Univision Posts Record Ad Sales for Fall Season

Univision Communications Inc., the nation’s largest Spanish-language television network, said Wednesday that advance advertising sales for the 1999-2000 season rose 42% to a record $425 million, as advertisers continue to reach out to Latino consumers.

Sales contracts have been completed with 79 advertisers--up from 62 at this point last year--including several advertisers new to Univision and the Spanish-language market.

A healthy economy and strong demand also boosted advance ad sales for English-language networks by 13% during this season’s upfront market. General Electric Co.’s NBC network had previously announced that it has sold $2.2 billion in prime-time advertising, more than any other network.

Univision’s results, which are closer in size to the WB network, were delayed because most advertisers make Spanish-language and other “specialty” market purchases after completing their other orders.

Henry Cisneros, the Los Angeles-based network’s president and chief executive, released a statement crediting the advertising community for its “increasing recognition that directly targeting the burgeoning Hispanic population through Spanish-language television makes both cultural and financial sense.”

Univision showed especially strong revenue growth in key airline, movie and entertainment, automotive, retail and telecommunications industries.

The Sony-owned Telemundo network, Univision’s main Spanish-language competitor, reported a 25% gain in some categories and across-the-board increases in gross revenue despite a recent management shake-up that cost network President Peter Tortorici his job.

The company, which is privately held, declined to disclose figures.

The “upfront” market is the period, beginning in late May, when television networks sell about 80% of their commercial spots for the upcoming fall season by touting their new programming schedules. Because Univision schedules first-run programming 52 weeks a year, the network had largely ignored the upfront season until 1997, when it sold $200 million of advertising time in its first attempt at an upfront campaign.

Univision, the nation’s fifth-largest television network with about 4 million prime-time viewers, is also the fastest-growing broadcast outlet in the U.S. While the four largest networks lost a combined 1.4 million viewers in the key 18-to-34-year-old demographic last season, Univision’s comparable audience grew by nearly a quarter of a million. And while it attracts 91% of the nation’s prime-time Spanish-language audience, the network also has more teen viewers than MTV, more young male viewers than ESPN and three times the overall audience of CNN.

Univision owns and operates 21 stations, and has 28 affiliate stations and 939 cable affiliates in the U.S. It also owns the Galavision Spanish-language cable network, which is seen in more than 10.5 million homes, and will soon acquire Florida-based GEMS Television, with more than 6 million subscribers in the U.S. and an equal number in Latin America. The purchase of GEMS, a Spanish-language cable network aimed at women, is awaiting FCC approval.

Univision stock rose $1.88 Wednesday to close at $68.50 on the New York Stock Exchange.