For many years previous leaders of Univision have complained of a pricing gap between what U.S. advertisers pay for Spanish television versus English language competitors. But following last year’s merger with Mexico’s Televisa, new TelevisaUnivision CEO Wade Davis says the reconstituted U.S. ad sales team has pretty much eliminated the gap as far as new advertisers are concerned.
“For people who have been long-time Spanish language advertisers, unfortunately the way Univision was selling historically really was focused on price, not the value proposition. So the real discount from a gap standpoint is with the legacy U.S. Hispanic advertisers. That gap can range from anywhere between a 20% discount to a 40% discount,” said Davis in answer to an analyst’s question during his quarterly Wall Street conference call Thursday following release of the company’s fourth quarter and full year 2022 financial results.
He then praised Donna Speciale, president of the company’s U.S. ad sales, and her team. “As we bring on new advertisers to the platform, the gap is almost zero,” Davis said. And he added that for the Vix streaming business CPMs are generally on par or at a premium.
He also noted that Vix, after launching last year, is already past its maximum loss period and will turn profitable this year. Beginning in 2024 it will contribute to earnings.
CFO Carlos Ferreiro reported double-digit revenue growth for 2022, with adjusted EBITDA up by $4 million despite heavy investing in streaming. Consolidated revenue grew 13% to $4.7 billion. Advertising revenue