Upfront: Univision Sticks with Telenovelas

Advertisers Negotiating for In-Program Brand-Integration Opportunities Coupled with Upfront Ad Buys

By Robert Marich -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/15/2008 12:50:00 PM

Top-ranked Spanish-language network Univision made audience delivery and ad strategies that tap the growing Hispanic market the centerpiece of its upfront presentation Wednesday at Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York’s Lincoln Center.

Its primetime schedule remains dominated by telenovela serials. New novellas include e light-hearted Las Tontas No Van al Cielo (Dumb Girls Don’t Go to Heaven) and ecology-awareness-themed Tormenta en el Paraíso (Storm Over Paradise). The network will also debut new 13-week series talent showcase ¡Viva el Sueño! (Live the Dream!).

Counted in the Nielsen Television Index, Univision said it was the top-ranked broadcast network 29 out of 32 recent Fridays in adults 18-34. On three out of four evenings, the network added, it beat the English-language Big Four in adults 18-34.

Univision president of advertising sales and marketing David Lawenda told an auditorium of New York media executives that reallocating ad spend to Univision will offset CPM (cost per thousand homes) erosion in English-language networks.

Advertisers are also negotiating with the broadcaster for in-program brand-integration opportunities coupled with upfront ad buys. “That’s what the industry is calling for,” Lawenda said. “You’ll see a lot more of that.”

Already, Nissan North America and Sprint Nextel are sponsors of El Juego Supremo (The Ultimate Match), a reality soccer series that will integrate the brand in programming.

The upbeat presentation opened with song and dance from the cast of Broadway musical In the Heights, which the day before was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, and with a hip-hop, rap and salsa score that celebrates the Hispanic experience in the United States.