Spanish-TV giant TelevisaUnivsion wants to speak a different language than its English-speaking rivals when it comes to audience measurement. “We all know that today’s TV measurement is inadequate for our multi-screen world, and as a consequence, U.S Hispanics have been undercounted,” says Donna Speciale, president of U.S. ad sales and marketing at the company. “In fact, our audience is 26% bigger than current measurement. How did we get that information? Nielsen just told us,” she says, using its traditional panel-based tabulation as well as its “big data” product. “This is huge and and a huge step for equity,” she adds, noting that TelevisaUnivision will ask all agencies and clients to base this year’s upfront ad deals on that measurement.
TelevisaUnivision, the Spanish-language media giant, says it has partnered with the NFL and CBS Sports to secure the Spanish-language rights to the next Super Bowl, which is set for Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. TelevisaUnivision announced the news at its upfront presentation Tuesday in New York with sports anchor Alejandro Berry teasing “four major and very exciting announcements,” before introducing star athletes to bring out trophies for the UEFA Champions League, the EuroCup, and the Copa America.
TelevisaUnivision said it is moving its upfront event to a bigger venue in 2023 based on a big turnout last year. “We’ve reached the tipping point. The cultural firepower of U.S. Hispanics is indisputable, and more brands than ever are making the commitment to invest in this audience,” said Donna Speciale, TelevisaUnivision president of U.S., advertising sales and marketing.
Univision is planning to build its addressable advertising capabilities, starting with beta tests with Vizio and Dish this year. More partners will be brought on next year, said Donna Speciale, president of advertising sales and marketing at Univision. Univision earlier announced being involved in the beta testing of Nielsen’s addressable technology, since sold to Roku. It also joined Project OAR, a group led by Vizio that looks to set standards for addressable advertising.
Univision’s PrendeTV streaming service will premiere this quarter with a group of blue-chip advertisers as launch partners, according to Donna Speciale, recently named president of advertising sales and marketing at the Spanish-language media company.
The appointments include veteran executives from ViacomCBS, WarnerMedia and Telemundo. Pierluigi Gazzolo fills the newly created role of president of Univision Communications Inc. and chief transformation officer, while Luis Silberwasser fills the newly created role of president of the Univision Television Networks Group, leading Univision’s national TV properties.
Exclusives
Five women now spearhead the ad strategies for the leading network groups that will control the lion’s share of the $70 billion TV ad business during this year’s annual upfront ad haggle. They talk about their long, hard road to the top.
Turner Ad Sales Chief: ‘Dayparts Are Dead’
Donna Speciale, president of Turner ad sales, told clients Turner is “one unified portfolio representing 15,000 hours of premium content, on every screen, every platform … reaching 75% of all Americans. In this new world, dayparts are dead,” Speciale told advertisers, who are increasingly buying branded content and pre-rolls, not traditional :30 commercial time.
