Univision Communications got a strong financial kick from the World Cup.
The Spanish language media company said that during the second quarter the World Cup contributed about $115.5 million in incremental net advertising revenue and $17.3 million in added operating income.
For the second quarter, Univision’s adjusted operating income rose 17.7% to $351 million.
Revenues rose 23.2% to $833.7 million. Operating income at Univision’s television business rose 18.5% to $313 million as revenue rose 26.2% to $713 million. The World Cup generated $107.5 million in incremental ad revenue. Expenses associated with the soccer championship were $87.3 million.
Univision’s digital business grew its operating income ten-fold to $21.7 million as revenue doubled to $71.5 million. The World Cup contributed $13.6 million in incremental net ad revenue.
“Our strong second quarter results cemented a great first half of the year for Univision Communications Inc.,” Randy Falco, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “During the quarter, Univision’s excellent FIFA World Cup results were a testament of our ongoing strategy of delivering relevant content across all of our platforms and to the outstanding teams we have built in sports, entertainment and news.”
Falco added that “as we move into the second half of 2014, we’re encouraged by the early results from upfront, which indicate that marketers are increasingly looking to Univision for our leading integrated offerings across different platforms. We are confident that we remain well-positioned to maintain high audience engagement, and we believe that we will be able to realize revenue growth and continue to execute upon all of our strategic growth initiatives for 2014.”
