“We’re putting more investment, more momentum and more growth behind our ability to better inform, empower and entertain the Hispanic community — and deliver opportunities for all of you to grow with us,” Speciale told advertisers are the TelevisaUnivision upfront at the Javits Center Tuesday.

“We compete head to head with every other media company,” Speciale told Broadcasting+Cable a few days before upfront week. “We are the only media company growing in the linear business in prime time and across the board.”  

Upfronts 2022: Click Here for More Coverage

At a time when traditional TV ratings are shrinking, “where are all those linear impressions going? They’re coming to TelevisaUnivision,” she said.

TelevisaUnivision is also growing its streaming business, by launching ViX, but not because it is losing viewers or ad dollars. 

“What we saw is there was not a destination for our Hispanic community in streaming for the Spanish-language content that they want to watch," she said. 

Last year Univision launched the ad-supported streaming service Prende TV. This year, it is upping its game by becoming ViX, which will have more original programming and more sports, especially soccer. 

“ViX is an incredible environment for brands. It adds to our massive reach and sits at the heart of our premium digital video offering.”

TelevisaUnivision announced new ad formats coming to ViX, in partnership with Innovid, for brands to amplify their connected TV campaign performance — including pause ads, binge ads, image gallery expands and shoppable expands, as well as other high impact units.

And while there has been a lot of activity in finding new measurement companies offering alternatives to Nielsen, TelevisaUnivision has been working to make sure the new measurement systems properly account for minority viewers. In fact, Speciale said that some of those measurement companies have called on TelevisaUnivision's expertise with Hispanic audiences.

“Last year we promised to build the world’s first-ever Hispanic data graph, and today we are up and running,” Speciale said. “Our graph provides the biggest and most accurate picture of this vital audience you will find. Most importantly, it solves the representation problem, already covering 85% of U.S. Hispanic households with best-in-class accuracy — and we are still growing.”

Properly counting audiences is integral to measuring the impact and outcomes of campaigns, she noted.

Also: TelevisaUnivision Launches Asi Spanish-Language Brand Studio

Since her arrival at Univision in 2021, shortly after Wade Davis led a group of investors in acquiring Univision, Speciale has been working to convince more advertisers they need to address the Hispanic market in addition to building up advanced advertising capabilities.

“We have made huge headway getting new advertisers to get into the Hispanic market,” she said. About 200 new advertisers have been added to the TelevisaUnivision roster in the past year. 

“But there are still a lot more that still are not leaning into bringing inclusivity and diverse audiences into their marketplace,“ she said. ”And that’s definitely a miss, a huge miss. Hispanics are America’s growth driver with 20% of the population. You cannot build your business, or grow your business, without the Hispanic audience.”

With its strength in linear, TelevisaUnivision has been spending time talking to planners about how they can lower their linear costs by shifting dollars to Spanish-language television. ”Especially for those clients that are already buying us, they can increase their reach two-fold and lower their cost of doing business,” Speciale said. “Now everybody’s talking about trying to push money to their streaming service.”

While this year’s market may not be as explosive as last year, Speciale believes advertisers will show up with demand. “Do I think the demand is going be what last year's demand is?“ she said. “Probably not, but I still believe that the upfront will be up from a demand perspective. It's just how high.” ■

More partners will be brought on next year, said Donna Speciale, president of advertising sales and marketing at Univision, the big Spanish-language programmer. By the end of 2022, the industry should be in a position where addressable advertising should be scalable and provide the kind of precision marketers need.

“Since I’ve been here we’ve been increasing our focus in the audience targeting space, and addressable is part of that,” Speciale said.

Also Read: Wade Davis, Donna Speciale Introduce New Univision to Madison Avenue

Univision earlier announced being involved in the beta testing of Nielsen’s addressable technology, since sold to Roku. It also joined Project OAR, a group led by Vizio that looks to set standards for addressable advertising.

Speciale said Univision is building out a Hispanic audience graph. Following that it will be able to create audience segments.

“We’ve been talking to a lot of clients on who wants to do some testing with us within different audience segments,” Speciale said. “A lot of clients are talking about it  It’s not in a scalable set yet. So it really is smart for us to do slow betas to make sure we can get it right.” 

A former top media buyer and head of ad sales for Turner before Time Warner was acquired by AT&T, Speciale joined Univision in January.

When she arrived, she said her goal was to increase the number of marketers advertising to Hispanic consumers in Spanish on Univision. At that point, of 1,900 English language TV advertisers, only 400 were advertising in Spanish.

“I’m proud to say that literally since the beginning of the year we now have over 80 new brands that have come on,” she said.

“A lot of clients believe that they can reach the U.S. Hispanic audience in English language. And you can reach some, but the connection doesn’t resonate. You really need to be in culture and in language for your brand to really pop.”

The Spanish-language media company was acquired at the end of last year by an investment group led by Wade Davis, the former CFO at Viacom. Both Davis and new ad sales president Donna Speciale offered greetings in both Spanish and English during a virtual presentation.

“I want you to see the incredible opportunities I saw in this business and this audience when I decided to put everything I had into Univision," Davis said.

Also Read: Univision Joins Project OAR to Define Addressable Standards

Davis said he plans to “amplify and modernize” Univision with new platforms and new solutions. His agenda was to provide advertisers with more reach, more places and more tools to engage the Hispanic audience, he said.

“We’re going to be making investments in content that Spanish-language television has never seen in the U.S., and maybe the world. More on that in the coming week[s],” Davis said, alluding to Univision’s upfront presentation in May.

“We are going to be taking Univision from the leader in the U.S. Hispanic market to be the global leader in Spanish-language media,” he added.

Davis noted that at Viacom, he helped launch its Advanced Marketing Solutions unit.

“Many of the successes, failures and learning informed my decision to go all in on Univision . . .to unlock the power of this platform and this audience for you all,” he said. “We’re building this platform for you and we want you to be on the journey with is form day one as a company.”

Davis also talked about his new management team, including Speciale, who Davis noted had been an advanced advertising pioneer as president for advertising at Turner Broadcasting.

Speciale noted that she’d been on the job for just 10 weeks, but was already out there pitching.

“Our audience is growing. Our content is growing. Our footprint is growing and our marketing capabilities are growing. So our message today amount to a simple invitation: grow with us,” Speciale said.

Univision’s footprint expands next week with the launch of Prende TV, its free-ad supported streaming service. Univision also bought Vix and that makes the company “the only destination for Spanish language streaming in this country,” she said.

Prende TV offers will launch with 45 channels and 30,000 hours of content. Univision expects it to have 100 channels by year end. The company will be investing $100 million in marketing on Prende TV.

For advertisers, Prende TV offers non-skippable targeted ads and frequency management, Speciale said. Advertisers including McDonald’s, Dunkin’, Clorox, Toyota, Chase, Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Verizon, Lilly and Walmart have already signed up,she said.

Speciale also noted that she recently hired two of her former Turner colleagues, Dan Riess and Dan Aversano to build the company’s advanced advertising and branded content capabilities.

Ahead of the upfront, Speciale told advertisers that Univision and big events in the second and third quarter they could sponsor, including a Latin Grammy’s Honors Women special on Mothers Day, a pop-up concert in May, the Premios Juventud youth awards this summer and tons of soccer, with almost 100 matches in 90 days.

Special also said that Univison’s morning show, Despierta América, will be starting a Sunday edition.

Speciale noted that there are about 1,900 advertisers on English-language network TV and only about 400 of them advertising to the Hispanic audience in their language.

“Marketing to the HIspanic audience has to be a business imperative, not a nice to have,” she said. “Partnering with Univision is the easiest way to make it happen.”

The new event--set for March 24-- will be titled “A New Vision at Univision.” Univision was acquired by a group headed by former Viacom CFO Wade Davis.

The event will be a coming out party for Davis and Donna Speciale, the former Turner ad sales head named president of advertising sales and marketing for Univision earlier this year.

Also Read: Univision’s Donna Speciale Hires Two Ex-Turner Execs

Univision said the event will provide an update on the company’s ongoing transformation and lay out its vision for clients as it sets a new go-to-market strategy and develops advanced advertising capabilities.

The new event will be followed by Univision’s more traditional upfront presentation on May 18. 

Also Read: Univision’s PrendeTV to Launch With Key Sponsors

This year’s presentation will be conducted virtually. The traditional in-person upfront presentations were disrupted last year by the coronavirus outbreak and networks are having virtual events again this year.

“Univision is focused on aggressively evolving our ad sales strategy to better serve our clients and we are excited to share with them our recent progress and layout the new vision for Univision during our March 24 event, ahead of the annual upfront on May 18," said Speciale.

The move follows Donna Speciale, an advocate of data-driven advanced advertising, being named head of advertising for Univision by the Spanish-language media company’s new CEO Wade Davis.

“As we continue to evolve the company under new leadership, Univision is proud to join Project OAR and to work with such preeminent media companies to meet the needs of brand partners in a changing media landscape,” said Speciale, president of advertising sales and marketing for Univision. “Together as an industry, we are helping to advance addressable TV advertising, deliver relevant experiences for all consumer audiences and present new advertising opportunities for marketers.”

Also Read: Univision Buys Ad-Supported Spanish-Language Streamer Vix

Working with Project OAR will help enable Univision’s Spanish-language linear network deliver new and innovative ad products designed to be more engaging for viewers and more effective for marketers.

“We’re excited to build on the addressable momentum in 2021 with the addition of Univision to the OAR consortium,” said Adam Gaynor, VP of network partnerships and head of addressable at Vizio, the group’s founding TV partner. “Univision will help advance opportunities for Spanish-language media, ultimately unlocking addressable at scale while building on the company’s tradition of delivering relevant and targeted experiences to Hispanic audiences.”

Univision will be a member of Project OAR’s primary steering committee dedicated to creating an addressable advertising standard for the TV ecosystems.

Other steering committee members include AMC Networks, Comcast NBCUniversal, Disney, Discovery, Comcast's FreeWheel, Fox, Hearst Television, E.W. Scripps, WarnerMedia, ViacomCBS, Vizio and Xandr.

Univision is also a member of OpenAP, a consortium aimed at making it easier for marketers to buy targeted TV advertising. Speciale was one of OpanAP’s founders when she was president of ad sales at Turner.

Also Read: PrendeTV Streaming Service Being Launched by Univision

The launch partners include Clorox, Coca-Cola, Dunkin, Johnson & Johnson, Toyota and Walmart. Speciale said these PrendeTV Premiere Club members will get a first look at programming and sponsorship opportunities, assist in developing innovative commercial executions and help find ways to improve the consumer experience.

Speciale had been president for ad sales at Turner, but left in 2019 after it was taken over by AT&T, two weeks she ago joined the management team assembled by new CEO Wade Davis, who led the acquisition of a controlling interest in Unvision last year.

The advertisers were pitched on the streaming service during the upfront last year before Davis’ deal, first agreed to in February, closed in December. The network’s sales reps knew Davis planned to launch a streaming service, but didn’t know its name.

Also Read: Univision Names New Top Execs Under Wade Davis

“We needed to get into the streaming business,” said Speciale, “The fact that he got in and is launching the first U.S. Spanish-Speaking streaming service that quickly is really impressive, she added. “They've been working behind the scenes really pushing this together, which I think is great.”

Speciale, an early advocate of the shift to more targeted television advertising, sees the streaming service linking with her efforts to build up Univision’s advanced advertising and targeting capabilities, not just on linear networks, but by jumping ight into cross-platform campaigns.

“I think there’s some really smart people here. I think we’re lacking some skill sets in the advanced advertising area because this was a company that wasn’t investing” as it prepared to get acquired. “Now Wade is here and he knows the way to take this company to a new level is to bring in some different skill set to help me transform the company si its more focused on audiences, addressable and targeting capabilities.”

Univision is already a member of OpenAP, the advanced advertising consortium co-founded by Speciale when she was at Turner, and will remain a member, she said.

Developing advanced advertising capabilities will be easier at Univision because of Speciale’s experience at Turner and because clients are more familiar with it and have seen its effectiveness. “The marketers are realizing that targeting is where TV needs to go,” she said. 

Speciale said she was familiar with Univision from her time as a media buyer. “I definitely purchased it,” she said, citing a more holistic approach to marketing, rather than focusing primarily on English-speaker and dealing with multi-cultural audiences as a side conversation.

She expects to persuade more big marketers that they need to advertise on Univision. “You’re not going to be able to grow your business long term if you don’t reach the Hispanic audience,” she said.

Speciale wants marketers to see Univision as a resource. “If you’re not familiar with the U.S. Hispanic audience, we can help you with your strategy, or if you don’t really have the capabilities of doing Spanish-language creative, I want Univision to be that resource to help you figure out your creative messaging because we know that culture so well.”

Already, Speciale said she’s starting to look at plans for another upfront.

“It’s going to be virtual. I think we’re going to have a lot to talk about,” she said. “I just actually saw the virtual upfront that they did [in 2020]. I watched it this weekend and it’s pretty impressive,” she said. “I think everybody did a really great job with the virtual upfronts, given that a lot of it was last minute. Now at least we have time.”

After leaving Turner, Speciale said she started looking for an opportunity to transform another company. But the time she had between jobs was “the best year and a  half of my life. I’m not kidding. I was blessed,” she said.  

She started out by travelling. After COVID-19 hit, she spent time with her family and gardening. “My kids said, ‘my God, she’s Martha Stewart,” Speciale said.

Also Read: Wade Davis and Searchlight Close Deal for Majority Univision Stake

Former ViacomCBS exec Pierluigi Gazzolo was named president and chief transformation officer at Univision; Luis Silberwasser, last with Telemundo, was named president of the Univision Television Networks Group; and former Turner ad sales head Donna Speciale was named president of advertising sales and marketing.

Amy Tenbring and Glenn Dryfoos were promoted to co-interim general counsel at Unvision; Jessica Rodriguez will continue as CMO and Friday Abernethy was promoted to executive VP of content distribution and partnerships.

Univision’s former chief legal and corporate affairs officer Jonathan Schwartz, president of distribution Henry Ahn, and president of ad sales and marketing Steve Mandala are leaving the company.

Read Also: Frontera Wines Joins Sponsors for Univision’s Latin Grammys

“Today begins a transformation for Univision. One that will see us accelerate our position as the leading U.S. Hispanic media company as we launch new products and services that will drive value for our U.S. Hispanic audience and for our advertising and distribution partners, who want to reach and engage with this critical audience,” said Davis, the former Viacom CFO, whose led the acquisition of Univision by ForgeLight and Searchlight.

“Achieving our objectives will require new ways of working together, diversity of perspectives and in some cases new talent and skillsets. We began the evolution of our team with the appointment of world class leaders to our board of directors to bring together skillsets and diversity that Univision has never had at the board level. Today we are announcing a new, industry leading executive leadership team that exemplifies the traits of innovation, collaboration, inclusivity and accountability that will be central to our transformation. Each of these leaders understand the need to optimize Univision’s core businesses to meet its audience where they are and evolve its content, platforms and products to reach the market in new ways,” Davis said.

With the concentration of the TV business, and the consolidation of advertising sales teams at those companies, a handful of top sales executives now control more than $22 billion in commercial inventory in the cable business.

Most of that inventory will be negotiated and sold over the next few months in the upfront market, determining the financial fates of those companies or the coming year.

Here is a Multichannel News scorecard of the executives responsible for selling cable advertising and what kind of hand they’ll be bringing to market for next season.

Donna Speciale

Title: President, Turner Ad Sales
Company: Turner
2017 Ad Revenue: $4.033 billion**
Outlook: A top media buyer before joining Turner, Speciale has been on a quest to make the television experience better for viewers and Turner’s portfolio of networks more attractive to media buyers. Turner has been among the early movers by cutting commercial clutter at truTV, creating audience-targeting products and building up branded content production studios. She sees her competitors moving in her direction and ad dollars flowing as a result.

Jon Steinlauf

Title: Chief U.S. Advertising Sales Officer
Company: Discovery Inc.
2017 Ad Revenue: $3.809 billion**
Outlook: Steinlauf, who had been in charge of ad sales at Scripps Networks Interactive, became head of sales for Discovery when the latter company acquired Scripps. The two companies both feature nonfiction programming that is viewed live; as a single company, it will continue to emphasize that advertising works on strongly branded networks because much of it is contextually related to the content, and because fans are receptive to the messages they see in their favorite trusted shows. Discovery’s respected head of sales, Ben Price, will leave after the upfronts.

Sean Moran

Title: Head of Marketing and Partner Solutions
Company: Viacom
2017 Ad Revenue: $3.699 billion**
Outlook: Under Sean Moran, Viacom is looking to build a variety of marketing services that go beyond selling spots. Viacom acquired WhoSay, a social-media influencer marketing company, and VidCon, a place where content creators convene. It has also put together a shopper marketing unit. Viacom expects its Advanced Marketing Services to generate $300 million in revenue this year and that after years of shrinking ad revenue. Viacom forecasts that ad revenues for the fourth fiscal quarter will actually be up.

Laura Molen, Mark Marshall

Titles: Executive VP, Lifestyle and Hispanic Advertising Sales Group, NBCUniversal; Executive VP, Entertainment Advertising Sales, NBCUniversal
2017 Ad Revenue: $3.397 billion**
Outlook: Cable networks are an integral part of NBCUniversal’s expansive television portfolio. Entertainment networks, including USA Network and Syfy, are ratcheting up high-profile programming. USA recently announced a new country-music competition show headlined by Shania Twain and Jake Evans. Its lifestyle networks — Bravo, E!, Oxygen — boast strong connections with consumers that benefit advertisers. With NBCU joining the OpenAP audience-targeting consortium, advertisers will have a broader pool of viewers they can reach using data-driven buying techniques.           

Ed Erhardt

Title: President, Global Sales and Marketing
Company: ESPN
2017 Ad Revenue: $2.609 billion*
Outlook: Live sports events continue to be attractive as on-demand viewing reduces ratings of on-demand programming. That leaves ESPN in a pretty strong position, despite its well-publicized decline in subscribers. Under new president James Pitaro, ESPN continues to position itself as an alternative to primetime for a broader range of products, not just beer and razors, with a large number of women tuning in. In April, ESPN launched its new app and its direct-to-consumer streaming product ESPN+, designed to capture the attention of sports fans and cord cutters and create additional advertising opportunities for sponsors.

Peter Olsen

Title: Executive VP, Advertising Sales
Company: A+E Networks
2017 Ad Revenue: $1.491 billion *
Outlook: At its upfront event in March, Olson promised media buyers that A+E Networks was planning to deliver “no gimmicks, just results.” The company’s networks, led by A&E, History and Lifetime, are doubling down on real-life story telling and it has signed deals with prominent women including Leah Remini, Elizabeth Vargas and Gretchen Carlson. A+E has also been aggressively pressing its work with Data Plus Math, the company getting attention for its attribution platform, which should provide marketers with a scorecard on what media work best and, within TV, which networks and shows really make the cash register ring.

Marianne Gambelli

Title: President, Advertising Sales
Company: Fox News
2017 Ad Revenue: $1.068 billion*
Outlook: With a hurricane of political news blowing across the nation, the category is gaining audiences, and those curious eyeballs are attracting ad dollars from additional advertisers looking for big numbers and live viewing. President Donald Trump’s favorite network has maintained its ranking as the No. 1 cable news channel and viewership is increasing for Fox Business Network. Fox News Channel has also been updating its digital product to attract users and advertisers. With tightly contested midterm elections coming up in November, viewership is expected to rise even more on Fox News and its cable news competitors, all of which will be offering special election-year political news and results packages at premium prices to sponsors.

Scott Collins

Title: President, National Advertising Sales
Company: AMC Networks
2017 Ad Revenue: $960 million**
Outlook: Known best for The Walking Dead, AMC has parlayed owning television’s No. 1 scripted series into big increases in ad rates over the past few years, despite declining viewership for the zombie apocalypse drama. And at a time when “peak TV” conditions are ratcheting up competition for viewers, AMC is doubling down on burnishing its reputation for airing high-quality scripted programming at scale on networks that gladly accept advertising. This year, AMC is also rolling out its data-driven advertising unit, featuring Aurora software that optimizes campaigns across networks.

Ed Georger

Title: Executive VP, Advertising Sales and Digital Media
Company: Crown Media Family Networks
2017 Ad Revenue: $505.9 million *
Outlook: Like the little engine that could, Crown Media’s Hallmark Channels keep increasing viewership with family-friendly and advertiser-safe programming, especially during the fourth-quarter holiday season, which is crucial to a whole range of marketers. Hallmark Channel continues to prosper with its focus on other holidays — Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, etc. — and its support of pet-related projects, including its Kitten Bowl. Crown is producing additional movies for its maturing Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel and, at a time when many are looking for skinnier bundles, is pushing another linear network with Hallmark Drama.

Louis Carr

Title President, Media Sales
Company: BET
2017 Ad Revenue: $313.0 million*
Outlook: With linear ratings rising for the past three quarters, BET has maintained its status as the No. 1 cable network among African-Americans, a title it has held for 17 consecutive seasons. The network continues to emphasize how its viewers are avid consumers in many categories, including movies. BET special events — such as the BET Awards, the Hip Hop Awards and the Soul Train Awards — also pull big numbers. BET is big on social media and digital, and its BET Experience is the prototype in Viacom’s strategy for bringing fans to live events.

NEW YORK — Amid all the new shows being launched at upfront presentations last week, there were some announcements made about the way advanced advertising techniques could help networks sell products.

At ESPN, big data about the emotions of sports fans and real-time information about what’s happening in games are being tapped to create more effective advertising.

ESPN’s analytics team broke down games into emotional triggers, said Vikram Somaya, senior vice president and global data officer. More than 700 triggers can happen over a single NFL game, he said. That data was overlaid on the millions of fans who connect with ESPN.

ESPN mapped those fans and all of the emotions they could be feeling during a game — triumph, happiness, anticipation, dismay and more. Then it got together with its sponsors. Coors Light tapped into fans’ moments of anticipation, running emotion-related, tailored messaging, before, after and during games. The ads drove a 16% lift in brand consideration, including a 31% increase during pregame.

Ed Erhardt, president, global sales and marketing at ESPN, said emotional databased sales are a small part of ESPN’s business, but with 30 advertisers now employing it, it is likely to grow.

At Turner, ad sales president Donna Speciale talked about the need to improve advertising. “Television is still the most powerful medium for your marketing message,” she said. “But I think we can agree our industry was in need of a reinvention.

“Helping our partners thrive starts with creating the right experiences for our fans, so two years ago we announced reduced commercials in primetime, first on truTV and later on TNT,” Speciale said. “That investment is paying off with powerful results in three key areas: deeper engagement, increased brand awareness, and increased sales versus the traditional pods. Now I understand you’re tired of paying more for less. Well now, consider paying more for more.”

At a time when technology and demand are upending TV as we know it, the tenets of video advertising – from audience targeting to content creation – also have to be revamped to resonate with consumers, an industry leader said Wednesday.

“Our brands should be entertaining audiences,” said Donna Speciale, president of Turner Ad Sales. “The ads we feature should be compelling, relevant and ultimately drive the product off the shelves, off the lots."

Speaking at the Advanced Advertising Summit, part of NewBay Media’s annual NYC Television and Video Week, Speciale said that process started at Turner several years ago, when leaders determined to “reimagine the consumer experience” across the company. 

For Turner’s ad sales division, that included upping its emphasis on four “main stops” crucial in “reimagining what great advertising can be” – audience targeting, redefining ad environments, content creation and content optimization, she said.

As a result, Turner today uses data to sell inventory against guarantees that go beyond audience age and gender; sells inventory holistically across Turner properties rather than by show; and fills traditional ad time with branded content – and then cuts that branded content into “bite size pieces of entertainment” that's distributed on social media platforms.

“The experience is everything when it comes to reimagining advertising,” Speciale said.

Get complete coverage of NYC Television & Video Week.

Such steps also are crucial to improving both the impact of ads, and advertisers’ relationship with viewers, both of which are on the rocks because for years “all of us have simply stuffed too much advertising” into TV,” she said.

As television continues to evolve, it is critical that media companies work together to share best practices that will forward the industry – particularly as early successes emerge, she said.

“Over the last few years our industry has faced many challenges,” Speciale said. “We are all living through them and we cannot hide from them. We are not going to be able to advance the ad community if we don’t break down the silos.”

Turner Broadcasting said it is replacing traditional demo guarantees for some of its ad sales with audience-based guarantees similar to digital-based advertising.

At its upfront presentation Wednesday (May 13), Turner introduced what it calls Audience Now, which allows advertisers to target viewers regardless of daypart. “In this new world, dayparts are dead. These are pure audience-based guarantees for television, just like you get in digital,” said Donna Speciale, president of ad sales at Turner.

Turner is hoping to generate premium pricing for those viewers, particularly those not watching in traditional primetime.

Audience Now is the latest step in a concerted digital strategy by the cable TV programmer designed to combine content and data. It also signals that while most TV networks at talking about data, Turner is ready to disrupt its traditional ad sales model in search of growth at a time when ad revenue growth is limited because increasingly viewers and ad dollars are going online.

At Turner, Audience Now joins a number of data products, starting with Targeting Now, which is moving from beta to wider availability during this year’s upfront. Targeting Now gives advertisers a more concentrated delivery of viewers within a target.

Read more at B&C.

Twelve top-performing executives in cable television operations, programming, network distribution and advertising sales have been selected by the editors of Multichannel News as the 2013 class of Wonder Women.

They will be profiled in the Jan. 28 edition of Multichannel News and will be honored at a luncheon event on March 19 at the Hilton New York hotel. For more information about the event, email Sandy Friedman (sfriedman@nbmedia.com).

Here is the 2013 class of Wonder Women:

Jamia Bigalow, senior vice president, distribution marketing, Fox Networks

Denise Denson, executive vice president, content distribution and marketing, Viacom Media Networks

Viviane Eisenberg, senior vice president and chief counsel, programming, global marketing and global licensing, HBO

Irene Esteves, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Time Warner Cable

Tamara Franklin, senior vice president, affiliate operations and new media distribution, Scripps Networks Interactive

Jacqueline Hernandez, chief operating officer, Telemundo Media

Ava Jordhamo, president, New York, Zenith

Nancy Kanter, senior vice president, original programming, and general manager, Disney Junior Worldwide

Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager, Animal Planet; president, Science & Velocity Networks

Cathy Kilstrom, senior vice president, customer care, West Division, Comcast Cable

Kim Norris, executive vice president, emerging businesses and data analytics, Cablevision Media Sales

Donna Speciale, president, Turner Entertainment & Young Adults Ad Sales

The editors of Multichannel News will also be selecting a class of Women to Watch who will be honored at the luncheon, co-hosted with the New York chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications.