Donna Speciale: Last News

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorTelevisaUnivision had something to sell in this year’s TV upfront market that many of its English-language counterparts did not: growing linear audiences.The Spanish-language media giant has finished its upfront negotiations and expects to see rising volume of advance commitments for its advertising, according to a person familiar with the matter. This person says TelevisaUnivision anticipates a double-digit-percentage increase in volume, with CPMs, or the cost of reaching 1,000 viewers, rising as much as 8% to 9%.Like other TV networks in the midst of selling upfront inventory this year, TelevisaUnivision noted significant advertiser interest in sports and streaming. Advertisers proved interested in the company’s soccer broadcasts, and saw ad investment in its streaming-video outlet, ViX more than double.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor TelevisaUnivision has more to offer than just the usual advertising jargon and programming notes for its 2024 upfront showcase. The Spanish-language media giant plans to open what it calls “Casa Cultura” on May 14 at New York’s HK Hall, where it will invite advertisers, media buyers and other attendees to an experiential presentation that will showcase Latino culture in the United States. In the morning.

TelevisaUnivision has sealed a deal with CBS and the NFL to carry Spanish-language broadcasts of Super Bowl LVIII next February.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Spanish-TV giant TelevisaUnivsion wants to speak a different language than its English-speaking rivals when it comes to audience measurement. Under pressure from some media companies, Nielsen said in April that it was going to hold back a new product that sought to use “big data,” or audience information gleaned from set-top boxes and smart TVs, as a way to provide more granular information about viewers. Nielsen said the new data would not be accredited for mainstream use, but would be available “for additional measurement during this transition for clients seeking to transact on it.” TelevisaUnivision is going to try. “We all know that today’s TV measurement is inadequate for our multi-screen world, and as a consequence, U.S Hispanics have been undercounted,” says Donna Speciale, president of U.S. ad sales and marketing at the company. “In fact, our audience is 26% bigger than current measurement. How did we get that information? Nielsen just told us,” she tells Variety, using its traditional panel-based tabulation as well as its “big data” product. “This is huge and and a huge step for equity,” she adds, noting that TelevisaUnivision will ask all agencies and clients to base this year’s upfront ad deals on that measurement.

Making its first upfronts pitch to advertisers as a merged company, TelevisaUnivision delivered a message of balanced strategy to ad buyers in an hour-long presentation at New York’s Javits Center.

A year after beingacquired byan investor group led by former Viacom CFO Wade Davis, and just a few months after officially closing the deal, Univision’s future is taking shape. The Spanish language TV giant plans to reinvent itself as a multi-platform juggernaut with global aspirations.

Univision has added two senior executives to its ad sales ranks ahead of a pair of upfront presentations to media buyers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSix of the nation’s most prominent advertisers have signed on as early supporters of Univision’s new PrendeTV, a vote of confidence in the streaming service as the Spanish-language broadcaster moves forward in early days under new management.Clorox, Coca-Cola, Dunkin, Johnson & Johnson, Toyota and Walmart will serve as charter advertisers of the new service, Donna Speciale, the executive recently named president of advertising sales and marketing at Univision, tells Variety in an interview. The company is now being led by Wade Davis, a former Viacom financial executive who helped arrange a purchase of a majority stake in the company by Searchlight Capital Partners, LP and  ForgeLight LLC.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorWarnerMedia has yet to install a new president of ad sales but in the meantime, it has given some new duties to one of its senior ad-sales executives.Joe Hogan has temporarily been given oversight of media sales at Xandr, the ad-tech unit that was operated separately from WarnerMedia’s ad sales efforts until April, when the two operations were combined, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAmid hundreds of layoffs, WarnerMedia is still preparing for one crucial hire.The media company has yet to name a president to lead its advertising-sales efforts, and has not filled the position since executives abruptly pushed out industry veteran Donna Speciale in July of 2019 after she wrangled millions from sponsors to support WarnerMedia’s most recent programming cycle in haggling that was largely driven by conversations about digital opportunities. Now, there is a sense emerging that the long search could be nearing its end.WarnerMedia has eyed a handful of executives to fill the role, according to five people with knowledge of some of the discussions.