housewives" debuted earlier this year, drawing 5.5 million viewers (2+) who saw all or part of the program's debut, per Nielsen Media Research.
The show is produced jointly with Disney-ABC International Television-Latin America for U.S. Hispanics, the premise for the show is largely the same as its Hollywood counterpart, though some plots have been adapted to make them more culturally relevant to the U.S. Latino audience.
To newbies to the market, Lawenda unloads the data on the growing demo, in particular the University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth's projection that the spending power of Hispanics will jump from $900 million to $1.2 billion in the next two years.
On the metrics front, Univision goes into the upfronts armed with fused proprietary and Nielsen data on TV viewing and purchasing information that will give marketers a tool for accurately measuring and targeting Hispanic consumers as well as demonstrating ROI, said Ceril Shagrin, evp of Univision's corporate research unit.
Shagrin discussed the idea with The Nielsen Co. of merging the data gathered by Nielsen Homescan and Nielsen Media Research. For the former, consumer panels in various cities log in purchases they make via the bar codes on a home scanner. The product-specific purchasing data that this process produces can then be broken out by consumer and demo.
People Meter TV viewing data from Nielsen Media Research in that same market can also be gathered by demos, which can then be matched—or fused—with people of similar demos in the market based on their TV viewing patterns. Advertisers can then, in theory, see what TV audience can best be used to reach the viewers they want their product to target, and if their current marketing plan is getting good or bad ROI.
Univision said it will use fusion data only from Los Angeles during the upcoming upfront because it is the only market in which Nielsen Homescan has a representative number of Hispanics on its panel. Market data from Los Angeles could be used to sell advertising nationally because the panel's sample reflects the Hispanic population nationwide, Shagrin said. Though the network has been tracking viewership for years, this new measurement system gives Univision a useful method "for helping marketers to more accurately maximize their investment and deliver growth."
TELEMUNDO
Univision's got the monster share, but No. 2 Telemundo has its own weapon: Control of content. Unlike Univision, which gets the bulk of its programming from outside sources, Telemundo is able to include product pitches in story lines and develop content based on business opportunities. Execs from the NBC Universal unit hit the road in March to make that pitch to various clients.
"We learned so much about what we can do to incorporate these different brands into our products from listening to the client and to the agency," said Don Browne, president, Telemundo Communications Group. "It was a dialogue and because we had our creative people and the company's top decision-makers sitting in a room with the client and the agency, it was amazing to see the creative team come face-to-face with the information and the passion points that they share with the client."
The media platform and content that can be created to integrate marketers' brands are wide open for Telemundo creatives, who will be able to draw on the network's vast multimedia properties. Marketers can expect the network to develop customized multimedia programming, including branded entertainment TV, Webisodes, mobisodes, or a contemporary telenovela such as the popular "Victoria," which can be produced to air domestically and in Mexico via the network's partnership with Televisa.
"What we know is that we can no longer produce Spanish-language content that isn't as good as what can be seen on U.S. television networks," Browne said. "People expect a variety of programming and they want diversity."
The personal setting of a one-on-one meeting let the network showcase top personnel from the digital/broadband Internet group, the bilingual youth network mun2 and programming execs such as Patricio Wills, who oversees Telemundo's studio productions in Miami, Los Angeles, Mexico and Colombia. The idea is to let clients have some input into content before it is created, said Browne.
"We got a lot of feedback that everyone is trying to evolve the process and do it different than it's been done traditionally," Browne said. "That creativity and that connection of the product to what they call fusion, and seamlessly working it into the products/content that we produce, is a little bit like going back into the future."
The experience is similar to the early days of local TV when innovative selling and relationships were key in establishing long term partnerships in the same way that consumer products giants such as Procter & Gamble helped the creative community to build and create programming by sponsoring entire shows and retaining creative control, said Browne, who said the one-to-one meeting strategy has been successful.
"We're feeling very good," Browne said, acknowledging, "It's a tough time of economics [in this country]. But when you can sit down at a table, discuss creating a future together, and both teams get to know each other better, and find ways to incorporate products and businesses, it's a great thing."
Telemundo's one-on-one confabs have been key in establishing a mutual understanding of the marketer's strategic goals and needs for reaching Hispanic consumers. "We cater to them as opposed to standing in front of them and saying, 'This is our programming, buy a 30-second unit.' It's really programming a la carte," said Mike Rodriguez, Telemundo's network sales vp.
Hearing the stories that clients and agencies have to share has invigorated the Telemundo creative team to begin working on content and programs that will fit the needs and interests of clients. Said Browne: "This is priceless."
To drive home the power of its vast multimedia resources, Telemundo is mounting a research initiative that includes nationwide engagement and ad performance metrics via a partnership with IAG Research and a deal with The Nielsen Co. to conduct digital/online survey data collection and focus group testing.
As part of its research effort, Telemundo has become the first Spanish-language network client of IAG Research, which provides real-time nationwide data on program engagement and ad performance metrics on the Hispanic market. Data gathered via IAG will provide Telemundo's clients with a targeted means for measuring ad effectiveness 365 days a year across all national advertising categories and against a sample of 18,000 Hispanics, considered the largest measured sample with two-thirds of the group designated as Spanish-dominant, according to Jacqueline Hernández, COO, Telemundo.
Ad performance measurement will be scored against the message, brand and likeability, providing marketers with a measure for how effective their media campaign is among target viewers in Spanish versus similar ads airing on competing English-language networks, the network said.
"Research is ammunition. But it also will help people know, in some cases, that their ad recall is very high but their likeability is not as high as they would like," Hernández said.
Coinciding with the research effort is the launch of Telemundo's Pulse Research Center at Universal City Walk in Los Angeles. The Telemundo-Nielsen partnership is expected to provide "a higher level of qualitative research for the network and its clients as well as cutting edge analyis and colloboration," with the digital lab leveraging technology to test programs, promotional spots, Web sites and mobile content in the largest U.S. Hispanic market, the network said.
Telemundo has been flexing its research and consumer insights muscles, touting its data gathering and metrics capabilities during one-on-one client development meetings held in March and April in major Hispanic markets.
Clients next will hear from the network's parent in a presentation dubbed the NBC Universal Experience in New York.
The network's approach to the upfront is viewed as a savvy move among media buyers and other network execs opting to do business directly with clients and forgo lavish gatherings.
Meetings with clients have made it possible for network execs to really talk with the agencies and clients and understand what it is they need, especially in an uncertain economic climate. "That kind of discussion is very difficult to have in a big room full of people; the meetings allow for some great brainstorming on ideas that can benefit the client," Cervantes said.
V-ME
An upstart in the market like V-me's best option for competing with the likes of Univision and Telemundo is to position itself as something new. So execs from the company will tout programming the others lack, like adult lifestyle, entertainment and public affairs programs as well as an extensive lineup of Spanish and bilingual children's programming—a surprisingly new category in Hispanic TV.
"What we bring to the table is additional options for viewers," said Frank Donaldson, V-me's svp/director of sales, who recently joined the network from Univision. "We're going to be in a great position to compete from a reach and a quality programming standpoint to eventually compete with the big three as we're calibrated and our ratings begin to show up." V-me expects to begin reporting its programming ratings via Nielsen as early as the fourth quarter, Donaldson said. "If we're really going to be a big time player with the big three, then we absolutely need to be there. "
V-me also is experiencing growing pains—"but the good kind," said Carmen DiRienzo, president of V-me Media, as the network awaits validation of V-me's increasing household numbers.
Launched a year ago, a deal with Dish satellite network catapulted V-me from a presence in 20 percent of Hispanic households to nearly 50 percent today. Those numbers are expected to widen to nearly 80 percent of all Hispanic homes when the digital transition occurs in February.
AZTECA AMÉRICA
Taking a page from the Telemundo playbook, Azteca América took its upfront message on the road and has been meeting with clients and media buying agencies on their turf since April 14, said Bob Turner, Azteca América's president, network sales, who has 51 meetings scheduled through early May.
The network has been making client visits in major Hispanic markets, presenting its pitch via a combination of old deal-making and a video that introduces Azteca's new programs and strategy for 2008-2009 and showcasing various product integration programs, Turner said.
Until this year, Azteca had hosted upfront gatherings during the selling season for the past five years, Turner said. "Nothing against having a big party. But during that upfront week, you just don't get a lot of business done," he said.
For Azteca, the shift in strategy is about taking care of business, Turner said. "We think it's better to get our message across," he said. "And what better way to do that than by visiting our clients and their agencies in their offices, giving them the opportunity to ask questions and getting the chance brainstorming together. For us, it's a better way to partner and get our business done with the agencies."
Key to Azteca's message is a multiplatform approach that relies on what Turner says his network does best: integrating products in every media category, including TV programming (for a branded entertainment offering), online and Short Message Service (SMS) text messaging.
"In a majority of the meetings we've done, the most asked question -- and the one that everyone wants to know about -- is SMS and how to connect it with online messaging," Turner said, adding, "It's no longer about 'spots and dots.' We certainly don't present it and no one wants to hear about them."
Turner is accompanied to client and agency meetings by Harry Abraham-Castillo, evp, programming and production, and Rawdon Messenger, director of new media, who are working to develop and create customized content based on client needs, said Turner, who noted that clients increasingly are requesting that Messenger join him at meetings because they are eager to discuss digital media opportunities.
Next, the network will go back to every client and agency with a plan based on the various themes and needs that emerged from brainstorming and discussions. Azteca also will showcase its production studios, where it develops and creates its own content, via client tours to Mexico City touting the theme: Hecho en México (Made in Mexico), but tailored for the U.S. market, Turner said.
On the metrics front, Azteca is prepared to deliver metrics on a client-by-client basis.
Client and agency response to the one-on-one meetings has exceeded expectations, Turner said.
"You wouldn't believe the reaction we are getting from everybody who wishes everybody else did it [the upfront process] this way," he said. "They are applauding us, saying they would much rather get things done this way; and it's a much better format for them because they feel they're getting more attention, more business is getting done, they're able to ask more questions and interact during the presentation."
Here's a quick sampling of Azteca's meeting/market tour thus far, per Turner:
Week of April 14: Client meetings in New York with Sprint and Mastercard and agency meetings with The Vidal Partnership and OMD; Traveled to Los Angeles, where he met with clients Toyota, T-Mobile, Kia, Hyundai and agencies Conill Advertising, Initiative and Casanova Pendrill, Costa Mesa, Calif.;
Week of April 21: Turner was in Nashville meeting with Nissan on April 24 (the day of this interview); and on April 25 he was scheduled to be in Chicago for meetings with Starcom MediaVest Group's Tapestry, the multicultural media services unit, and GM Planworks, which plans and buys ad time for General Motors.
Week of April 28: Scheduled to meet with J.C. Penney in Dallas.
Other meetings in the works at deadline, included Heineken and Tecate, among others, Turner said.
Programs returning to Azteca include: "La Academia USA," the network's flagship program, a six-day a week show that Turner describes as (Fox's) "American Idol" meets (CBS') "Big Brother. A hit for the network for five consecutive years, the program returns in the second quarter of 2009 following a one-year hiatus.
Soccer and boxing also returns to the network, along with "La Liga Azteca, Fútbol Mexicano" with former soccer star turned Azteca sportscaster Jorge Campos and the TV network's Saturday night hit in the Los Angeles market "Azte Pa Cá" ("Get Closer") starring radio jock Renan "El Cucuy" Almendarez Coello.
Azteca's programming lineup for 2008-2009 includes three new novelas, five reality shows and two sitcoms:
• "Esperanza de Dios," a telenovela that centers around a beautiful, young female doctor, Esperanza, who finds herself in a love triangle with passionate musician and a handsome landowner;
• "Fugitiva," a novela about Roxana, a woman with a terrible secret who is wrongly accused of murder. She meets and falls for Jorge, a hunky criminologist who makes it his mission to prove her innocence;
• "Fama," a reality show that combines singing and dancing. Viewers will follow the action as contestants try to sing and dance their way into the judges' hearts;
• "Lágrimas a Petición," reality show meets telenovela in this program. U.S. viewers will get an opportunity to work for their favorite novela celebs;
• "Miss Latina Internacional," Beautiful Latinas compete for 13 weeks for the crown and title of Miss Latina Internacional;
• "Azteca News," the merger of Azteca América's news operations with Fuerza Informativa Azteca creates an expanded news agency covering Latin America, Mexico, California, Chicago, Washington D.C., Dallas, Houston and Las Vegas.
FOX SPORTS EN ESPAÑOL
Game on at the sports channel's upfront presentation on May 13 when the network mounts its interactive presentation/scavenger hunt for advertisers and media buyers dubbed "The Reel Game."
The event is designed to unveil the network's sports programming, integrated media platform and campaigns for the 2008-2009 season via the various media platforms that reach the Hispanic market.
The idea for the interactive scavenger hunt was born when Tom Maney, svp, sales, Fox Sports en Español, was making a presentation to a client who told him that every other rep who he'd spoken to had shown him a slide that said, 'integrated, integrated, blah, blah, blah.'
The comment served as a wakeup call for Maney and his colleagues who decided it was time to put up.
The scavenger hunt is a way for clients and media buyers to test drive Fox Sports en Español's multiplatform offerings ahead of the selling season, the network says.
Players navigate through the network's TV, online and mobile media in search of answers to industry-related trivia questions and clues, per a press statement.
Attendees experience the network’s content throughout the scavenger hunt via online with MSN, mobile and a clue is even hidden in the pages of Fox Sports en Español Magazine, Maney said.
"That’s sort of our theme: sports, digital, broadband, growing, creating and engaging fun new ways for people and advertisers to connect," Maney said.
The grand prize for this year's scavenger hunt winner is an all expense paid trip to see Fox's "American Idol" finals, he added.
A year ago some 200 people participated in the scavenger hunt of the 500 guests who attended the upfront presentation.
Hosting a fully integrated scavenger hunt for the upfront event is in line with the network’s theme for the presentation, Maney said. "It’s about the continued evolution of marketing using the new digital distribution platforms."
He added: Fifteen years ago people thought buying a spot on Univision was the same as putting a checkmark next to 'Hispanic communications.' Five years ago they incorporated cable, and now with online growth and things happening in mobile marketing, we're all responding to how communication is evolving. It's the same way TV didn't replace newspaper and the Internet didn't replace TV."
Marketers want to see things that connect -- the different pieces of content across the different platforms, they want to see a true integration of the ideas and elements and platforms, he added.
FSE also has in place a two-person integrated sales group that's dedicated to going in, and rather than selling, listening to clients, Maney said.
"We find out what marketers want, what are their hot buttons, what are their consumer attributes and what are the best mediums to connect with them," he said, adding, "So it's really becoming a much more sophisticated approach, rather than just buying GRPs (gross rating points) on television."
Like others in the marketplace who are primed to deliver metrics, FSE will also tout its value to marketers as a network that can provide "proven measurable value that shows that you can execute what you are doing," said Maney.
"A lot of people come in with a lot of fancy slides but they haven’t done it," said Maney. "We’ve been doing it for a couple of years and we can demonstrate exactly what kind of viewer participation we get in a mobile experience or what kind of online traffic you’re going to get."
FSE's efforts in integrated digital marketing can be best illustrated with such projects as the network's partnership with Nissan and The Vidal Partnership and "El Reto Final," the first-ever branded sports program in Spanish-language TV, which has a Web site, and that is expected to soon include a mobile offering, Maney said.
Toyota's sponsorship of the Copa Libertadores on FSE and its expanded sponsorship of the online space is an example of a longtime business partnership that evolved from TV to the new digital space, Maney said.
"In the wireless space we’ve done things with Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, where we've used everything from content for Verizon V-Cast to contests and promotions using the mobile devices," he added.
Maney said the network is in talks regarding some new programming in the reality genre that he described as "Soccer American Idol."
He also expects that an announcement will come either at the upfront, or shortly thereafter, that Fox is eyeing the launch of one or possibly two new U.S. Spanish-language TV networks in the upcoming year.
"We really developed cable television in the Hispanic market," Maney said. "We were the leaders and the pioneers in pushing cable into the fabric of the Spanish-language TV community and in the new spaces -- and we're not done yet. There's more to come. Stay tuned."
Fox Sports en Español will host an upfront presentation at Cipriani, 110 E. 42nd St., on May 13 at noon in New York.
MTV Tr3s
The fledgling bilingual network heads into this year's upfronts primed to deliver audience data and content that resonates with marketers and young Latinos.
MTV Tr3s doesn't officially celebrate its second year on the air until September but the bicultural music and entertainment network is embarking on a plan to further entrench itself in the Hispanic space with the expected roll out of its program ratings measurement via Nielsen, according to Lucia Ballas-Traynor, svp and general manager.
"We've got a list of about 10 clients who say they can't buy us until we get ratings, so we're going to start guaranteeing ratings in the fourth quarter," Ballas-Traynor said.
Media buying agencies are demanding ratings numbers on behalf of their clients, who consider metrics an indicator of a TV network's performance, eventual reach and a measure of the way their investment will be used to reach the intended target, Ballas-Traynor said.
"They've told us it doesn't matter what the rating is, they just need ratings in order to even consider us," she said. "As long as the trend is an upward trend -- and that's the way we're heading -- that's what the media buying agencies look at."
As a niche player that is just starting out, Ballas-Traynor says though she knows MTV Tr3s won't be generating ratings on the level of Univision or Telemundo, ratings measurement data coupled with the network's strong numbers for online, mobile, texting and other digital media will help illustrate the network's strength in the marketplace.
"You can see the numbers immediately," she said, noting that when MTV Tr3s' "Descubre and Download" gets thousands of simultaneous downloads for a track by a featured artist such as Jesus Malverde, the online push is likely coming from the TV network.
On the heels of the recent "Latino Intelligence Report 2008" by the Intelligence Group, New York, a major theme of MTV Tr3s' upfront strategy will be to make the case that Latino youth are key influencers in all of the purchasing decisions in Hispanic households, Ballas-Traynor said.
She says the challenge is to provide cultural insights to marketers that will educate them about the dynamics that shape these young consumers, their families and their home lives. Too often, media buyers will say that buying into a young bilingual Latino demo is not viewed to be a "Hispanic" buy because a Hispanic buy is considered to be one that targets heads of households who are Spanish-dominant, Ballas-Traynor said.
"So here you have an amazing demo who are at a great age, when they are just beginning to establish brand loyalty, and they are key influencers -- more than any other generation -- and yet, this is what we're facing [in the media buying community] with most of the accounts," she said.
Young viewers who are bilingual and who are looking for choices in programming now will be able to find MTV Tr3s via their basic cable service, Ballas-Traynor said.
MTV Tr3s expects to see its distribution widen in the future since Comcast and Cox, both multiple cable television systems operators (MSOs), have shifted MTV Tr3s to basic cable from the tier system of distribution in which cable subscribers must opt for a designated Latino-centric package of cable channels, Ballas-Traynor said. "Most of the growth -- and we'll see when we get the Nielsen report -- will be attributable to those two migrations [to basic cable]," she said. "That's huge for us because that was one of our major issues."
The network is broadcast nationwide via 30 affiliate low power and full power stations in top U.S. Hispanic markets, per the network.
MTV Tr3s is scheduled to host an upfront presentation for advertisers and media buyers at B.B. Kings on May 13 in New York at 6 p.m.
GOLTV
GolTV hopes to kick home its message to advertisers and media buyers during this year’s upfront presentation with the theme: Discover GolTV. We are more than you think.
Like other upstart networks seeking a bigger share of the marketplace, GolTV comes into the selling season pumped with metrics data to illustrate its dominance in soccer broadcasting.
“There will be a lot of numbers and research data in our presentation and we will show advertisers and agencies the kinds of numbers we are delivering,” said Rodrigo Lombello, COO, GolTV, adding, “We own the weekends on Hispanic cable. We are the No. 1 network [for live soccer coverage] by far.”
The bilingual network, which began reporting its programming ratings via the Nielsen Television Index (NTI) in October 2007, will come into its upfront presentation armed with six months of strong ratings, Lombello said.
“We’ll use the ratings to inform our clients about what we are doing well and to give them ideas for how they can maximize their investment by focusing on the shows that are really working well with our male audiences,” he added.
Jumping into the ratings race was a strategic move that GolTV expects will pay off via increased interest by marketers who demand viewership data.
"It was something that we always wanted to do, but you have to reach a certain critical mass to deliver the numbers,” Lombello said. “We felt in Q4 2007, we had achieved the point that we wanted to reach. It was a good decision.”
GolTV will go after beer marketers during this upfront season, hoping to attract new business to its sports programming and predominantly male audience, 18 to 49, Lombello said. “It seems like an obvious marriage: GolTV and the beer category,” he added.
Other big numbers the network will talk up include its widening distribution, climbing to 16 million U.S. households today from 11 million a year, NTI.
A key point GolTV executives intend to make to advertisers about its viewers is the value of the TV soccer fan as a captive audience.
"For advertising purposes, we have a captive audience for 90 minutes without the breaks that every other network would have, so during that time advertisers have an opportunity to position their brands and target them directly at male audience 18 to 49,” said Didi Montiel, GolTV's director of marketing.
During a big game such as the upcoming May 7 contest between Real Madrid and Barcelona, Montiel says the best way to reach the viewer is to position a product or brand message during the time that TV watchers have their eyeballs on the programming content.
“There's much more value in integrating a brand during the 40 minutes of each half of the game, than with a 30-second spot during the program break,” said Lombello, noting the half-time break is when viewers are more likely to switch channels or take their eyes off the TV altogether.
That’s a concept GolTV plans to introduce at the upfront along with the network’s openness and flexibility to create product integration strategies, which is something the network can provide since controls the programming. “We can integrate the brands with both the teams and the leagues,” he said.
GolTV will host an upfront presentation on May 14 at the Time Warner Center’s Stone Rose Lounge at 8:30 a.m. in New York.
Some of the highlights of GolTV’s 2008-2009 programming lineup are expected to include:
• The network will continue to carry the main leagues it has carried in the past, including La Liga of Spain, the Bundesliga of Germany and the Colombian League;
• A program called "Report 2010," a news, highlights and behind-the-scenes program that covers all World Cup all the time, will continue on the network; It airs in Europe, South and Central America, Asia and Africa;
• Announcements are expected regarding as many as four national teams that will be broadcast exclusively on Gol TV;
• GolTV is putting together its World Cup qualifying coverage and so far have closed deals with the Italian National Team, which is the current world champion; all of the German National Team games leading up to the 2010 World Cup in Africa; and exclusive broadcast rights to as many as four European National Teams playing in games leading up to the World Cup are expected to be announced soon;
ESPN DEPORTES
The cable network is flexing its muscles as it preps for a May 14 upfront presentation designed to position ESPN Deportes as a leading player in sports TV.
Working off the theme, "ESPN Deportes Reloaded," the network will showcase recent accomplishments including the creation of a widened national distribution and the launch last week of a programming ratings measurement system via the Nielsen Homevideo Index Hispanic (NHIH).
The upfront presentation is the fourth pitch to advertisers in five years for ESPN Deportes and the first following a one-year hiatus from the selling season, said Lino Garcia, general manager of ESPN Deportes.
A year ago, parent network ESPN held an upfront during the selling week and the Hispanic channel joined in the ESPN program, choosing to forgo its own event and instead held individual meetings with clients, he added.
As the network nears the five-year mark in January 2009, ESPN Deportes has hit its stride, building up its sports coverage, launching the program ratings measurement, developing and generating relevant programming and learning from its experiences, Garcia said.
He describes the upcoming presentation to advertisers as somewhat of a re-launch, "but with more ammunition than before."
"It's a great time for us. We've grown by leaps and bounds, in terms of our distribution network and international footprint in the past 12 months, having signed deals with major distributors Time Warner, Direct TV and Comcast," said Garcia.
The past six months have yielded big results for the cable network, extending its distribution within the digital cable channels of multiple cable service operators (MSOs) in top Hispanic markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Miami, Garcia said.
ESPN realized that the network needed to be more accessible than only available via the Spanish-language tiers offered by most cable subscribers, requiring consumers who want to watch TV in Spanish to select the option above the basic cable option, Garcia said.
"A few years ago digital was considered a bad word for a lot cable networks," Garcia said. "But we're all moving in that direction and everything is digital. And clearly, February 17 is going to be a key for all of us [when the transition to digital occurs]. So digital in the most broad digital packages, which is where we're available in the top three markets, is where we want to be."
Making the shift to digital cable in key Hispanic markets has been a top priority for ESPN Deportes after securing all of the network's major distributor deals, Garcia said.
"We looked at individual markets that are dominated by Hispanics and comprise the top 10 and top 20 markets and worked to convince the cable operators serving those markets that it was mutually beneficial to have us widely distributed [in their service areas] because it created opportunities for them to sell local advertising," Garcia said.
He pointed out that Time Warner's AdLink, considered one of the more aggressive local ad sellers in the Hispanic space, is recognizing the benefits of ESPN Deportes, which reaches more than 4 million U.S. Hispanic homes, per the network.
With such a broad reach among Hispanic consumers and a distribution network serving key Hispanic markets, Garcia says the network is primed to take a leap into the ratings game and demonstrate to marketers and media buyers that it can deliver the goods.
ESPN Deportes began measuring and reporting its programming ratings on April 28 via the Nielsen Homevideo Index Hispanic (NHIH) Service, the network announced on April 24.
"For the first time we are going to go into an upfront with complete national coverage and ratings that will start coming out on a regular basis," Garcia said. "It's important for us to do this. We've hit the critical mass, which was the first big step for us. If we could have been rated two years ago, we would have opted to, but we didn't have the critical mass."
He added: "We've been operating this network on a lot of instinct and good thinking, but you need the metrics to really show you at the end of the day what you've done and how many households are enjoying your programming."
Garcia said the network is anxious to demonstrate to existing advertisers and to others in the marketplace the viability and the buy-in that our viewers have for the network. "It's great timing," he added. "Distribution and ratings are two of the biggest points that we'll be bringing across at our event."
Programming is the other piece of the pitch that ESPN Deportes will make to advertisers during the gathering the network will host at Gotham Hall on May 14 at 5:30 p.m. in New York, Garcia said, declining to reveal details of the 2008-2009 lineup, saying that it likely will include more coverage of live events as well as more studio programming focusing on news and information.
"This is an important area of the programming offerings of ESPN and on the Spanish-language network," Garcia said. "As we've evolved, we've looked to develop even more of the type of informational programming that our viewers demand. We see that as an important growth area for us."
ESPN Deportes will be doing its share of creating of brand new original ideas for programming, "but we also have some very successful programming franchises in the general market that can be adapted for our audiences as well when the timing and the subject matter is time," Garcia said. "It will be programming that you would expect from ESPN."
To meet marketers' expectations, the network has worked to develop other media platforms, launching ESPNDeportes.com online before the launch of Hispanic cable network ESPN Deportes. The network also launched the magazine ESPN Deportes La Revista, and ESPN Deportes Radio. "Those four platforms work together synergistically to promote the ESPN Deportes brand and allow advertisers to creatively put out their messaging and connect with our viewers -- sports fans who are passionate about the content they are ingesting."
The network also is developing a fifth platform, a wireless space that the network chiefs are eager to develop beyond the MVP offering available via Verizon, to create a mobile offering that isn't specific to one carrier," he said.
In 2008, the network acquired the following programs that were available during last year's upfront and later made available:
"Olympic Qualifiers," held in March;
"South American World Cup Qualifier," the first set of games begin in June 2008, then go on through 2010;
ESPN Deportes executives will embark on meetings to visit with clients in the post-upfront period, Garcia said.
DISCOVERY EN ESPAÑOL
Setting the Spanish-language cable network apart from the Hispanic media pack is the strategy that Discovery en Español is employing as it foregoes hosting a traditional upfront presentation this year in favor of individual meetings with clients.
The network has been holding client meetings since February and expects to continue talking up its vast programming capabilities, which encompass nine TV genres including lifestyle, science/technology among others, through the end of May.
"Marketers are looking for integration and they are looking for differentiation," said Victor Parada, vp, advertising sales, Discovery Networks U.S. Hispanic Group. "We address that and we provide differentiation with our content by providing relevant environments that no other programmer can."
Discovery's wide body of content makes it possible for marketers to target messaging via any number of programming vehicles, Parada said.
"If an automotive company wants to talk about technology, or if an automotive company wants to position itself as concerned about sustainability -- such as General Motors aligning itself with the 'green' movement -- there isn't another Hispanic network that can provide such rich content in terms of 'green,' Parada said.
As a component of the Discovery Communications platform, the Hispanic cable network will launch "Planet Green" this June, he said, noting the immense availability of content. "We are going to be airing the Al Gore movie, "An Inconvenient Truth" in December."
The message Parada intends to get across to marketers is all about the unique position that Discovery en Español holds in the Hispanic marketplace and its role as an emerging player that's able to provide advertisers and agencies with the metrics numbers that they demand.
He says the network's "uniqueness" stems from its ability "to combine the numbers that the marketplace needs with the programming that the marketplace really likes."
The network's broad range of programming is divided into nine genres with some resonating strongly with key male and female demos, Parada said.
Female viewers, 18 to 49, are drawn to real-life mystery programs that re-enact crimes such as "FBI Files" and "New Detectives."
Says Parada: "There's a lot of drama, there's storytelling and crimes are being solved, justice is prevailing and the use of technology and forensic science is being used to uncover mysteries," he said. "That sort of programming does very well with women and has boosted our female audience."
Other programs that are popular with viewers include lifestyle-themed shows about fashion, design, home décor and food, Parada said, noting that the Hispanic network is able to cull the bulk of the its programming from Discovery's lifestyle networks in the United States and in Latin America such as TLC and Discovery Health.
Genres that play well to male audiences, ages 18 to 34 and 18 to 49, offer programs like "Mythbusters," "Extreme Engineering," "Deadliest Catch," "Everest," "Survivor Man" and "Man vs. Wild," per the network.
"The rest of our programming pretty much does well with adults, 18 to 49," Parada said. "So we're broad in a sense, but advertisers can look at specific genres to target specific demos."
Though TV continues to be the predominant media of choice for marketers who do business with Discovery en Español, there's increasing buzz among clients for online offerings with only limited interest in multiplatform programs, Parada said.
In a dramatic departure from what other Hispanic networks are offering this selling season, Discovery en Español isn't pushing multimedia deals, Parada said. "That's not what we offer. Our offering is tied to Discovery en Español, the channel, and it's really cable television platform," he said. "Online is not a part of our offering as far as the upfront."
He added: "Right now the focus is on Discovery en Español, the cable network. Any other vehicles such as mobile and online haven't yet been developed as part of the [Discovery] Hispanic Group."
"We're not conventional, but we're effective," Parada said. "When clients are looking for more options and alternatives that are not more of the same -- we're not providing another novela or another gossip show -- we're providing something different."
UPFRONT PRESENTATIONS HELD PRIOR TO MAY 5
LATV
LATV made its New York debut Thursday night (May 1) as a national TV network, touting a lineup of original bicultural, bilingual content and fast-growing distribution that has catapulted it into 32 million households and 26 major Hispanic markets.
Launched nationally in six markets a year ago, the digital multicast network rolled out its first upfront presentation last night to some 100 advertisers and media buyers amid a groundswell of momentum. The theme for the evening: "Join the network that leads while others follow."
The May 1 event at Chelsea's trendy Ultra nightclub was part upfront presentation, part celebration of recent milestones and part official national launch. A year ago, LATV hosted an informal post-upfront party in New York to mount its effort to become a national network.
LATV's first upfront coincides with sales calls and meetings the network will stage through May that are designed to familiarize marketers and media buyers on the opportunities that a young Hispanic demo can offer, executives said.
Like other upstart Hispanic networks, LATV's strategy for the 2008-2009 selling season is to set itself apart from industry mainstay Univision, saying the young network is at the forefront of media aimed at a new generation of Latinos who expect cutting-edge programming that goes beyond telenovelas and is delivered in innovative ways outside of traditional media.
Danny Crowe, LATV president opened the program with a quick recap of the network's widening distribution and expanded culturally-relevant programming, citing them as the key reasons the network has been able to secure affiliation agreements with top broadcasters.
LATV announced an affiliate partnership on Tuesday (April 29) with Tribune Broadcasting (New York, Chicago and Dallas); and has signed others in recent months such as Post-Newsweek.
"We've made some tremendous progress in a short time for us as a company and to our first priorities our viewers and our advertisers," said Bill Jenkins, LATV's vp of ad sales. "We had a tremendously strong national rollout and it's only gotten stronger."
The network expects to secure an affiliate station in Phoenix in the near future, Jenkins said.
LATV execs hope to capitalize on the network's strong buzz, as well as its acquisition earlier this year of American Latino TV, which produces the nationally-syndicated programs "American Latino TV" and "LatiNation," to lineup new business from marketers looking to reach the often elusive young Hispanic consumers in the 18 to 34 demo who are bicultural and bilingual.
"In one short year, we are the leading network in the digital arena, delivering today's assimilated Latino youth," said Jenkins. "Ours is a unique product with programming that combines a strong interactive component with ground-breaking shows and original content -- advantages that separate us from the pack."
Reaching U.S. born Latinos with culturally-relevant content is a significant shift from long held programming strategies, but it's the kind of strategy that's paid off for the nationally-syndicated Latino-centric programs (American Latino TV and LatiNation) that Robert Rose successfully created and launched and recently sold to LATV. He now serves as executive producer, LATV.
"We know that change isn't easy [for some marketers], and we're facing 30 years of Spanish-language TV dominance combined with a lack of research -- and some of it down right misleading and incomplete -- about language and assimilation, and we need to correct that," said Rose.
He joined forces with LATV execs in January because they share his vision on the Hispanic market, referring to them as his "comprades in change."
Armed with U.S. Census data, Rose emphasized to marketers in the room that for U.S. born Latinos, a market that is 50 percent larger than the market of foreign-born Latinos, the key to messaging that works is no longer about marketing campaigns in Spanish. "It's not a language issue, it's about cultural reference," he said.
LATV also made the case for marketing to young U.S. born Latinos because the demo is expected to account for three out of four U.S. born Latinos by 2020. Additionally, the U.S. born Latino market is young -- half the age of foreign-born Latinos, making the untapped segment a widely attractive target for marketers, LATV said.
The network offered up its syndicated programs as vehicles for driving media messages via a multiplatform approach including product integration, customized cultural opportunities, Web integration and viral marketing as well as event marketing and promotions, per the network.
Guests included executives from network affiliates and the hosts of "LatiNation," Desi (Adesina) Sanchez and José Mangin.
LATV's 2008-2009 programming lineup includes:
• "En la Zona," a twice-weekly entertainment program that looks at the latest trends in music, film, fashion and glamour. The show is hosted by LATV host Viviana Vigil, music VJ Pili Montilla and telenovela star Marcela Pezet. The show debuted in March.
• "LATV Movie of the Week," which the network boasts as "a weekly dose of cutting edge films -- LATV style."
• "LATV en Concierto," a new season begins this summer and features top Latino recording artists in "a unique performance show with intimate interviews."
• "Wachale," ("Take a Look"), a Latino nod to E! Entertainment Network's "Talk Soup" dares to "go where no other show in this space has gone before." The half-hour show spoofs Hispanic TV and pop culture since, as the show acknowledges, our culture provides "a lot of material to work with." Hosted by Humberto Guida, the program debuted on March 26.
• "Town Hall Meeting," an interactive event leading up to the 2008 presidential election.
• "Travel With the Stars," Latino celebs serve as personal travel guides on this lifestyle show that will go on location to faraway places.
• "Imagen Awards," LATV will be the exclusive broadcaster of the star-studded awards show scheduled to air in the fall 2008.
• "Battle of the Bands 2008," a hit in 2007 for the network, which received 5,000 submissions from wannabe music artists, the program returns for a second season.
• "Be a VJ2 Contest," billed as a multiplatform event to pick the next LATV veejay.
SPANISH BROADCASTING SYSTEM
Spanish Broadcasting System Inc. has kicked off the Hispanic upfront selling season with its first presentation to advertisers, boasting a lineup of original content including its first-ever dramatic miniseries and a distribution agreement that expands its presence in Puerto Rico.
The Hispanic TV network mounted a celebrity-studded, Gothic-themed event April 24 amid the granite arches and vaulted tiled ceiling of Guastavino's, a New York historic landmark event space situated under the 59th Street Bridge, to introduce some 300 advertisers and media buyers to its upstart media properties.
Touting the network's rapid growth, Cynthia Hudson Fernandez, SBS' evp and chief creative officer, said SBS is making a play for a piece of the Hispanic-targeted marketplace to sell marketers on its multimedia capabilities, including digital, radio, mobile as well as its innovative, original programming, noting, "We are here to make a mark."
SBS announced that its Mega TV offering, which serves southern Florida and airs nationally via Direct TV Mas, has entered into programming distribution agreement with WSJU, Channel 30, a full-power television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that is carried via cable and satellite providers throughout the island via Liberty, Choice, One Link and Dish Network.
"We've tripled our audience in the key demographics in the past year,and along with our expansion with Direct TV Mas, we've very quickly becoming the network to watch," Hudson
Fernandez told the crowd, who were asked to wear black attire to celebrate the Gothic theme.
Guests included SBS talent such as Frankie Jay and Juan Carlos Alonzo of the top-rated New York morning show El Vacilon de la Manana, which airs on SBS-owned WSKQ La Mega 97.9 FM; journalist Mar’a Elvira Salazar; talk show host and actor Alexis Valdes; and stars of upcoming SBS network projects, including Latino superstar Chayanne, Mexican actress Angelica Celaya and Cuba-born Grammy-winning artist Albita Rodriguez.
With the addition of the Puerto Rico station, Mega TV is expected to reach nearly 3 million U.S. Hispanic households, per Nielsen's Hispanic Station Index.
She also revealed that the network's nightly news program "Mega News" has forged a partnership with News Corp. to serve as a content provider/affiliate of the Fox News Edge Service.
SBS announced the following additions to Mega TV's programming lineup:
• "La Descarga con Albita" ("The Jam Session With Albita"), a live and unplugged musical show hosted by Albita, the Cuba-born, Grammy-winning artist. The show debuted April 27 and will air Sundays at 8 p.m. The program's promise of a young demo already has attracted national advertisers such as automaker Volkswagen as a sponsor, Hudson Fernandez said.
• "Las Divas de la Tarde," ("The Divas of the Afternoon"), the network's Latina-targeted afternoon talk show, planned for a 2009 launch; and
• "Gabriel," a dramatic miniseries that Hudson Fernandez describes as "more HBO and not a novela" in terms of quality. The made-for-TV movie was photographed in HD on location in Miami, Puerto Rico, Rome and Venice, Italy.
The limited-run series is scheduled to debut in September 2008. It is the first production of SBS' unit Megafilms and coproducer Direct TV Mas, and features sexy Latino superstar Chayanne in the title role of Gabriel, a modern day vampire who seeks salvation in the arms of his eternal love played by Mexican actress Angelica Celaya.
A multiplatform marketing effort will be mounted around the "Gabriel" series, including a dedicated Web site, mobi-sodes and online video clips. "We're not designing anything that doesn't offer all kinds of opportunities for advertisers to come into," said Hudson Fernandez.
SBS earlier this month announced a content partnership to provide the social networking site MySpace Latino, with two SBS branded channels, La Musica and Mega.TV, as well as 125 profiles within the social network, Hudson Fernandez said.
The Hispanic media company will also move into a new state-of-the-art broadcast center in June, per SBS.
Having stepped up Mega TV's business plan to establish a nationwide network to between 12 and 18 months from a three-year timeframe, Hudson Fernandez said SBS "is on track to becoming the No. 3 Hispanic network" after Univision and Telemundo.
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