Hispanic

Venezuelan billionaire businessman Gustavo Cisneros, who grew the family business Cisneros Group into an influential media conglomerate across Latin America and the U.S., has died at age 78.

The good news is that following years of lagging overall U.S. ad spending growth, multicultural ad spending — ad budgets targeting Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans — will expand faster than the general marketplace next year. The bad news is most of that growth is coming from one segment — Hispanic Americans — while ad budgets aimed at Black and Asian Americans will continue to represent a minority share of multicultural ad spending.

When the U.S.’s largest Spanish-language network ran a friendly interview with the former president, Democrats cried foul. Executives say they’re seeking more balance.

TelevisaUnivision today appointed Steven Wolfe Pereira chief client officer of its U.S. advertising sales and marketing unit, a new position at the company. Wolfe Pereira, a veteran advertising executive, was most recently with 3Pas Studios, a multiplatform entertainment company he co-founded. In his new role, Wolfe Pereira will report to Donna Speciale, president of U.S. advertising at TelevisaUnivision.

Jorge Ramos, the Univision star anchor who has become as defined by his clashes with the Trump administration as he has by his coverage of major world events, has become the latest of the Spanish-language network’s top anchors to take issue with an interview broadcast by the news division earlier this month with the former president.

TelevisaUnivision CEO Wade Davis sent a memo to staff Tuesday addressing backlash the network has faced after a controversial interview with former President Trump that some viewed as too friendly. In the memo, Davis said despite the criticism, the company continues to maintain a nonpartisan approach to news.

León Krauze, one of the most prominent anchors at Univision’s news division, has left the network in the wake of a controversial interview with former President Donald Trump that took place last week and has spurred concerns among journalists at the company that the Spanish-language media giant is no longer challenging Republican politicians.

The presence of corporate executives at Mar-a-Lago raises alarm among Democrats who are used to Latino media criticism of the former president’s policies.

The increase to $274 million is powered by its digital properties, which now account for 84% of total revenue.

TelevisaUnivision powered to its highest third-quarter revenue total in the U.S. to date, up 5% year-over-year, as overall global revenue increased 11% to $1.28 billion. The Spanish-language media company also touted growth of streaming service ViX to more than 40 million monthly active users and said the direct-to-consumer segment was on track to become profitable in mid-2024.

As Major League Baseball‘s post-season continues, Warner Bros. Discovery wants to talk baseball or beisbol. Starting Oct. 16, the company’s sports division will launch “Postseason ALTcast: Peloteros,” a so-called “alterna-cast” that will feature cultural conversations centered on the NLCS and the game of baseball as told through diverse voices and representation within the Hispanic community. The broadcast will appear on the TruTV cable network and the Max streaming hub while the traditional game broadcast appears on TBS and Max.

The station group moves him up from senior director of Spanish media sales after guiding advertising sales growth for GrayTV Telemundo Station Group in 42 markets.

Streaming platforms are chasing live sports rights to grow their audiences. Increasingly, those audiences are watching in Spanish. Media companies like TelevisaUnivision, Canela Media, NBCUniversal’s Telemundo and Peacock, Disney’s ESPN+ and Amazon’s Prime Video are all bulking up on Spanish-language sports content. Hispanic viewers have been at the “forefront of cord-cutting,” making them a key demographic in streaming growth.

Companies like Danone went from investing sporadically to continuously in Hispanic media.

The Univision anchor, one of three moderators, caught some candidates off-guard with questions on immigration and hate crimes.

AdImpact, an ad intelligence service, said it has extended its relationship with TelevisaUnivision for two additional years. The Spanish-language programming giant licenses AdImpact’s political spending and competitive tracking tools. The companies have worked together for eight years.

The increase to $273 million is powered by a 28% boost from its digital properties and higher local advertising and retrans revenue that offset lower national and political television ad dollars.

The owner of the Univision broadcast network and the Vix streaming hub was able to increase the volume of ad commitments it secured in upfront talks, according to a person familiar with the matter. The company expects volume to increase in the high-single-digit percentage range, while most of its English-language rivals are seeing commitment volume that is largely flat to slightly up from year-earlier performance.

Total revenues grew 11% to $1.2 billion. CEO Wade Davis said the writers and actors strikes shouldn’t have much impact on the Spanish-language company since “nearly 100% of our production is outside the U.S.”

When WOIO, Gray’s CBS affiliate in Cleveland, launched its OTT desk, little did it know that it would lead to a company-wide initiative at Gray and give WOIO the ability to launch a live 6 p.m. newscast on its Telemundo affiliate WTCL.

Leopoldo Gomez, Univision News president, is leaving the company as of July 14. He has run Univision News for two years after spending 23 years as VP of news at Televisa. Gomez “plans to pursue other interests,” according to parent TelevisaUnivision. His interim replacement will be Maria Martinez-Guzman, Univision’s EVP of news.

The new 12,000 square-foot media center features many advanced newsroom tools to improve newsgathering and content publishing across multiple platforms.