Variety: Networks going after Latino audience

Networks target fast-growing Hispanic audience...$88 million in new business for Spanish-Language TV in 2011-12
By Anna Marie De La Fuente, Variety.com

The race is on to capture the U.S. Hispanic market, with mainstream networks and their Hispanic counterparts battling for primacy. The result is an increasing cross-pollination of programs and a proliferation of networks, with Fox, Lionsgate and NBCU among those joining Hispanic allies to find and produce content aimed at the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the U.S.

New Hispanic channels are emerging, some in Spanish, some in English, in a bid to appeal to a mix of generations and language preferences that can exist under one Latino roof: The latest census reveals that of the 50.5 million Hispanics in the U.S., 30% are Spanish-dominant while the rest are either English-speaking or bilingual.

Broadcast leader Univision is now the clear No. 5 broadcast network (behind the Big Four) while rival Telemundo has been picking up steam.

"The number of networks focused on the Spanish space has increased from around 12 in 2001 to 100 just a month ago," says Univision networks prexy Cesar Conde, who points out that Univision alone will have a dozen networks by year's end compared with three last year.

These include Univision's upcoming news and sports pay TV nets in addition to the telenovela channel now on Dish Network plus the six TuTV pay TV channels, jointly owned with Televisa.

One of the most anticipated new players is MundoFox, a joint venture between Fox Intl. Channels (FIC) and Colombia's RCN, due to launch in the fall. The new Spanish-lingo network will showcase edgier Colombian telenovelas and look to build on Fox's success in inserting itself into a market. Meanwhile, Fox and Univision recently bowed Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony's pan-American talent competish "Q'Viva! The Chosen," while Fox's "Family Guy" airs on Univision sibling web TeleFutura.

Elsewhere, sister networks NBC and Telemundo share talent and resources in the exec ranks as well as on-air.

In the 2011-12 upfront season, an estimated $88 million of new business came to Spanish-Language TV, with Telemundo taking more than half (55%) of the new business, according to Lauren Zalaznick, chairman of NBCUniversal entertainment, digital networks and integrated media.

"The reported 2011/2012 upfront numbers were $1.75 billion for Univision, and $400 million for Telemundo, up 20% from the 2010/2011 upfront," says Antonio Ruiz, partner-communications planning at leading Hispanic ad agency, the Vidal Partnership. Telemundo and its youth-skewed bicultural cable sibling Mun2 delivered more than 20% growth year-to-year, marking their best upfront season ever.

"Our Hispanic strategy is not limited to Telemundo (or Mun2) alone," says Zalaznick, who points out that NBCUniversal's theme parks, studio, cable and broadcast networks, digital assets and Comcast's leading position among cablers in the U.S. allows the company to collectively reach 93% of all Hispanics. She adds that landing the Spanish-language U.S. rights to World Cup Soccer matches in 2018 and 2022 would not have happened without the joint efforts of NBC Sports and Telemundo Deportes.

NBCU parent Comcast has begun to fulfill its pledge to launch 10 independently owned channels on its cable systems over the next eight years. Of these, four will have Hispanic ownership.

Leading the initial pack is young-male-skewed El Rey from Latino helmer Robert Rodriguez and partners John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa of FactoryMade Ventures.

"When Fogelman approached me with the idea for this channel, I immediately said yes," says Rodriguez. He's building soundstages on his 25-acre property in Austin for the English-language channel, which will include animation, music, reality, scripted shows, movies, docus and sports programming.

"The key is to make it universal; I want viewers to watch it because it's cool, not Latino," adds Rodriguez.

Another upcoming Latino-owned Comcast network is BabyFirst Americas from Spanish-lingo TV exec Constantino "Said" Schwarz, which is slated to launch by April.

Meanwhile, Lionsgate and Mexican partner Televisa have expanded their joint film venture, Pantelion Films, onto the smallscreen as well. (Over the March 16-18 weekend, Pantelion scored big at the B.O. with "Casa de mi Padre," which nabbed $2.4 million on 382 screens.) The partnership will include English-lingo format adaptations of TV content from Televisa's library, and the development of scripted and unscripted English-language original programming.

The companies have set up a hefty development fund to enable them to attract top showrunners and talent for an average output of six to eight projects a year, including the sitcom spinoff of Pantelion's debut pic, "From Prada to Nada"; "Badlands," a scripted drama at ABC based on Televisa hit telenovela "Soy tu Duena"; Televisa's drama skein "Terminales" for ABC Family; and "Teresa," based on another Televisa telenovela.

Univision, an erstwhile strictly Spanish-language network, recently began providing English close-captioning for its primetime block of telenovelas and other programs, including long-running variety show "Sabado Gigante." The network is a ratings winner, especially among adults 18-34, where its season average is double struggling English-language broadcaster CW (1.6 vs. 0.8) and is now within shouting distance of ABC, CBS and NBC. (No. 2 Hispanic-language net Telemundo has been offering English closed captions in its primetime block since 2004.)

"Forty-two of the top 50 shows are already watched by bilinguals on Univision," says Conde.

But U.S.-partnered players aren't the only ones gearing up to deliver Latino shows to the U.S.: Venezuela's RCTV, once the oldest and most dominant broadcaster in Venezuela until president Hugo Chavez shuttered it for allegedly inciting rebellion, revived its production capabilities in October, keenly aware of the growing interest in Latino-themed stories.

RCTV Intl. head Jorge Granier is opening a Los Angeles office and has been meeting with showrunners and talent agencies to package English-language versions of RCTV telenovelas selected from its trove of 300 titles.

Latin America's wealth of talent, formats, stories and programming innovations has not been fully tapped in the U.S., says Joshua Mintz, exec VP of Telemundo Studios, which is churning out six to seven telenovelas a year, mainly in Miami. Mintz points to ABC's hit adaptation of Colombia's "Ugly Betty" and, most recently, Fox Television Studios plans for an English-lingo version of "La Reina del Sur," Telemundo's biggest hit telenovela.

"If the U.S. TV industry needs new stories to tell, it doesn't need to look any further than Latin America," Granier says."

Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Largest event for Hispanic marketing

Top Hispanic brand advertisers, case studies and research highlight ambitious Hispanic advertising track of Hispanicize 2012

MIAMI, FL -- Some of the nation's most respected leaders from Hispanic brands, research and advertising agencies will present at Hispanicize 2012 ( http://www.HispanicizeEvent.com ) as part of the event's sweeping Hispanic advertising and integrated marketing agenda unveiled today.

Now in its third year, Hispanicize 2012 (April 10-13 in Miami) is the annual event focused on Latino trends and trendsetters in social media, marketing, entertainment, and media.

"Our Hispanic advertising sessions track is completely brand, research and trends-centric because that's what brands want," said Manny Ruiz, Hispanicize 2012 organizer and creative director. "With today's announcement Hispanicize 2012 now becomes the first event ever to unite an agenda focused on every single discipline of Hispanic marketing: advertising, social media, PR, bloggers, digital and media."

"This Hispanic advertising track offers brands the latest best practices, data and actionable insights they need to succeed in 2012 and beyond," said Gustavo Razzetti, Chief Strategy & Engagement Officer at Grupo Gallegos and chair of the advertising committee of the Hispanicize 2012 advisory board.

To underscore the event's focus on trends and research, Hispanicize 2012 has partnered with the U.S. Census Bureau. The Census Bureau will showcase research and analysis during various sessions related to advertising to Latinas, youth and the Digital Divide, among others.

Hispanicize 2012's roster of presenters currently features senior Hispanic brand marketers and non profit organizations from Unilever, Disney, State Farm, BlackBerry, Google, Dunkin Donuts, Suave, Clorox, General Motors, RadioShack, UnitedHealthcare, Walmart, Sprint, McDonald's, Diageo, Ford, LiveStrong, the March of Dimes and the United Farmworkers, among others.

Altogether more than 110 speakers will present more than 65 sessions at Hispanicize 2012, including social media and filmmaking, which are about to be announced. (See most recent list of speakers here).

Among this year's advertising-related sessions are:

·      The U.S. Census 2012 Update: An In-Depth Look at the Latest Numbers and Their Implications

·      The Power of Musica: An Inside Look at BlackBerry's Innovative Q'Viva Platform and What We Can Learn About Effectively Marketing to Latinos through Music

·      Why Not Do It For Real? Reality Advertising and the Latino Consumer

·      CASE STUDY: State Farm and Alma DDB Hispanic Advertising Campaign

·      For the Brand's Greater Good: Best Practices for Productive and Positive Agency Collaboration

·      Innovative, Digital and Influential: The New Face and Growing Pace of New Generation Latinos

·      Digital Exito 3.0: Great Digital Case Studies from the Hispanic Portals

·      Overcoming the Mariachi Band Syndrome: How Young Creatives are Moving Boldly Beyond Latino Stereotypes

·      Break On Through to the Latino Side: Selling Breakthrough Latino Creative

·      All Shapes y Sizes: Overcoming the Challenges of Targeting Bicultural Consumers

Now in its third year, Hispanicize 2012 (#HISPZ12) is the annual event focused on Latino trends and trendsetters in social media, entertainment, marketing and media. The event is a partnership of the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA), Hispanicize and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Hispanicize 2012 brings brands, media, marketers, celebrities, filmmakers, innovators and bloggers together in a unique creative environment focused on ideas and best practices. The conference is a launch pad for creative endeavors, new products, technologies, marketing campaigns, films, books and more targeting Latinos.

Hispanicize 2012 will be held at the gorgeous JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Miami, April 10-13, 2012.

Nuevo Hispania, 27th largest nation on the Earth

For decades, businesses and cultural institutions could afford to ignore the Hispanic market. Now, they are chasing it aggressively, because that’s where the money is.

By Jon Garrido

With more than 46 million people, Nuevo Hispania is the 27th-largest nation on Earth and the fourth largest in the Western Hemisphere. Its residents wield $1 trillion of buying power in the marketplace. Even as the rest of the economy contracts in the global recession, Nuevo Hispania remains a thriving, even booming, market that’s expected to grow by 48 percent in the next four years.

And it’s not even a real country.

The imaginary “Nuevo Hispania” is actually a substantial segment of the U.S. population. Hispanics now account for more than 17 percent of the U.S. populace as the nation’s largest minority group. And while other demographic sectors are growing only incrementally, the Hispanic population is exploding: The Census Bureau projects 30 percent of Americans will be Hispanic by 2050 and by 2097, 50% of all Americans will be Hispanic.

The Hispanic market’s growing clout comes even as the recession takes a harsh toll on Latino workers. The elimination of tens of thousands of construction jobs has hit the sector particularly hard, sending the national unemployment rate for Latino males to 11 percent.

For decades, businesses and cultural institutions could afford to ignore the Hispanic market. Now, they are chasing it aggressively, because that’s where the money is.

That poses a big challenge. Underrepresented for decades in U.S. commerce and media, Hispanic Americans long ago developed their own commercial, cultural and media channels. And that means companies and institutions can’t just throw open the doors and expect Hispanics to come in.

Those companies and institutions must go to the customer.

“For companies to grow in the coming years, it is critical to understand how to reach and connect with these consumers,” said Reinaldo Padua, assistant vice president for Hispanic marketing for Coca-Cola North America.

Identifying the audience crucial

The word “Hispanic” is misleading. Unlike many other minority groups, “Hispanic” is not a race — it is an umbrella word collecting people of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican and any other Spanish or Latino cultural origin.

They are not united by culture or by history, said Jeffrey M. Humphreys, director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia, and Hispanics from different cultures tend to cluster in cohesive urban neighborhoods. What unites them, Humphreys argues in “The Multicultural Economy,” is simply the Spanish language.

That means a generic appeal is not enough, said Lorenzo Lopez, director of multicultural media at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

“It’s not a matter of checking the ‘Spanish’ box” and calling it a day, he said.

The goal is to connect to the culture in a socially relevant way and make sure each community’s specific needs is served. For Wal-Mart, that means tailoring individual stores to meet to the demands of the local market.

The company installed a tortilla machine in its store in Garland, Texas, a heavily Hispanic area, and built a Pollo Campero, a fast-food chicken chain hugely popular in Central America, in a store in nearby Rowlett. It put up bilingual signs, stocked produce geared toward Latino appetites and sold movies and music skewed toward Latino tastes.

More than the Spanish language

AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, began applying the same principle about seven years ago. Today, the organization has 1.2 million Hispanic members.

“Reaching the Hispanic community will continue to be a key focus for us, and we will continue to expand outreach efforts to this demographic,” said Emilio Pardo, AARP’s executive vice president and chief brand officer.

The crucial point, he said, is not just to translate existing programs, publications and services into Spanish. Instead, you have to “transcreate — to be in the community.”

AARP “transcreates” through its magazine Segunda Juventud, or Second Youth. Billed as “the only publication for 50+ Hispanic Americans,” the bilingual magazine tailors AARP’s five universal pillars — health, financial security, community, intergenerational issues and fun — to the needs of Hispanic communities.

Hispanics, for instance, tend to have “stronger intergenerational ties than the general population, with multiple generations living under one roof,” Pardo said. So the AARP’s caregiving and financial advice is geared more toward family-oriented caretaking at home, as opposed to more independent caretaking for its general audience of retirees living alone.

Similarly, as its Hispanic members tend to be younger, AARP may focus more on college advice and tuition management.

In addition to the magazine, AARP also uses an arsenal of podcasts, Spanish-language radio broadcasts and live events to get its message out.

In May 2007, AARP sponsored its first national Hispanic event, drawing 16,400 people to Feria de la Segunda Juventud (the “Festival of the Second Youth”) in Puerto Rico, a two-day event that featured 60 exhibitors, music, food and celebrity appearances by the likes of Gloria Estefan. A similar event is planned for this May in San Antonio, Texas.

“Nearly 8 percent of Hispanics are over 50, but what is much more important is that this number is expected to more than double by 2025, according to the census,” Pardo said. “The considerable population growth dictates that we look at it as a business imperative.”

Hispanic ad firms thrive

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the explosion in Hispanic buying power is the U.S. Hispanic advertising industry, which the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies estimates is growing four times faster than all other sectors of the ad industry.

“Marketers now see that the Hispanic market in the U.S. is a great business opportunity,” said Sergio Alcocer, president and chief creative officer of LatinWorks Marketing Inc. of Austin, Texas, whose accounts include Anheuser-Busch, ESPN and Burger King.

It’s a sharp contrast from only a few years ago, during the first wave of Hispanic advertising in the 1980s and 1990s, when companies invested in the Hispanic market “almost kind of like a good citizen-type thing.”

The competition is especially acute within the cell phone industry.

In 2006, industry research found that Hispanics “over-index” in almost every category: They use more minutes, make long-distance calls, text more and download more ring tones.

“Family and social bonds are stronger than in the general population, and Latinos communicate more with each other,” said Isaac Mizrahi, director of multicultural marketing communications for Sprint Nextel Corp.

Both Sprint Nextel and AT&T Inc. have a wide array of tools with which to attract the Hispanic user. AT&T, for example, has developed 716 Hispanic Intensity Traffic (HIT) stores, where all sales material and staff are bilingual, in high-density Hispanic areas.

In addition to a similar network of bilingual stores, Sprint Nextel last year sponsored the tour of the Colombian rock star Juanes. The company released singles for download before his album “La Vida ... Es un Ratico en Vivo” was released and provided video, ring tones, concert information and the ability to purchase tickets over its Sprint mobile devices.

For Hispanics, Coke is it

Perhaps no other mainstream U.S. company has been building bridges to Hispanic customers longer than Coca-Cola.

Coke’s forays in targeting Hispanics go back more than 30 years. It has been a worldwide sponsor of soccer’s World Cup since 1978, frequently features Latino players in its ads, and it had the advantage of having had a strong presence in Latin America: When immigrants came to the United States, they regarded the brand as an iconic representation of their new homeland.

This month, Coke is launching a marketing campaign centered on the “American dream,” emphasizing the company’s historic role in Hispanic America’s immigrant narrative. The ads will be bilingual, highlighting Hispanics’ growing acculturation and placing Coke itself as a bicultural product.

“As a company, we identified the burgeoning Hispanic market many years ago and have strengthened the bond that exists between Coca-Cola and Hispanics,” Padua said.

“Any company who wants to grow must look at the Hispanic market.”