TelevisaUnivision had a strong upfront, increasing its share of advertising dollars in what is generally seen as a buyers market.
Speaking on TelevisaUnivision’s earnings call Thursday, CEO Wade Davis said the company was nearly done with its upfront negotiations.
“Early data indicates we’re going to have yet another year when we take meaningful share from English-language broadcasters,” he said.
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He added that TelevisaUnivision was doing better than the general market in terms of pricing, and that that means the gap between the rates charged by TelevisaUnivision and English-language networks is closing, something that’s been a focus for the company.
“Ultimately, we expect to finish with volume up mid-single digits, an incredible accomplishment in a broader market expected to be down,” Davis said.
In response to questions from analysts, Davis said that the strikes by the writers and actors unions would not affect TelevisaUnivision because “100% of our production is outside the U.S.”
“For our advertisers in the upfront, this matters a lot because they know there’s not going to be any disruption to the full slate of original content that we have every night of the week, 365 days a year,” he said.
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English-language broadcasters are struggling to put together a Fall slate of original programming, adding more game shows and reality shows. If the writers’ and actors’ strikes are as long-lasting as anticipated, the available amount of scripted content will dry up even more.
“The uncertainty in the general market creates, I think, a lot of challenges for advertisers in the upfront who are being asked to make forward advertising commitments for a broadcast year without the certainty of knowing what that content slate is going to look like,” Davis said. “I think some of those differences contributed to why we have seen thus far good results in the upfront and we expect to close the upfront well above the rest of the market.”
