Telemundo Wraps Up Record Upfront Sales

Volume up 20% as viewership increases

By Jon Lafayette -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/9/2012 4:00:49 PM

Telemundo Media says it finished making upfront deals just before the Fourth of July holiday and racked up record sales.

Dan Lovinger, executive VP sales & integrated marketing at Telemundo says volume was up close to 20% while prices rose by high-single digits.

Overall, Lovinger estimated that the Hispanic TV upfront market rose by between 3% and 5%.

Because Telemundo had increased its share of TV viewing, it figured it would be getting a bigger share of ad dollars in this upfront versus Univision, which has long dominated the market.

"We thought going in that there would be a pretty significant share shift from Univision [Communications] to Telemundo and mun2, and that's in fact what we believe we saw," Lovinger said.

"Everywhere we did business, we were pretty well assured that the share shift was on and that people had recognized the growth in our audience and they were rewarding us for it," he said.

A Univision spokesperson was checking on the status of upfront sales at the leading Spanish-language network.

Telemundo increased its business with current Spanish-language advertisers and also added on $25 million to $35 million in new business from advertisers that hadn't done business with Telemundo before.

"The new business is always an important part of growing the overall market," Lovinger said. "When you look at the number of advertisers in Spanish television versus English television, there's certainly room to grow."

Lovinger said that nearly every category posted increased spending, with big gains coming in auto, packaged goods, telecom and retail.

He also said Telemundo was seeing demand in daytime, where its ratings are rising and it will be adding new original-content shows to the lineup. "Advertisers recognized the value of investment Comcast has made in this channel," he said.

MundoFox, the new network from News Corp. and RCN of Columbia, has signed on a number of charter sponsors, but Lovinger says it wasn't a big factor in this year's upfront market.

"They're getting a little bit of business done. It makes sense for a lot of people to lay a small base," he said. "I think they're doing all the right things to get people excited about a new service that still has to prove itself."