Six Flags Finds Common Theme With Univision

With Latinos now estimated to make up nearly a third of the more than 25 million theme park visitors in Southern California annually, Six Flags Magic Mountain wants to make sure it gets its share of this increasingly lucrative market.

Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications Inc. and amusement park operator Six Flags announced a broad marketing agreement Friday, a signal of growing reliance on Latinos for theme park attendance in major metropolitan areas.

The arrangement calls for Los Angeles-based Univision to create a Latin festival that will tour eight Six Flags theme parks nationally, including Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, this summer. Univision will use its clout as the United States’ largest Spanish-language broadcaster to attract stars of novelas, or Spanish-language soap operas, and top Univision network talent to the tour.

In return, Six Flags, owned by Premier Parks Inc. of Oklahoma City, will step up its advertising with Univision.

Eventually, Six Flags parks could house Univision broadcasting sites or Univision-themed attractions, said Sherrie Bang, Six Flags senior vice president of marketing.

Although movie studios and media companies have long held important marketing relationships and often outright ownership of theme parks, this deal looks to be the most significant link to date between a park operator and a Spanish-language media venture, according to industry executives.

Disneyland, for example, began selling tamales from vending carts during Christmas 1998 and later extended the promotion to year-round sales because of customer response. The theme park also is rebuilding Casa Mexicana, once called Casa de Fritos because it was sponsored by Frito-Lay Inc. It will reopen later this year as an early-California theme restaurant with an improved menu.

At California Adventure, the Walt Disney Co. theme park that will open adjacent to Disneyland next year, designers are including a working tortilla factory exhibit in one section where it will complement a traditional San Francisco sourdough bread bakery.

Six Flags properties are known in the industry as “iron-rides” parks, replete with roller coasters that flip, spin and twist riders through wild gyrations, at times exerting forces several times that of gravity.

That profile has made the parks popular among teenagers and young adults, who make up one of Univision’s most coveted audiences. While Univision commands an overwhelming 85% share of the Spanish-language television audience in the U.S., it reaches 92% of Latino teens.

Moreover, the median age of the 33 million Latinos in the U.S. is 27, just above the prime 13-to-25-year-old market that makes up the bulk of Six Flags theme park attendance.

“The Hispanic demographic skews almost perfectly with what theme parks are looking at,” said Manny Flores, chief executive of LatinWorks Marketing of Austin, Texas. And they often come in large family groups, which means more spending on food and souvenirs.

Flores said it makes sense that four of the eight markets scheduled for the Univision tour are in California and Texas, which are home to 55% of the nation’s Latino population.

Univision plans to tailor each one- or two-day festival to specific markets, said Gustavo Dominguez, director of corporate partnerships of Univision’s Los Angeles television outlet, KMEX.

“We would bring in the network and novela talent that is right for each region,” Dominguez said. “We can’t do this in a cookie-cutter fashion across eight markets because there are differences, and what makes sense for New York won’t be relevant for Los Angeles.”

It’s that type of understanding of the Latino community, Bang said, that could make the Univision alliance a cornerstone of Six Flags’ efforts to grow attendance among Spanish-language speakers.

Six Flags also is moving to expand its Latino branding internationally. It purchased the Reino Aventura amusement park in Mexico City last year, is adding roller coasters and other rides and has reopened the park as Six Flags Mexico.

News of the Univision-Six Flags deal had little effect on Wall Street, where Univision’s shares rose 81 cents to close at $107.69 on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of Premier Parks rose 31 cents to $23.94.