While its older and bigger sibling network Univision is beating the English-language broadcast networks in all the key demos among under 49-year-old adult viewers, UniMás is also having a solid summer, relative to its size.
Viewership this summer is averaging about 578,000 viewers per night and a 0.3 18-49 rating, about flat with last summer when the network was known as Telefutura. Parent company Univision Communications changed the name and focus of the network in January, targeting Hispanic Millennials age 18-34, after media buyers had complained that the 11-year-old broadcast network lacked a clear identity.
The plan seems to be working. Smaller Spanish-language networks offer something of a win-win opportunity for marketers: A chance to reach a constantly growing younger audience, and at a lower rate.
UniMás execs are eagerly anticipating the premiere later this month of Gossip Girl: Acapulco, the Mexican adaptation of the American TV series Gossip Girl. It will be the network’s first series that directly targets bilingual teen and millennial Hispanics.
Among the other Hispanic broadcast networks this summer, according to Nielsen data, Estrella TV is averaging about 182,000 viewers in primetime and a 0.07 18-49 rating; Azteca America is averaging about 93,000 viewers and a 0.04 18-49 rating; while MundoFox is averaging about 59,000 viewers per night and a 0.02 18-49 rating.
Those audiences on the secondary Spanish-language networks are smaller than on Univision and Telemundo, and their ad rates are also correspondingly lower, enabling marketers to reach more than 900,000 Hispanic audience members a night who are not watching the Big Two. And UniMás draws more viewers per night than the combined audiences of Estrella TV, Azteca America and MundoFox.
Much like its sibling broadcast network, UniMás is reaching a young demo, with a median age summer audience of 37, or the same as Univision’s. Azteca America’s summer median age viewer is 43, while Estrella and MundoFox each have median age audiences this summer of 47, still younger than most of the English-language broadcast networks.
UniMás airs movies from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays. The movies draw an average audience of between 400,000 and 500,000 viewers per night, sometimes higher depending on the movie. It also airs movies on Friday nights from 7-11 p.m.
Drama and Growing Numbers
From 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, it has been televising a series titled La Seleccion (The Team), which tells the story of the 1994 Colombian World Cup team that defeated archrival Argentina to qualify for Cup play. It follows four stars of that team from their childhood soccer days to national stardom with the backdrop of Colombia’s civil war and drug wars.
La Seleccion has averaged about 450,000 viewers per night since premiering on August 5.
On August 26, UniMás began airing the new novella La Madame, starring former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, Mondays through Thursdays at 10 p.m. The show is about a network of women who offer their “services” to prominent men, with different stories told by the Madam each night.
The series premiere of La Madame drew 474,000 viewers, including 242,000 adults 18-49 and 104,000 adults 18-34. The debut was 47% more viewers, 49% more in the 18-49 demo and 51% more in the 18-34 demo than the series it succeeded in the time period, Cloroformo. In its second night, La Madame grew to 506,000 viewers.
On Tuesday nights from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. UniMás is televising various soccer matches.
The highest-rated UniMás programs this summer were two July Copa Oro (Gold Cup) 2013 soccer matches. Canada vs. Mexico drew 2 million viewers and a 1.0 rating in both the 18-34 and 18-49 demos, and Panama vs. Mexico drew 3.3 million viewers, a 1.5 18-34 demo rating and a 1.6 18-49 rating. It was proof that big-time live sports telecasts draw a mass audience, regardless of the sport, language or network.
Estrella’s top primetime show is its 10 p.m. Monday through Friday news magazine series Alarma TV which has averaged about 325,000 viewers this summer. The series is hosted by actors Lianna Grethel and Televisa novella star Jorge Antolin. Other Estrella primetime, weeknight series include Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento, a talent competition series that is averaging about 105,000 viewers per night this summer at 8 p.m.; and entertainment show Noches Con Platanito at 9 p.m., which has averaged about 180,000.
Azteca America’s most-watched primetime show is news magazine Al Extremo (To The Extreme), which is averaging about 90,000 viewers Monday through Friday in its 9 p.m. time period.
MundoFox is currently airing novella Secretos del Paraiso (Paradise’s Secret) at 8 p.m., which premiered on July 22 and is averaging about 30,000 viewers per night. At 9 p.m. it airs the original action series Comando Elite, which averages 65,000 viewers. An earlier summer series, Sanson y Dalila (Samson and Delilah) averaged about 115,000, while El Rey David (King David) averaged 130,000, with Reina Ester averaging 110,000 and Los 3 Caines bringing in an average of 62,000 viewers.
