Telenovelas Help Telemundo Double Prime-Time Ratings

The Spanish-language television network Telemundo has secured its turf against the country’s massive Univision network by returning to the meat and potatoes of Spanish-language prime-time programming: telenovelas.

One show in particular, the Brazilian import, “Xica,” which is dubbed from Portuguese into Spanish and features Latin America’s first black woman in a telenovela lead role, drew big Telemundo audiences with an average of 800,000 people tuning in. The 10-11 p.m. time slot with “Xica” (pronounced SHEE-kuh) saw a 113% increase in ratings from 1.6 in February 1999 to 3.4 last month.

Overall, the network’s prime-time ratings doubled from 1.2 in February 1999 to 2.4 last month, according to Gabriella Ramirez, the network’s research director.

Figures for Telemundo’s much larger rival, Univision, were not supplied to The Times by press time, but the network’s flagship station, KMEX-TV (Channel 34) of Los Angeles, saw a 20% increase over the past year for its 6 p.m. local news. The station’s early morning news hour, “Primera Edicion,” doubled its rating from 0.6 to 1.2 for last month, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Meanwhile Telemundo made progress nationally on other fronts with audiences responding well to Pedro Sevcec, a familiar face on Telemundo, who was tapped to head the network news. Audiences for the 6:30 p.m. newscast increased by 55% with a 1.1 rating in February 1999 and a 1.7 last month. “We got a new anchor,” Ramirez said. “We also have full control of the news. A year ago, CBS Telenoticias was in control, but now we own them, and there’s more of a creative control.”

But Telemundo’s L.A. affiliate, KVEA-TV (Channel 51), didn’t fare as well, losing viewers for its 6 p.m. newscast from last year’s ratings. Those precise numbers were not available on Thursday.