Beginning of The End or End of The Beginning?

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It seems that the recent hoopla with the end of “Sabado Gigante” has sent ripples across the grid with many alluding that this, in fact, is “the beginning of the end for Univision,” and while I agree that in a way it does symbolize the end of an era/format that is no longer reflective of today’s USH audience, I still don’t hear the fat lady singing. In fact, this is a day they knew would eventually arrive.

While this is another dent in the armor of the 800 lb. gorilla, it is still premature to call it their demise. While traditional staples like “Sabado Gigante” have seen the end of their “Golden Era,” Reality-derived programming from the General Market like “Mira Quien Baila,” their version of “Dancing with the Stars” did well. The show averaged 4.4 million total viewers, 2 million of them 18-49, and just under 1 million for 18-34.  Another recent example is “Nuestra Belleza Latina.” The show, in its 9th season and seven weeks in, averaged 3.1 million total viewers, 1.6 million adults 18-49, and around 665K for 18-34.

For reference, it kept Univision as the fourth largest broadcast network in its time period regardless of language. As another example, on 2/22/15 Oscar Night, the show placed them as the second largest network, again regardless of language. It is important to note here that when looking at these shows, many of them still produce more Hispanic Viewers than many other similar English-language shows, i.e., “The Bachelor,” “Dancing with the Stars,” and even “The Voice.” Telemundo has also seen significant success with its version of “The Voice” ­­– “La Voz Kids,” bringing in an average of 1.1 million adults 18-49 for the show.  This doesn’t even touch the beloved novelas that continue to reel in audience numbers for all of the Spanish Language Networks. For the sake of this argument, let’s keep it in the context of reality programing.

We know we function in a world where we are working to reach audiences and connect with them in an emotional and relevant way. Creatively we can navigate this with being language agnostic as long as we are insightful – let’s not even touch “Total Market,” but with media it’s a very different ballgame. While we can look at the numbers and write them off as conceding that Spanish Language Programming is dead, or use “retro-acculturation” as a basis to defend that the “audience” will eventually come back, or that it’s merely hanging on – let’s remember that a large chunk of what we as an industry still work on for our clients is in Spanish. If these outlets do meet their end, where will that messaging air? General Market networks don’t play in the language agnostic space. Digital is another playing field – YouTube, Hulu and Facebook are other outlets and are thriving with growing numbers and hyper-targeting, but the major dollars and critical mass are still on TV.  As a media vehicle, TV is still one of the largest cumeing vehicles, reaching a mass audience. While this reality is changing and the networks are feeling it, it is still some time away.

For those that thought the advent of bicultural networks would be the future, some food for thought is that many of them are fledgling, ratings are weak and advertiser support is low. In fact, some have recently rebranded and others have been rolled up into other entities. So the initial idea that this would be the next “Golden Goose” for US Hispanics is still under heavy identity construction, not to mention adding to the confusion as to what budgets they are funded from.

While the changing dynamics of the viewing audience continue, Univision’s opportunity will lie in how it diversifies it’s programming in this new era. It’s flexibility on allowing relevancy rather than just language mandate their path and their ability to reinvent/position themselves in the new USH reality. This also largely impacts the future of Spanish Language Media and ultimately much of what we, as an industry, work on.

Again, this is just an opinion, but before we are so quick to announce the end of the pioneering network for the Hispanic Market, let’s reflect on our daily business, which we all know goes beyond developing relevant English creative to run on “Modern Family” and “Jane the Virgin”.