TelevisaUnivision is taking to the upfront stage with a message that John Kozack, its president of U.S. advertising sales and marketing calls “powerful” but “simple”: The slogan? “We get Hispanics.”
“We really understand this audience better than anybody,” Kozack says, speaking with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the Spanish-language media giant’s upfront presentation Tuesday.
“The dialogue has really shifted. It’s no longer about if you invest to try to reach the U.S. Hispanic consumer, but how,” he says. “And in a fragmented world, you know, reaching an audience and moving an audience are two different things, and we’re really positioned well for that.”
At its presentation, the company will take an approach that is familiar to media buyers this year: A slew of sports and live events (including, yes, the NFL), with a hefty dose of music (as with Premios Juventud) for good measure, and a solid lineup of entertainment to hold it together.
When it comes to Spanish-language sports, soccer remains king. And TelevisaUnivision has inked a slew of deals to keep up that cadence, including rights to CONMEBOL Libertadores and CONMEBOL Sudamericana, a renewal for CONCACAF’s Gold Cup and Nations League, and an extension for Mexican National Team matches through 2034.
Notably, the company is also partnering with YouTube mega-star MrBeast on a creator event as part of the Gold Cup, which Kozack says “will bring a different audience” to the game.
But TelevisaUnivision is also pushing into other sports through unique partnerships.
That includes the Super Bowl, which will will return to the company as it inks Spanish-language rights as part of a sub-licensing agreement with ESPN. And the Las Vegas Formula 1 Grand Prix will come to its platforms via a deal with Apple TV.
“50 percent of our viewers don’t watch English-language sports, so yes, you should be buying the NFL and all of those other great things, but if you come to us, we can increase your sports reach,” Kozack argues.
In streaming, the company will add some bread and butter technical improvements to its ViX platform, including DVR functionality and alternative broadcast options, with plans to significantly increase the number of short-form vertical video shows that it has been releasing on the platform.
Kozack says that the vertical shows, which it calls ViX MicrOs, have garnered more than a billion views since their launch last July.
“It was built off the novella type format,” he says. “Our sales approach is, we’re doing a lot of integrations with clients in these and we give them a seat at the table.”
On the entertainment front, the company will have its slate of scripted and unscripted programming, including telenovelas like Corazón de Oro and Tierra de Amor y Coraje, as well as programming like an interview show fronted by the legendary TV host Don Francisco and unscripted franchises like ¿Quién es la Máscara? and Juego de Voces.
And then there’s the partnership with music mega-star Marc Anthony, which will encompass music, lifestyle programming and long-form content that touches on fashion, hospitality and all parts of the Spanish-language media ecosystem.
“It’s not just developing a concert or a one off, we’re going to develop original content, live performance formats,” Kozack says. “We’re going to take his IP, the TelevisaUnivision IP, we’re going to merge them together, and that’s going to be a bigger and immersive kind of stage for our partners to take advantage of. He’s a global superstar, and he’s also excited to work with us.”
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