Univision Communications swung to a profit in the second quarter as soccer and politics drove higher advertising revenues.
Net income was $74.7 million compared to a $23.5 million loss a year ago.
Revenues rose 14.9% to $800.3 million.
“We continue to be the leading media destination for U.S. Hispanics with an unparalleled connection to the audiences we serve and we continue to grow our cross platform portfolio while delivering strong financial results. I could not be prouder of what the Univision team is achieving through our relationship with our audience and the diverse content we are delivering wherever our audience wants to consume it,” said CEO Randy Falco. “We believe our strategy is working – in the first six months of this year we reached on average an estimated 83 million monthly unduplicated media consumers across all platforms as a result of our organic growth, targeted acquisitions, strategic investments and our expansion into targeted English-language content.”
Adjusted operating income at Univision’s media networks was up 0.5% to $327.1 million. Radio was up 5.5% to $24.9 million. Programming costs were up 65% to $188.5 million, mainly because of $76.3 million in costs associated with the Copa America Centenario soccer tournament.
Univision said ad revenue rose 18.8% to $564.9 million. Advertising from the Copa America contributed $66.4 million of those revenues, and political and advocacy ads were up 51.5% to $10 million.
The company has filed to go public through an initial public offering of stock, which is expected to take place later this year.
