Telenovelas and soccer are Univision’s one-two

FLUSH with a growing Latino audience and increasing recognition as a dominant player in the broadcast industry, Univision is heading into the fall television season determined to close in on its English-language competitors.

During its announcement to reporters Wednesday morning, Univision said it would add seven new series to its prime-time lineup, including four telenovelas, two reality shows and one comedy.

And while NBC may be gung-ho about its Sunday night football, Univision is pouring its resources into soccer with the July telecast of the World Cup, the most popular sporting event among Latinos worldwide. Coverage of Copa America, a three-week tournament among teams from Latin America, returns in June 2007.

Network executives, speaking to reporters at a Q&A; at Alice Tully Hall, noted that Univision had become the first Spanish-language network to be included in Nielsen’s National Television Index and had out-delivered the English-language audiences of at least one of the Big 4 networks on half of all nights among young adults, ages 18 to 34.

Alina Falcon, executive vice president and operating manager of Univision, also stressed the network’s edge against its direct competitor, Telemundo. Univision has four times the 18- to 34-year-old audience and four times the number of women 18 to 49 of Telemundo, she said.

She wasn’t impressed by the notion of American broadcast networks developing English-language telenovelas in a clear move to attract Latino viewers.

“It’s fascinating, because we’ve always known that novelas are cool,” Falcon said. “In terms of reaching a Hispanic audience, it’s just not that simple.”

Falcon portrayed Univision’s Spanish-language audience as extremely loyal, unjaded as consumers and rich with buying power. The nation’s 43 million Latinos, she said, have spending capital equal to $767 billion.

“Bailando por un Sueno” (Dancing for a Dream) delivered the third-largest 18-to-34 audience, beating NBC and CBS in the Sunday time period. The show pairs celebrities and regular folks in a dance competition, with the winner getting his or her wish fulfilled. This year’s winner received money to pay for his grandmother’s operation.

Next fall the network will launch a singing version, “Cantando por un Sueno” (Singing for a Dream). The winner will pick someone else’s wish to be fulfilled. “Belleza Latina,” a combination reality show and beauty pageant, will take viewers onstage and behind the scenes, then let them take part in the voting.

Univision’s sister network, Telefutura, is producing a U.S. version of its popular game show “Cien Mejicanos Dijeron” (100 Mexicans Said). The “Family Feud”-style show will be called “Que Dice la Gente?” (What Do the People Say?) and will feature U.S. Latinos as contestants.