TelevisaUnivision

Ignacio “Nacho” Meyer has been named president of U.S. Networks for Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivison. He will be based in Miami and report to Wade Davis, the company’s CEO. Meyer will take on a role that had previously been under the aegis of Luis Silberwasser, who decamped to Warner Bros. Discovery to lead its sports business.

Univision Noticias’ fact-checking program elDetector is the first fact-checking platform in Spanish in the United States. The platform will join Meta’s International Fact-Checking Network.

Regardless of the direction of the economy in the coming months, Univision is expecting a big boost from political advertising.

In its first full quarter of results, TelevisaUnivision reported a modest uptick in revenue and reiterated its belief in having a unique market opportunity, though its adjusted income faltered due to investments in streaming. The earnings report reflected operations during the quarter ending June 30. On January 31, Univision and the media division of Mexico-based Televisa completed a $4.8 billion merger, creating the world’s top Spanish-language media company and keeping it privately held.

Scoring strong upfront ad market revenue results, Spanish-language media group, TelevisaUnivision posted “double-digit” volume growth, according to a media executive close to the company — its best result in seven years. The media company posted “high single digit” cost-per-thousand viewer increases versus the upfront market of a year ago. A TelevisaUnivision representative had no comment with regard to the upfront negotiations.

TelevisaUnivision is getting more entrenched in TV’s measurement wars. The Spanish-language media giant is teaming up with data company VideoAmp, one of a growing number of audience-measurement companies whose services are being tapped as TV networks mull alternatives to Nielsen, the industry’s de factor arbiter of audience size. Under terms of the pact, TelevisaUnivision will use VideoAmp’s data in a suite of advanced advertising solutions, giving advertisers a better sense of the viewers they are reaching and their responses to commercials.

While every network presenting at this year’s upfronts is highlighting their streaming wares and linear offerings, executives from TelevisaUnivision are approaching sales meetings with an ace up their sleeves: Its linear TV ratings are on the rise.

CEO Wade Davis says the Spanish-language media group is “seeing huge strength across the board. Pharma is up 34%. Finance is up almost 50%. Retail is up 40%.”         

He moves from Sinclair Broadcast Group to lead distribution of TelevisaUnivision’s broadcast and cable networks, the new ViX global streaming platform and other related content to TelevisaUnivision’s network distribution partners.

The purchase from Hemisphere Media Group brings together complementary streaming assets, building upon TelevisaUnivision’s investments in and launch of a global streaming service amid the company’s ongoing digital transformation.

Spanish-language TV powerhouse TelevisaUnivision said on Tuesday that its revenue would have increased 12.2% to more than $1 billion in the first quarter when looking at its combined business created by a $4.8 billion mega-merger at the end of January.

TelevisaUnivision’s streaming service ViX is now available to all users in the U.S., Mexico and most of Spanish-speaking Latin America. The free, ad-supported video on demand tier is available on all major mobile platforms, connected TV devices and at vix.com. This includes Apple iOS and tvOS devices, Android mobile and Android TV OS devices, Amazon Fire TV, Roku devices and Samsung Smart TVs.

Wade Davis, CEO of the just-merged TelevisaUnivision, said 2021 was “the first time in more than 15 years that Univision has grown ad sales sequentially after a political year.”

TelevisaUnivision said that Univision narrowed its fourth-quarter loss as revenue increased. The deal combining assets of Televisa and Univision closed earlier this year. The company said Univision lost $2.4 million in the quarter, compared to a $39.1 million loss a year ago. Revenue rose 4.1% to $752 million.

TelevisaUnivision said it will launch a new streaming platform, with a free ViX ad-supported service and Vix+ subscription service available through a single app. CEO Wade Davis said the company has made a capital commitment of billions of dollars, “multiple of what any other platform is spending in the language.

TelevisaUnivision said it hired two multimedia ad sales executives: Rob McGovern (left), who will be SVP of multimedia sales, and Richard Bertodatti, named SVP, multimedia and audience sales.

The new entity, known as TelevisaUnivision Inc., builds on a previous production alliance created by the companies as they looked to fend off a rising number of rivals aiming at Hispanic viewers in the age of streaming. As of the merger close, the company claims reach to more than 60% of TV audiences in both the U.S. and Mexico. Across television, digital, streaming and audio, the company says its audience is more than 100 million Spanish speakers daily.