Wade Davis: Last News

TelevisaUnivision reported a 7% year-over-year increase in revenue due to direct-to-consumer proceeds and linear networks in Mexico, but flat domestic ad revenue dragged down overall results.

Hispanic media giant TelevisaUnivision posted relatively flat results in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2023.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The CEO of Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision said he would restructure his executive team and cut jobs in a move he said was “aimed at strengthening our position for 2025 and beyond.” In a memo to employees sent Monday, Daniel Alegre, who was named CEO in September, indicated he wanted to tear down some walls between different kinds of media, and move to work more closely with clients. ” Our partners’ needs are evolving, and we must serve them in ways no one else can in the market,” Alegre said. As a result, Alegre said he planned to reorganize some teams.

CEO Daniel Alegre, at the helm of TelevisaUnivision for three weeks, said the political influence of U.S. Hispanic voters has never been more evident than in the current Presidential cycle, “where our audience will play a decisive role in the outcome of this election in the United States.” It was his first quarterly earnings call for the giant Spanish-language producer, broadcaster and parent of Vix streaming platform created from the merger of Univision and Mexico’s Television.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Gains in U.S. advertising revenue and the sale of a set of broadcasting towers helped Spanish-language giant notch increase profits in the third quarter, after the company changed its top executive in September. The broadcaster, which owns the Univision broadcast network in the U.S., said net income increased to $180.9 million in the third quarter, compared with $46.4 million in the year-earlier period.

Revenue and adjusted OIBDA (a proxy for profit) inched up in the third quarter at TelevisaUnivision as CEO Daniel Alegre took the helm of the Spanish-language media giant.

TelevisaUnivision is going to have a new boss in the morning.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Daniel Alegre will take the reins of Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivision, putting an executive with strong operational experience in digital media at the helm of a company that seeks to make gains as its English-language competitors grapple with the rise of streaming. Wade Davis, the former Viacom CFO who took over Univision in 2020 and then merged it with Mexico-based Grupo Televisa in 2022, will become the company’s vice chairman and continue as a member of the executive committee of the Board of Directors.

TelevisaUnivision CEO Wade Davis says advertisers “feel like they have more options” due to the influx of ad-supported streaming outlets of late.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Continued investment in streaming contributed to a first-quarter loss for Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivision, which is seeing the bulk of its growth come from its Mexican operations while U.S. revenue stays flat with year-earlier results. The company, which operates the Univision TV network, said operating expenses grew 16% during the first quarter, to $821 million, driven by continued investments in its ViX streaming service and the expansion of a third party ad-sales business in Mexico.

Super Bowl LVIII broke viewership records across the board last Sunday, including in one small-but-growing segment: Spanish-language audiences.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision said it narrowed its fourth quarter loss from the year-earlier period as increases in ad revenue in Mexico helped buoy the company despite a downturn in the same category in the U.S. and its continued investment in streaming. The company, which operates the Univision broadcast network in the U.S., said revenue in the quarter was off 7%, as gains in advertising were offset be declines in revenues from subscription and licensing.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The top executive of Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivision defended the company’s recent decision to interview former President Donald Trump in a non-confrontational manner and suggested the media conglomerate was shifting some of its long-held political attitudes “We made a decision to adopt a strategy that is different than what some other major networks are using, which has been labeled as partisan,” said Wade Davis, CEO of the company and one of its financail architects, in a statement. Davis, a former Viacom CFO, purchased a majority stake in Univision in 2020, then merged it with Mexican TV provider Televisa in 2022. “Univision’s news strategy is one that is non-partisan and objective, and we serve our audience by being welcoming of competing issues, ideas, candidates and parties.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TelevisaUnivision powered to its highest third-quarter revenue total in the U.S. to date, up 5% year-over-year, as overall global revenue increased 11% to $1.28 billion. The Spanish-language media company also touted growth of streaming service ViX to more than 40 million monthly active users and said the direct-to-consumer segment was on track to become profitable in mid-2024.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor While its English-language competitors had to grapple with price reductions in this year’s TV upfront market, Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision was able to do the opposite. The owner of the Univision broadcast network and the Vix streaming hub was able to increase the volume of ad commitments it secured in upfront talks, according to a person familiar with the matter.

TelevisaUnivision CEO Wade Davis said the dual strikes crippling Hollywood have “zero impact” on his company’s operations due to the Hispanic media giant’s programming supply chain.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor TelevisaUnivision is speaking a different language in TV’s weakened upfront market. Where most media companies and media buyers expect the overall volume of ad commitments to decline owing to a tough economy and a Hollywood work stoppage, the Spanish broadcaster is anticipating gains and even rate hikes. “We expect to fare better than the market on pricing” said TelevisaUnivsion CEO Wade Davis during a call with investors Thursday, a reference to measures known as CPMs, or the cost of reaching 1,000 viewers. In many cases, according to media buyers and other executives, advertisers have called for “rollbacks” of as much as 5%,’ with sports the only category notching true positive gains.

TelevisaUnivision’s Univision News division, is departing the Spanish-language media and content company after 25 years. TelevisaUnivision announced Gómez’s exit on Monday. Gómez had headed Univision News for the past two years, and served as VP of news at Televisa for 23 years before that. Gómez’s interim replacement will be executive VP of news Maria Martinez-Guzman, who will begin after his July 14 departure. During his time at Univision News, Gómez launched Univision’s fact-checking platform “elDetector,” created a number of news specials, produced “Despierta America” and “Noticiero Univision,” and garnered two Edward R. Murrow awards and three News and Documentary Emmy awards.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Vernā Myers will be stepping down from her role as Netflix’s head of inclusion strategy at the end of September. Myers, who was the first to ever serve in the position for the streamer when she joined in 2018, will remain as an advisor to Netflix while returning to her self-titled consulting company, The Vernā Myers Company. Upon Myers’ departure, Netflix’s vice president of inclusion strategy Wade Davis, who has worked under Myers for the past four years, will be promoted to oversee the team. Former NFL player Davis has previously consulted on inclusive corporate culture for companies including Google, Procter & Gamble and Viacom (now part of Paramount Global).

TelevisaUnivision, which rolled out a two-tiered streaming offering under the Vix and Vix+ brands in 2022, is unifying them under the Vix banner.

Giant Spanish-language powerhouse TelevisaUnivision, which merged just over a year ago, saw sales surge 22% in the fourth of 2022 to $1.45 billion on strong World Cup games. Advertising revenue was up 14% in the U.S. and 10% overall.