Telemundo’s Second Language: Localism

As part of its never-ending quest to close to gap with Spanish-language television’s first-place Univision, second-place Telemundo is now ramping up its local efforts, investing in news, programming and new media offerings at its string of 15 full-power and nine low-power stations.

Directing the effort is Ronald Gordon, president of the Telemundo Television Station Group. Prior to joining Telemundo in April 2009, he was CEO of ZGS Communications, Telemundo’s largest affiliate group.

In this interview with TVNewsCheck Correspondent Kevin Downey, Gordon discusses the local strategy; the competition with Univision and its companion network, TeleFutura; and acknowledges that Spanish-language media is lagging English-language media in the economic recovery.

An edited transcript:

Telemundo began producing original content for its primetime lineup a few years ago, as opposed to acquiring it from other countries, including novelas such as Alguien te Mira (Someone is Watching You) at 10 p.m. How has that worked as a news lead-in for Telemundo stations?

It has worked pretty well. If you look over the past few years, we’ve had some pretty good hits, like Donde Esta Elisa (Where is Elisa) and El Cartel. That has been a positive at 10 p.m. Not everything has been a hit, but the strategy for the company has given us a very good lead-in. We have seen some significant growth at 10 p.m. over the last 12 to 18 months, so it has been a positive in local markets.

Univision’s TeleFutura has outranked Telemundo nationally in key demographics some weeks this season. How is that affecting local Telemundo stations?

At the local level, we don’t really compete with TeleFutura. We compete with Univision. We have local content, we have local news and, promotionally, we are very active in our markets. TeleFutura has had some good hits in the past year.

It’s part of their game plan to say they’re beating Telemundo whenever they can. It has happened a few times in some demos. But the truth is, when we have everything moving along, we’re not even in the same ballpark. At the local level, I see our stations as local stations, but their stations are not. They are basically repeaters. They just repeat the network. They don’t have original content, except for news and public affairs programming in some markets. That is a key differentiator for us. So, on a local level, we compete with Univision.

In 2006, Telemundo dramatically scaled back its locally produced news programming by centralizing production in regional hubs. Telemundo last December began reversing course by increasing spending on national and local news. What changes were implemented, and how are these changes affecting the stations?

I wasn’t here when that happened [in 2006]. But my sense is that our cost structure was too high. We looked at it as a way to be more cost efficient in producing a quality product.

I think it worked, in terms of the quality of the product. But we lost the local flavor, the ability to be connected to our local communities and marketplaces.

We have had a fairly successful initiative to undo most of that. So, now, for example, the local news in Phoenix is produced in Phoenix and is doing very well. We believe in localism as a strategic foundation for our local stations. Part of that is to give our local stations the local news. We have been able to do it at the right cost and it’s going great.

How so?

We are seeing improvements in our news across the board, everywhere, although more in some markets than others. This only started in February, so it hasn’t even been a year yet. And viewers [have noticed]. For example, their anchor may be at a community event, which is a good starting-off point [to get involved in communities].

How much leeway do Telemundo stations have in airing original, local programming?

We have a show that we do in all markets called Acceso Total (Total Access), every morning Monday through Friday. We just launched a new show in Miami called Buenos Dias Miami, which has been very successful. In California, we just ran the governor’s debate. We do anything that connects us to the local community. We have [the upcoming] Miss Puerto Rico, for example, running in our heavily Puerto Rican markets. We are trying to develop new programs so that we can develop new products for our stations. We are trying to localize our stations as much as we can.

The ad economy is improving. What is the outlook for Telemundo stations? Do you expect to see increases in 2010 of 20% or so over 2009 that some of the English-language station groups are expecting?

We are seeing some growth and we’re hoping for nice growth next year, as well. There is some positive momentum in the economy. It’s not booming, but it’s trending in the right direction.

But Spanish-language TV isn’t the same as English TV. It’s not apples-to-apples. A rising tide lifts all boats. So, if the economy grows, our stations will see the upside of that as well.

But Spanish-language advertising is sometimes the first to be eliminated from budgets and sometimes the last to be put back in. But, assuming things start trending in the right direction, those dollars will be back and our stations will see some nice growth.

The Pew Hispanic Center last month released a study that found only a third of Latinos had given the midterm elections much thought, compared to half of all registered voters. How does that affect Telemundo stations’ ability to attract political ad dollars?

Latinos are not less interested in the political process. But I think there is some truth in that they may be less involved. Certainly, part of our responsibility as a local broadcaster is to inform that community, to serve that community and to get that community more involved in the political process. The more we do that, the better it will be for our business.

In the last three weeks [before the midterms], we saw significant political dollars come to our stations in key markets in Florida and California. Can it better? Yes.

To some degree, it is our responsibility to get the community engaged and involved in the political process. I think that’s something all broadcasters need to do. We have a campaign at the network level, which we also do at the local level, Tu Voto, Tu Futuro (Your Vote, Your Future). That gives us a platform to begin the education process. We also have get-out-the-vote drives in local communities. But we have a big issue with citizenship. A big part of our audience is in that category. Many of them are either not citizens or they’re residents.

NBC Local Media has been very aggressive in launching local websites in their O&O markets. Has Telemundo done the same? Is the content on these sites produced by local Telemundo stations?

We have good sites, but it’s a work in process. Part of the reason for decentralizing local news is to create more local content to be used in multiple platforms. We’re doing that. It’s a work in progress and we’re looking to improve that.

Our brothers at NBC Local Media have some very interesting platforms that we’re looking at. That is one of those opportunities where we can get some great synergies in working with NBC. We are totally committed to that space, so we’re looking to enhance it.

Latinos have been slow to adopt online media, but quick to adopt mobile media. How does that affect your interactive media strategy?

We were the first to launch a [Spanish-language] mobile platform, A La Mano (At Hand). We’ve had it for four years now. It’s a big part of what we offer. Of our digital platforms, it’s probably the most successful. We include it in almost every piece of multimedia, multimarket business that we have. It’s a nice enhancer for what we’re doing. We launched early and we’re going to continue to build on that.

A few Telemundo stations, including WNJU New York and KVEA Los Angeles, aired a Spanish-language version of NBC’s Sunday Night Football a few weeks ago. Was that just for Hispanic Heritage Month in September or will that continue?

That went very well for us. Obviously, the association with the NFL is good. Sunday Night Football is an NBC product, so it’s a natural extension. It did very well for us on a variety of fronts, so I hope we continue to do that.

We are having those conversations now. I hope it’s something we can feature. It’s a nice brand for us. If we can do that, that would be great.

Results from the 2010 census will begin coming out in 2011, with some demographers predicting the Latino population will be 50 million people or more, up from 35 million in 2000. What affect will that have on Telemundo stations?

It will validate the business we’re in. It will have a positive impact on Spanish-language media, overall, and it will have a positive impact on Telemundo. I’m sure a lot of the population growth will be in markets where [we already have stations]. It can only be positive.

Our challenge will be to convince advertisers to put more money into the Spanish-language marketplace. The census is going to be an important tool to help us get there.

Last thing, Comcast is acquiring NBCU. How will that affect Telemundo and its stations?

We’re excited about it. It will be a great opportunity. I think Comcast is excited about having a Spanish-language platform. Based on my experience and relationship with Comcast, they are very committed to localism. They want to be very engaged locally. It’s part of their culture. We are lined up [with them] in that respect. It speaks well for the future of our stations.