The priority at HBO is growth for HBO Max, said Jackie Gagne, senior VP of cultural marketing at HBO, with a focus on subscriber acquisition and retention, and user engagement. She mentioned the audience initiative Pa’lante!, which brings diverse new voices to HBO Max, and helps Latinx audiences find the content they desire. 

Gagne described Pa’lante! as “a platform that creates awareness.” Much of it is done on social media. 

“We create immersive experiences to support the programming,” added Gagne, who was named to her current role last year.

Gagne spoke with Joseph Schramm of Schramm Marketing Group for the Promoting Content to Hispanics panel at the Hispanic TV Summit.

More recently, HBO launched Scene in Black, designed to promote Black voices. Gagne said an initiative to promote Asian-American and Pacific Islander voices is in the works, too. 

Diversity has long been a priority at HBO, Gagne added, mentioning HBO Latino launching some 20 years ago. “The research shows, diverse teams just perform better,” she said. “And they’re more innovative.”

In terms of building a diverse workforce, Gagne said she looks for strong marketers who are “incredibly passionate about the work” and those who “embrace cultural difference and have cultural fluency.” ■

The concept of “summer ratings doldrums” has long been a foreign one to Hispanic television.

Spanish-language broadcast network Univision is taking note of such “summer success stories” as its miniseries Por Siempre … Joan Sebastian, El Poeta del Pueblo, airing weeknights at 10 p.m.

Airing opposite the concluding installments of Telemundo “super series” El Señor de los Cielos, the miniseries’ premiere episode on Monday, June 27 delivered an average audience of 1.2 million adults aged 18-49 and 522,000 adults aged 18-34. Por Siempre …, based on the life of Joan Sebastian, the iconic Mexican crooner who died in 2015, reached an average audience of 2.3 million total viewers 2-plus.

That's significant, as the June 20 episode of El Señor de los Cielos finished at No. 20 in the ratings for the week, regardless of language, drawing 1.28 million viewers 18-49.

Jose Manuel and Julian Figueroa, Joan Sebastian’s real-life sons, play their father at different stages of his life. Livia Brito is seen in the role of Maribel Guardia, one of Joan’s true loves.

The Joan Sebastian miniseries is set to run through early August, when the first season of Netflix drama Narcos takes the time slot.

Univision has not revealed the premiere date for Narcos, which chronicles the life of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. However, the partnership with Netflix brings to Univision a program that will certainly vie for viewers against the third season of Telemundo “super series” Señora Acero.

Meanwhile, Univision is also pleased with the ratings success of its 9 p.m. telenovela Tres Veces Ana. A story about “destiny, hatred and sibling rivalry” starring Sebastián Rulli, the series started strong, with its May 23 premiere averaging 2.3 million total viewers 2-plus and 1.1 million adults aged 18-49 between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.

BIG AWARDS, RETURNING ASPIRANTS

Aside from weeknights, Univision is setting its sights on a solid Sunday performer as the music-filled competition series Va Por Tí returns for its second season on July 17.

The Televisa-Univision co-production is again hosted by Galilea Montijo.

The season premiere of Va Por Tí comes after the much-anticipated youth awards series Premios Juventud 2016 on Thursday, July 14. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET; it is tape-delayed for West Coast viewers with a 7 p.m. PT start time.

The 13th annual edition of the youth awards show brings together the leading stars in music, TV, film, sports and social media, with nominees and winners selected by fans at PremiosJuventud.com.

Set to perform are global superstars Enrique Iglesias, Wisin and Pitbull, as well as the leader of the bachata genre, Price Royce.

While the upcoming programming will likely deliver top ratings, nothing may come close to the jaw-dropping performance Univision enjoyed for the Copa America Centenario final on June 26, which saw Chile defeat Argentina on penalty kicks following a scoreless overtime period.

The match easily finished at No. 1 among all programs, regardless of language, with adults aged 18-49, averaging a stunning 3.41 million viewers and netting a 2.7 rating. By comparison, the No. 2 program among this viewer group — NBC’s America’s Got Talent — averaged 2.96 million viewers and grabbed a 2.3 rating.

Of all of the headlines to come out of upfront week in New York in mid-May, the biggest may have little to do with what’s set to appear on any Hispanic-targeted media network in the next 12 months.

Univision Communications — the top dog in the U.S. Hispanic market — said it will employ the One by AOL: TV platform to power its programmatic ad-selling effort. The self-service platform will give media buyers and clients access to the company’s entire inventory — including its new fall shows — via an automated, data-driven apparatus.

Using ONE will give Univision clients the ability to place advertisements across the company’s networks — including the Univision and UniMás over-the-air networks, as well as cable channels Galavisión and Univision Deportes — at “scale,” the company said. Programmatic buys via the platform will be available starting in the fourth quarter.

“With just a few clicks, UCI clients will be able to generate a media plan within AOL’s open, transparent platform that takes into account real-time audience attributes and campaign learnings beyond traditional TV buying metrics,” the company said in a May 16 statement. “UCI marketers will also gain a clearer view of valuable audience buying opportunities with complete inventory and pricing transparency, allowing them to better plan, purchase, and measure their TV ad investments. 

“Advertisers will have full control over their own data and will be able to leverage AOL’s proprietary first-party predictive targeting tools and advanced third-party TV targeting segments,” Univision said. “With AOL’s automated data exchange, otherwise complex processes are streamlined, time to market is reduced and workflow efficiency is improved.”

The AOL programmatic pact “unlocks for marketers the hidden value” in Univision’s inventory, the company said.

Univision is excited to offer clients “a new self-serve linear TV buying experience that will help make their media dollars work harder – and smarter,” Univision Commuincations president of advertising and marketing Keith Turner said. “We are constantly looking for innovative ways to help our clients meet and exceed their marketing goals. Our agreement with AOL empowers advertisers to customize data-driven targeting and buying plans, making it easy for clients to execute ad buys and measure results.  Programmatic ad buying is the logical next step for UCI.”

The programmatic move puts more of an onus on clients to consider Univision’s properties when making their multicultural media buying and planning decisions. Traditionally, the industry has fought to grow its share of advertising dollars and expand its core constituency of clients by taking the lead on demonstrating the value Spanish-language television brings to brands.

Programmatic has emerged as a key advertiser solution in an environment where rich user data across a variety of delivery platforms is now essential information for locking in inventory.

“We already sell our digital inventory programmatically,” Turner said. “The One by AOL: TV self-serve platform gives linear TV a similarly competitive footing. We are bringing to life a more holistic and simplified view of marketing spend and measurement across all screens — beyond just TV.”

Univision Communications has opened the doors of a Los Angeles-based content development and production hub that will produce original content for the Hispanic media company’s entire portfolio of digital and broadcast networks, in addition to interested third parties.

Univision Story House, part of the recently created Fusion Media Group unit, will create content in both English and Spanish. It furthers Univision’s efforts to increase and diversify its programming, going beyond its U.S. show-distribution pact with Mexican TV network Televisa, a Univision minority investor.

Camila Jimenez Villa, who was named Fusion Media Group’s president and chief content officer in April, will oversee Univision Story House. She has been with Univision since 2011 and was most recently vice president of strategy and analytics in the office of the CEO.

Juan Rendón and Silvana Aguirre will serve as the venture’s creative directors, while Christian Gabela assumes the role of vice president and general manager and will help lead strategy and partnerships, as well as manage daily operations.

Rendón previously led Univision and the Fusion network’s documentary division. Aguirre was previously creative director at UniMás.

All report to Isaac Lee, UCI’s chief news and digital officer.

Univision Story House’s first array of productions will be built on the network’s “storytelling abilities to bring to life narratives and characters that are revealing, authentic and reflect the diversity of the changing face of America,” the network said.

Univision Story House will have access to Univision News journalists and its archives “to source and develop long-form fiction and nonfiction content.”

Univision Story House’s first announced production deal is with premium network HBO. Two projects will take viewers “on a journey to examine an array of diverse cultures and perspectives”: Outpost is a ten-part series that Univision says melds experiential journalism and adventure travel by providing viewers a local perspective of distant places through immersive stories on current events, subcultures, the environment, and adventure sports.

From white separatists to anti-immigrant activists, Hate in America will see Univision and Fusion anchor Jorge Ramos in an investigative series on why hatred may be growing in the U.S. and who may be feeding it. 

"There is a wealth of untold stories about Latin America and the cross-cultural experience in the United States,” Rendón said. “The diversity of backgrounds and experiences that our experienced team embodies gives us the ability to tell those stories in the most authentic way.” 

Jimenez Villa added, “The formation of Univision Story House is an extension of UCI’s commitment to serve young, multicultural audiences across a broad range of platforms with high-quality, meaningful storytelling. Our goal is to be the go-to place for premium content for the new, rising American mainstream regardless of brand, platform, or language.”

For the first time, Telemundo executives enjoyed the same platform as their brethren at NBC — and, for that matter, every other NBCUniversal-owned network — as the media company held a combined upfront at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

Telemundo’s message to would-be clients? Soaps, kids and icons still matter.

Telemundo will play up four “Super Series” telenovelas, a Sunday early-prime children’s talent show, and a late-night show hosted the iconic Mario Kreutzberger, better known as “Don Francisco” of Univision’s long-running Saturday-night staple Sabado Gigante, the network said at the May 16 New York event. 

One of the “Super Series” additions to Telemundo’s lineup could well be described as Better Call Saul for the Hispanic viewer. El Chema, a spinoff of El Señor de los Cielos starring Mauricio Ochmann, tells the story of Chema Venegas’ first years working in Mexico’s world of organized crime and his ascension to becoming the renowned cartel leader seen in Cielos, a “Super Series” that is returning for a fifth season on Telemundo.

The other “Super Series” is a fictionalized account of the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Its arrival on Telemundo is timely, given the near-collapse of that nation’s economy under Chavez successor Nicolas Maduro. Hugo Chavez, El Comandante stars Andres Parra as Chavez.

Returning as a “Super Series” is Señora Acero 3, La Coyote. The third season of the successful franchise, which stars Sergio Goyri, Carolina Miranda and Luis Ernesto Franco, focuses on Vicenta Rigores, a courageous and rebellious woman who stands out in the male-dominated world of smuggling as the most feared and notorious “coyote” on the U.S.-Mexico border.

BACK TO ‘PARADISE’

Sin Senos Sí Hay Paraíso, a sequel to the telenovela Sin Senos No Hay Paraíso (“Without Breasts There’s No Paradise”), tells the story of Catalina “La pequeña” (the small one), who seeks to redeem her family from the world of violence and prostitution that has brought them so much loss and misery. Starring Fabian Rios, Catherine Siachoque and Carolina Gaitan, the followup series reflects the reality of a new generation of women determined to succeed in life without resorting to plastic surgery or falling for the lure of easy money.

Returning for a second season is La Querida del Centauro, which continues the story of Centauro’s revenge on Yolanda, his former mistress, and Gerardo, the detective who sought to bring him to justice. After two years on the run from the and tired of the bloody war between his cartel and his rival’s, Centauro decides to fake his own death and that of his son. This allows him to rebuild his empire — and carry out his plan for vengeance — without being pursued by the police.

Upon hearing the news of the deaths, Yolanda and her daughter Cristina, as well as Gerardo and his adoptive son, Gato, are able to return to Mexico from Canada, where they have been living under the Witness Protection Program. But it won’t be an easy return for Yolanda, as el Centauro will use all of his cunning and power to destroy her and her loved ones in his quest for revenge.

New to Telemundo is La Doña, based on “Doña Barbara,” the literary work by Romulo Gallegos. It’s a story of revenge and ambition, seduction and betrayal told from the perspective of an offended and abused woman named Altagracia.

In other Telemundo news, two musical dramas and comedies are heading to the network’s lineup. One follows the story of “Julio Cesar Solar,” a Regional Mexican Music idol, whose death is the spark “that ignites this story of betrayal, rivalry, love and the search for fame at any cost.” The other is a series inspired by veteran actress Angelica Vale that shows what happens when an ultimate fan of a famous telenovela actor link up.

Production on Silvana Sin Lana, a new telenovela that marks the return of veteran actor Carlos Ponce to Spanish-language TV, is already underway.

FLASHBACK SUNDAY

Those learning of Telemundo’s Sunday-night lineup may wonder if the network is emulating a family Sunday primetime strategy of years past.

First up: An hour-long news magazine produced by Noticias Telemundo that will offer four interviews with politicians or celebrities, with a working title of Los Reporteros.

At 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT) is a new children’s talent series with the working title of Siempre Niños — “starring kids with extraordinary talents: singers, dancers, magicians, lip-synchers and more.”

At 9 p.m. will be Zoomundo, a show featuring ZooMiami wildlife expert Ron Magill, guest celebrities, and exotic creatures and wild animals.

In an interesting twist, the 10 p.m. Sunday slot goes to Don Francisco, who gets an hour-long variety show that will likely borrow ideas and inspiration from his Saturday-night Univision series, Sabado Gigante, in a truncated format. With a working title of Don Francisco Te Invita, the show will feature a house band plus interviews and games with notable celebrities, models, comedians and actors.

Telemundo will also expand its weekday morning show, Un Nuevo Día, by 90 minutes, starting in early 2017.  The news and entertainment program will now air from 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET, allowing for continuous coverage on both coasts. The live show is hosted by Rashel Diaz, Adamari Lopez, Ana Maria Canseco, Daniel Sarcos and Diego Schoening.

At cable network NBC Universo, season three of the dubbed-in-Spanish The Walking Dead is set to entertain viewers. There is also Zapata Justice, which follows the Mexican-American members of a small border town’s Sheriff’s Department as they fight to protect their own from dangerous criminal activity.

But the bigger news is the finalization of a development and production deal with the estate of the late regional Mexican music icon Jenni Rivera, perhaps the biggest draw for NBC Universo’s previous incarnation, mun2.

The Riveras will follow the lives of Rivera’s biggest legacy — her children. The series will allow viewers to see Jenni’s sister Chiquis Rivera and her younger siblings step up and pull together to raise each other with humor and love and go for their biggest dreams.

The arrangement also allows NBCUniversal’s Hispanic properties to produce a number of series and specials “inspired” by Rivera — including a biographical/musical television series that sounds similar in concept to telenovela Celia, based on the life of the late Cuban entertainer Celia Cruz. There will also be a “Jenni Vive” tribute concert in memory of the regional Mexican vocalist, who perished in a plane crash in Mexico in December 2012.

“The U.S. Hispanic market continues to be the biggest growth opportunity for any business,” Cesar Conde, chairman of NBCUniversal International Group and NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, said in prepared remarks. “We are investing in the most innovative original content, a $250 million state-of-the-art facility and talent in front of and behind the cameras. We are pleased our investments are paying off.”

Luis Silberwasser, president of Telemundo Network and NBC Universo, added, “Heading into this upfront season, we’ve gained more viewers year-over-year in Monday-Friday prime-time among key demos and are capitalizing on that momentum continuing to close the gap with [Univision].”

On May 16, media buyers, planners and multicultural advertising executives will once again spend three days shuttling around Midtown Manhattan to enjoy free drinks, savory hors d’oeuvres and a largely positive presentation on why 2016-17 will be vitally important for their clients to engage with broadcast and cable television viewers.

Upfront Week is still vitally important. Television — particularly Hispanic television — remains a key conduit for reaching current and potential consumers, Clorox chief marketing officer Eric Reynolds said at last month’s Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies conference in Miami Beach, Fla. These comments were echoed by the agency heads and broadcast media executives in attendance, who acknowledged the rise of digital and social media but also stressed multicultural marketers cannot ignore Hispanic television.

But the biggest headline this year may be what Upfront Week attendees won’t.

Gone are separate upfront presentations from ESPN Deportes and Telemundo. Those networks will now be featured in presentations from big sibling ESPN and parent NBCUniversal, respectively. Univision is still doing a standalone upfront presentation.

Discovery U.S. Hispanic networks had not publicly announced its upfront plans at deadline for this article. Additionally, beIN SPORTS has not released details on its May 16 upfront presentation, which will include discussion of its Spanish-language networks serving U.S. Hispanics.

Here’s a brief run-down on what advertisers can expect starting May 16 in New York:

MONDAY, MAY 16
Morning
(Time TBA)
beIN SPORTS

6:30 p.m. TELEMUNDO
Hammerstein Ballroom, The Manhattan Center
Jennifer Lopez, currently serving as executive producer and co-star of the NBC crime drama Shades of Blue, will treat Upfront attendees with a private concert. According to the network, Lopez’s performance will mark the first of several collaborations by the entertainer in upcoming Telemundo projects to be announced. NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and its brands Telemundo and NBC Universo will join the NBCUniversal advertising upfront presentation that morning at Radio City Music Hall as part of its entire portfolio of broadcast and cable networks.

TUESDAY, MAY 17
9:15 a.m.
ESPN
Minskoff Theatre

ESPN has used the Minskoff Theatre for the last several years, but this will be the first time ESPN Deportes buyers will be in attendance to hear about the Spanish-language sports network’s properties and advertising solutions. Previously, ESPN Deportes held its own events at locales such as Hearst Tower, where in 2014 it hosted a breakfast presentation and shuttled VIPs to the event, seated alongside key talent such as sportscaster Jorge Ramos.

Details on ESPN Deportes’s role at ESPN’s total market presentation were scant at deadline. However, John Fitzgerald, vice president of multimedia sales for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Audio, said advertisers interested in his networks will hear about the power of total market reach, and its live sports programming — rather than its studio shows and talent such as the aforementioned Ramos.

11 a.m.
UNIVISION
Lyric Theatre

“United We Stand, Together We Grow:” That’s the slogan behind a new marketing campaign that will serve as the theme of Univision’s 2016 upfront presentation.

According to the network, the motto highlights Univision’s core differentiators: young and influential viewers, “massive unduplicated reach” and its commitment to serving the needs of its diverse multicultural viewers.

“The Univision story is a unique one that no other media company has,” Univision executive vice president and chief marketing officer Jessica Rodriguez said in prepared comments. “Our ‘United We Stand, Together We Grow’ campaign illustrates our ability to reach high value multicultural consumers in the U.S. by delivering on our unyielding mission to inform, entertain, and empower our audience anywhere, anytime,” she said. “With fun and inspirational creative, this campaign demonstrates Univision’s unique ability to help our marketing partners deliver sustained business growth.”

Keith Turner, Univision’s President of Advertising Sales and Marketing, added, “We inspire loyalty among our young, influential, digitally savvy audience, which allows us to deliver results for advertisers across our multi-platform distribution network.”

The campaign, developed by the Our Man In Havana agency, will include out-of-home billboard displays in key markets, as well as print and digital advertisements.

AN EARLY JUMP ON UPFRONTS

Azteca America conducted an upfront road show this year, with events for advertisers already held over the last several weeks in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Dallas.

For the network, it’s “Game on!” That’s the theme of its upfronts, with advertisers learning about a roster of family game shows, adventure reality programming, dramas and live sporting events from network president Manuel Abud and executive vice president of network sales and digital Craig Geller.

“Azteca America enters this upfront season on the heels of delivering its best March ratings in five years across all key demos in primetime,” Abud said. “We have made good on all of last year’s promises and our ‘Game On!’ theme underscores our proven counter-programming strategy, further solidifying our position as an entertainment leader in the U.S.”

Azteca also introduced its digital programming strategy under the theme “A Better Life,” with content that is specific to the needs of its audience. By going to AztecaAmerica.com, visitors can get the latest news, entertainment and sports in their language and from their point of view. “

“A Better Life” extends into other social media as well, with feature deals, opportunities and information important to Latinos, available on their computers and mobile devices, and through social media platforms.

The arrest of Larrymania star Larry Hernandez has put the NBCUniverso series, one of Spanish-language television’s most successful unscripted programs, into best-of mode.

On Sept. 25, the regional Mexican music star was prevented from boarding a Southwest Airlines flight from Ontario, Calif. to Denver by airport police who received a warrant for his arrest. The warrant, issued in South Carolina, accused Hernandez of kidnapping, assault, and assault and battery causing injury.

Hernandez is one of Latin music’s top regional Mexican artists, fueled by his controversial “narco corridos” featuring lyrics and themes tied to Mexico’s drug-trafficking subculture. Larrymania — billed as an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the star’s life — recently started its fifth season on NBCUniverso, with tales of a surprise trip to Hawaii, following a romantic trip to Paris for Hernandez and his now-fiancée, Kenia.

Larrymania is the No. 1 Hispanic cable-TV program among viewers age 18-49 and one of Spanish-language television’s most successful unscripted programs. It wrapped up its third season in August of 2014 with an average audience of 117,000 18-to-49-year-olds tuning in each Sunday at 9 p.m.

In fact, Larrymania’s popularity helped it outlive the network it launched on  — the youth-targeted mun2 — which was rebranded into the general-interest NBC Universo in February of 2015.

By late October, media reports offered further details of what Hernandez is being charged with: Wrapping a man in plastic sheeting; forcing him into his hotel room with “several associates of Hernandez”; and beating him when Hernandez wasn’t paid in full for an August performance in the small agricultural town of Newbury, S.C. Some 9.5% of Newbury’s 10,600 residents are Hispanic.

At first, NBC Universo’s communications team, which had relentlessly promoted every episode of Larrymania with weekly press updates in both English and Spanish, declined comment on Hernandez’s legal situation. When contacted in mid-October by Hispanic Television Update, NBC Universo VP of communications Peter Dobrow said: “NBC Universo continues to air reruns of the series. However at this time we are not commenting on future plans for the series.”

On Nov. 3, NBC Universo affirmed its decision to stick with best-of episodes, noting in a statement that it would air “special programming” each Thursday from 9 to 11 p.m. featuring “many unforgettable moments from the hit reality series’ last four seasons.”

The specials began airing on Nov. 5 and will run through Dec. 3. The programming is in response to “loyal fans that have demonstrated support for their idol,” the network said.

The announcement from NBC Universo came just days after Hernandez broke his silence on YouTube, the media platform that first brought him notoriety. Freed on a $200,000 bond some three weeks after his arrest, Hernandez appeared to be back in his Southern California home.

In the video, Hernandez said: “It’s not, as some in very bad faith have said, because I’m looking to sell an exclusive interview. My interest at no time is one of economic gain for an interest that narrates or reviews what has been a nightmare for me.”

Up next for Hernandez: A Dec. 31 court date to discuss probable cause.

NBC Universo has offered no visibility past Dec. 3 on what it intends to do with Larrymania. But new episodes could be back on the air sooner rather than later, thanks to a new twist in South Carolina.

José Andrade, the alleged victim in the case, was arrested in early November amid accusations of fraud tied to financial loans. While this case is unrelated to that of Hernandez, Andrade’s legal difficulties could greatly hinder the case against Larrymania’s star.

Meanwhile, Hernandez is back in action as a performer: He officially returned to the stage Nov. 13 in Dallas, following a Nov. 5 appearance on Estrella TV’s Premios de La Radio awards show. There, Hernandez was nominated for Best Performer of the Year and as the hottest social-media star of 2015.

Celia, Telemundo’s first “bio-musical,” is helping the network narrow the audience gap with longtime leader Univision on weeknights at 8 p.m.

Celia, the biographical novela about the Cuban salsa superstar Celia Cruz, has averaged some 771,000 viewers age 18-49 on weeknights at 8 p.m. during its premiere week of Oct. 12-18, up from Reina de Corazones’s 404,000 viewers in that timeslot a year ago, according to Nielsen estimates. 

Thus, Telemundo now trails Univision by “only” 86,000 viewers in the key advertiser demographic at 8 p.m. A year ago, the gap between Telemundo and first-place Univision was 1.5 million viewers.

For the week ending Oct. 25, Celia was the No. 9 among viewers 2-plus, attracting an average audnience of 1.71 milliom viewers. That’s slightly fewer viewers than Señora Acero, Telemundo’s 10 p.m. “Super Series” telenovela, and slightly less than the 7 p.m. edition of its popular courtroom show Caso Cerrado.

Celia airs opposite Univision’s Antes Muerto que Lichita, a Mexican telenovela produced by Rosy Ocampo for Televisa. The series stars actress and singer Maite Perroni with a theme song sung by veteran Latin pop singer Thalía.

According to Nielsen, Perroni’s telenovela attracted an average 2.03 million viewers aged 2-plus. Considering Perroni’s pull among key Hispanic millennial audiences, Celia will be a bonafide smash if the ratings success continues.

Celia is a first for Spanish-language broadcast television, as it borrows from the success of English-language primetime soaps Empire and Glee by injecting musical performances into the storyline.

Portraying Cruz in her younger years is Jeimy Osorio; newcomer Aymee Nuviola has been cast the older Cruz. Contemporary salsa music star La India is contributing to the show’s soundtrack.

In other Telemundo news, the post-Sábado Gigante war for Saturday-night viewers is on, as the Nov. 7 premiere of ¡Qué Noche! con Angelica y Raul attracted 538,000 adults aged 18-49. By comparison, Sabadazo — Univision’s successor to the long-running Sábado Gigante — attracted some 465,000 adults aged 18-49.

¡Qué Noche! is hosted by veteran telenovela actress Angelica Vale and Raul Gonzalez, who left Univision in March 2014 after a 12-year tenure as a co-anchor on Despierta América, the network’s morning show.

Mark Lopez has been an hombre ocupado since taking the helm of Univision Communications’s digital-facing initiatives in April.

The former Google executive, now executive vice president and general manager of Univision Digital, has helped the Spanish-language media firm rapidly spool up a variety of projects, including a partnership with Snapchat; the debut of a mobile app that turns viewers into a judge for La Banda, the music- focused reality show; the launch of a fantasy soccer service based on Liga MX; and Univision’s “Creator Network” that taps into online video’s growing talent pool.

Next TV editor Jeff Baumgartner recently spoke with Lopez about these new projects and their role in Univision’s digital transformation. An edited transcript follows.

NTV:What was the big driver in your decision to join Univision?

Mark Lopez: I think the projects we’re putting together here are a great opportunity. When you look at the U.S. market opportunity and the consumers who make up that opportunity, the bulk of that growth is within the multicultural consumer.

Univision is uniquely positioned to go after that opportunity from the standpoint of the assets that the company has — the brand affi nity that the Hispanic consumer has … the amount of experience with content development the company has historically, and currently the focus that [Univision has] to really bulk up [its] digital assets.

When you look at all of that, it provides a great platform to really build a very unique project, which, to me, is really about a next-generation media company going after the multicultural consumer, the growth consumer in the U.S. That’s really what attracted me to come to Univision to put that together.

NTV:Now that you’ve been on board for about six months, what are your top priorities as 2015 wraps up and we head into 2016?

ML: For us, the acceleration of our digital business is paramount — getting to scale faster when it comes to our core Hispanic consumer. We define scale as both extending our TV content and programming onto the digital realm and finding additional, incremental distribution areas for that content, whether that’s … YouTube, Snapchat or also extending into second-screen apps like the Screenz [an interactive TV developer] app that we’ve done.

It’s about scaling that piece, but also looking at digital-only opportunities as we develop original content and as we help our other assets outside our core Spanish-language area develop and grow faster.

NTV:We’ve seen an increasing number of programmers develop and launch direct-to-consumer offerings that play outside of the traditional programmer-distributor dynamic. Is this something Univision will also have to consider — a standalone digital service that features your primary offerings?

ML: I think we have opportunities to leverage our brand … to develop digital-only content initiatives, whether that’s original programming, whether that is tapping into the influencer market through the Univision Creator Network, or partnering with production houses like what we’re doing with Dirty Kitchen out of Colombia to develop original content.

We want to piggyback on what we currently have to develop, versus doing it all from scratch.

For us, the multicultural Hispanic space is a space that we have a ton of experience with our brand that spans 30 years, and we think that we can win in this space when it comes to digital.

NTV:Is a big digital presence still a nice-to-have complement, or has it become critical table stakes?

ML: When we look at our audience footprint, we really look holistically at what we have with both linear and digital. Univision as a whole reaches close to 40 million media consumers monthly. We know that the growth [along] those touch points is going to come mainly from digital. That’s why it’s critical for us. To develop the footprint and the scale, which we currently have, we want to accelerate but also to develop the knowhow to go after that consumer across the board.

NTV:What’s the biggest challenge in reaching consumers via digital? Finding ways to reach them when compared to how it’s done via traditional TV?

ML: I think reach and engagement is a challenge, but it also goes around the capabilities of provisioning content for each of the distribution windows that you’re going against.

It’s very different for us when we produce content for our O&O properties than it is for producing content with our UCN partners for YouTube [or] producing comedy content across Flama or even doing a Snapchat Live Story with our soccer content. All of those things bring different capabilities to the table and I think the winners will be the ones that can develop across all of those windows that matter and get content in front of consumers.

NTV:Let’s talk a bit about some specific digital-facing projects that are underway, starting with the Snapchat partnership. How did that come together, and what results have you seen so far?

ML: [Snapchat is] a very important window for a lot of our programming. Initially, we worked with them on our sports content to develop Live Stories for our live soccer matches, our U.S.-Mexico matches that they could basically promote on their Live Story feed. That worked very well, basically developing incremental audience for that content.

When you can develop 2 [million] to 3 million additional unique users out of that event, it’s definitely incremental in nature. From there, we really have migrated to develop more content pieces that we can distribute through Snapchat holistically among other distribution networks.

NTV:Univision’s Conecta app ties in engagement across Facebook, Instagram, Periscope, Snapchat, Vine, YouTube and Twitter, allowing users to become La Banda’s “fourth judge.” How has this helped to increase engagement with the show?

ML: We developed that in partnership with Screenz. We ran that against La Banda, which is our reality show focused on music and it provides tremendous engagement during the show … Conecta allows us to get, on average, 30 minutes of extra engagement with that audience through the app.

NTV:Your Creator Network is an outlet for YouTubers and Viners. How is Univision leveraging that program, and are you making some of that content available through TV and digital?

ML: You could see the UCN [Univision Creator Network] being a standard MCN [multichannel network], but it’s not by any means. What we’re trying to do first is listen to what is trending in the marketplace — some of these creators are producing amazing content — and see what opportunities we have to bring them into both our tentpole events and with linear programming.

NTV:How do you pick who gets selected for that? Do they register or apply?

ML: As part of our UCN, we have a dedicated team that works with our creators. We work with the long tail as well as the fat tail. We work with the up-and-coming creators that have potentially very low traffic on YouTube … and want to go on and create more long-form video.

I would say that a lot of it is trial and error, but also it’s getting deeper relationships with the content creators and having the assets and the team in place to be able to do that. It’s critical for us, because that’s where the next generation talent will come from.

NTV:Univision Deportes launched its own soccer fantasy league in the U.S. this summer. What kind of a following has that seen since its launch? Is that purely ad-supported?

ML: We saw an opportunity to develop soccer-related fantasy product. We decided to launch our own that’s ad-supported, so we have partners like Ford. It’s scaling very nicely and focusing on soccer and what … we can bring on TV and [turning] that into a fantasy experience online.

Our hope for that is to take this dedicated audience and keep growing it and potentially continue to scale the advertising business, and look at potential ways to partner with [companies] that have different business models besides advertising.

NTV:In addition to locking in more engagement with viewers, particularly millennials, how are you monetizing some of these digital efforts? Have you blocked off some separate ad inventory for this, or are you looking at complementary subscription-based offerings?

ML: On the advertising side, I think we need to bring the entire message out to the marketplace. It is complementary to each other … We have current relationships with Hulu and with Netflix and with new services that are coming into the marketplace, like the new Verizon [go90] service. Our goal is also to become strategic partners from a content perspective to other distributors and partners, so we can balance a little bit of the revenue mix and it’s not all depending on advertising.

If preliminary expectations and PR hype are accurate gauges of how a new addition to the fall primetime lineup will fare with viewers, Telemundo executives today are likely shouting “¡azuuuuuucar!”

That’s the sugar-filled Spanish-language shout that helped cement Celia Cruz as the global “Queen of Salsa.” Celia, the new telenovela adaptation of the salsa icon’s life, is expected to be the network’s queen of the 8 p.m. timeslot.

Celia is a first for Spanish-language broadcast television, as it borrows from the success of English-language primetime series Empire and Glee by injecting musical performances into the storyline.

Portraying Cruz in her younger years (in her acting debut) is Jeimy Osorio; Aymee Nuviola has been cast as the older Cruz. A contemporary salsa music star, La India, is contributing to the show’s soundtrack.

Meanwhile, in a first for Telemundo, the first three episodes of Celia were made available via video-on-demand ahead of the network premiere. Celia is a Fox Telecolombia production.

To help promote Celia, a special tribute to Celia Cruz was incorporated into the inaugural Latin American Music Awards, which aired as a live telecast Oct. 8 on Telemundo as its proprietary answer to rival Univision’s long-running Premio lo Nuestro a la Música Latina. The segment featured Osorio alongside co-star Modesto Lacen, with a medley of the songstress’ greatest hits performed by Nuviola and La India.

The Latin American Music Awards mirrors the long-running American Music Awards and is also produced by Dick Clark Productions.

When charged with bringing a large media company closer in ratings and revenue to its main competitor, it certainly helps to have the resources to “get the job done.”

Perhaps the greater challenge is finding the executive who can steward such a firm in a calculated-yet-aggressive manner.

NBCUniversal's Telemundo Network might have found that executive in August of 2014, when it successfully lured away Discovery Networks International executive vice president and chief content officer Luis Silberwasser, naming the 11-year cable-programming veteran as its new president.

Silberwasser and his team are now looking to close the gap against archrival Univision Communications, the Hispanic market's top media company. And they’ve seen some success.

Viewership in weekday primetime among adults 18-49 is up to an average 757,000 viewers from 697,000. And Telemundo has ranked No. 1 at 10 p.m. weeknights, regardless of language, in the 18-49 demo, since the third season of its "Super Series" telenovela El Señor de los Cielos bowed on April 21.

With NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations president Valari Staab and Telemundo Station Group president Manuel Martinez "laser-focused on making the stations better," Silberwasser told Hispanic Television Update in an exclusive interview that his next task is building on the network's 10 p.m. success with bolder telenovela lead-ins, a fresh take on reality programming and Telemundo’s first stab at a Saturday-night variety show.

A DIFFERENT SONG AND DANCE

Celia — a drama series inspired by the life and career of the late Cuban entertainment icon Celia Cruz — can be a game-changer for both Telemundo and for primetime telenovelas, Silberwasser said.

"We really wanted to define our programming strategy by looking what is working for us at 10 p.m. and why," Silberwasser said. "We used those insights and brought that same strategy to the rest of our primetime lineup. It is a special moment for Hispanics in America, and we saw the need for something new and different to grow our network.

“Celia is a story, with music,” he added. “It’s happy. It’s sad. It has all of the elements of drama and song that has worked [with English-language primetime dramas]. We saw it with Glee and with Empire, and introducing this new format to Hispanic television in the 8 p.m. hour is exciting. Our expectations are high.”

A period piece, Celia is produced by Fox Telecolombia and was filmed in Puerto Rico, starting in February. Jeimy Osorio (Una Maid in Manhattan, Porque el amor manda) and Modesto Lacén (Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights) portray Celia Cruz and her husband and manager, Pedro Knight, during their younger years. The series continues with the introduction of 2014 Latin Grammy nominee Aymeé Nuviola and newcomer Willy Denton, who play the couple in their later years.

Can a show about one of Miami's most beloved Latin superstars attract an audience west of the Mississippi? Silberwasser believes so.

"Our audience will be the ultimate judge, but we think it is going to appeal to a broad audience," he said. "Celia is really an icon across Latin America, and the show resonated with Hispanics across all of our test markets. I think Celia really represents Hispanic America."

At 9 p.m., Silberwasser has put his faith in Bajo el mismo cielo, a telenovela that — for the first time, he said — depicts the U.S. Hispanic migrant experience. "The story line is much more real than the typical fantasy-world production," he said.

A loose adaptation of the 2011 film A Better Life, the story centers around undocumented Los Angeles resident Carlos Martinez, portrayed by Gabriel Porras (El Alma Herida, La Reina del Sur).

The premiere of Bajo el mismo cielo generated Telemundo’s highest ratings for a telenovela premiere in three years.

"As we continue to look at our strategy, we ask ourselves if we can continue to innovate, and what else we can find that is very different from the competition," Silberwasser says.

The result: Adding the first-ever U.S. Hispanic adaptation of Endemol's Big Brother, Gran Hermano, to the lineup and bringing its own variety show, ¡Que Noche!, to Saturday nights.

"This is our next big bet for Saturday night," Silberwasser said. Asked about the timing of the show's debut, after the Sept. 19 finale of the Don Francisco-helmed Sábado Gigante on rival Univision, he said: "We wanted to capture the Sábado Gigante concept but with a much-younger audience, and talent that resonates with this audience.” Telenovela actress Angélica Vale and Raúl González — a host of Univision morning program Despierta América from 2001-2014  are the combo that Silberwasser believes "will bring Saturday night back to life" for Latino TV viewers.

AWARENESS AND AWARDS

In addition to its programming plans, Telemundo is hedging its bets on Pope Francis’s visit this month to the U.S. and Latin America, devoting significant news and programming resources to the trip.

Over Sunday nights during the next three months, Telemundo will air faith-themed programming tied to the pope’s trip, including the miniseries A.D. and a four-part, four-hour miniseries on Pope Francis’s life. 

Meanwhile, the network has integrated the struggle of Type 2 Diabetes — a common ailment for U.S. Hispanics — into the storyline of Bajo el mismo cielo through a newly forged partnership with pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim.

Storyline integrations follow character Andrés Cabrera as he manages the disease. The integrations are supported by a custom vignette airing in conjunction with the storyline and featuring actor Juan Cepero, in character as Cabrera, encouraging viewers to visit www.cuidatudon.com for more information about Type 2 Diabetes.

Telemundo is also featuring Boehringer Ingelheim-sponsored custom Q&A-style segments on its weekday morning show, Un Nuevo Día.

Lastly, Telemundo believes it can stage its own Latin music awards program by launching its Latin American Music Awards. Televised live from Hollywood on Oct. 8, the LAMAs are a Hispanic take on the American Music Awards, created by Dick Clark in 1974. Dick Clark Productions has yet to announce the show's host or musical performers.

YOUTH MOVEMENT ‘EN ESPAÑOL’

As Telemundo makes an aggressive, schedule-wide push for 18-to-34 Hispanic viewers, Silberwasser said he isn’t worried about the industry pundits who posit that younger Latinos don't consume Spanish-language television and live in a largely English-speaking world.

“We believe that we can bring 18-34s who want to see great programming on our network,” Silberwasser said. “Great programming can be in Spanish. Remember, this audience is bilingual. They are watching a series in Spanish, and commenting on Twitter in English.

“If we can properly speak to this audience with great programming, there will be no further gap to bridge,” he added.

LOS ANGELES -- Three years ago, Fox Hispanic Media turned on the lights and soft-launched MundoFox, a new Spanish-language broadcast network targeting U.S. Hispanics.

MundoFox was designed from the get-go as an ambitious stab at a sophisticated Latino audience that craved more than the “Cinderella”-style telenovela or family oriented live variety show.

With sleek scripted dramas, a popular early prime game show adapted from Family Feud, and a strong emphasis on local and national news, MundoFox entered the scene with gusto, its executives confident it would eventually rival Univision Communications’ No. 2 network, TeleFutura (now UniMas), for viewers. That day will never come for MundoFox.

On July 16, Colombia’s RCN Television Group — Fox International Channels’ joint-venture partner in the Fox Hispanic Media-managed network — announced it had purchased 21st Century Fox’s interest in MundoFox. Also gone is the Fox brand, as the network is now known as MundoMax.

And RCN has said goodbye to roughly 35 journalists associated with the national Noticias MundoFox newscasts, which have been “canceled” as part of the wholesale rebranding.

News programming is expected to return in 2016, however, as RCN executives are reviewing MundoMax’s entire programming slate.

"RCN is excited to be carrying on the MundoFox network that we started jointly with our partner FIC," said Morales, whose resume includes a stint as president of Telemundo Station Group.  "We look forward to serving the remarkably vibrant and dynamic U.S. Hispanic community with our successful programs and are proud to dedicate our efforts to the continuous growth and success of the network.”

One notable holdover from MundoFox is the hour-long 100 Latino Dijeron, the Family Feud-style game show that emerged as one of its lone ratings successes. The competition program still airs at 7 p.m. weeknights. Also still on the primetime lineup is the Tims Productions telenovela Suleimán, El Gran Sultán, dubbed into Spanish from its original Turkish (Muhteşem Yüzyıl).

At 9 p.m. weeknights is La Guerrera, a dubbed-into-Spanish version of Rede Globo’s Brazilian soap opera Salve Jorge. At 10 p.m., affiliates such as Meruelo Media’s KWHY Los Angeles will continue to air local news. KWHY will now air the 30-minute Noticias MundoMax 22 weeknights at 5 p.m. and at 10 p.m. Veteran news anchor José Ronstadt, widely known for his time at Telemundo-owned KVEA, co-anchors KWHY’s newscasts with station veteran Palmira Perez.

It was not known at press time if other affiliates would continue their 30-minute local newscasts.

MundoFox until July 27 aired a 10:30 p.m. national newscast anchored by Rolando Nichols and originating from Los Angeles. Nichols in the mid-2000s anchored a now-defunct newscast for TeleFutura (now UniMás).

Today, the studio is dark; it is believed Nichols and correspondents Carolina Sarassa and Max Aub are all seeking new opportunities. The Los Angeles studio made MundoFox the only Spanish-language network serving U.S. Hispanics with a newsroom outside of the Eastern time zone.

Replacing the national newscast, which also aired at 5:30 p.m. on MundoFox’s more than 50 affiliates, is the reality exposé show Most Shocking.

RCN informed the multicultural marketing and advertising community of MundoMax’s official launch with a promotional spot on its website featuring the tagline, “Live to The Max.”

One advertiser has already signed on with MundoMax, automaker Dodge. Thirty-second commercials, featuring Machete actor Danny Trejo in character, appear on the MundoMax.com website, which features detailed program information and sections devoted to sports, horoscopes, and health and beauty.

Meanwhile, Fox Hispanic Networks continues, with Spanish-language cable television networks Nat Geo Mundo, Fox Life and Fox Deportes as its three U.S. offerings. Tom Maney remains as executive vice president of Fox Hispanic Networks. Andy Checo, MundoFox’s former director of publicity and community affairs, has joined public-relations firm Havas Formula in New York as a director. 

Ford believes its F-150 line of trucks is as strong as a boxer.

Now, thanks to a newly forged agreement with U.S. Spanish-language broadcast network Azteca, it hopes Latinos in the market for a new vehicle feel the same way while also learning about what it takes to jab and score a knockout punch.

On July 7, Azteca unveiled “Fuerza Ford,” the first installment in a 10-episode webisode series offering a tutorial for would-be boxers. Users can view each episode on Azteca’s website; the network’s Facebook and Twitter feeds are also updated with links for new installments of “Fuerza Ford” as they are made available for viewing.

Ford’s F-150 is featured prominently in every installment — as are Mexican professional boxers Giselle Leal, Edgar Juárez Calzada and Michel de la Vega Esparza Oteo.

The webisodes will offer expert boxing tips, provide an inside look into the fighters’ lifestyles and show how the boxers’ determination, passion and hard work “echo the spirit of a Ford owner,” Azteca said.

“Fuerza Ford” extends Ford’s relationship with Azteca; the automotive company has sponsored the network’s boxing series Box Azteca since 2010.

"Ford is a leader in content marketing for U.S. Latinos, which is why we're so honored to work together on the ‘Fuerza Ford’ boxing video campaign,” Azteca executive vice president of network sales and digital for the U.S. Hispanic market Court Stroud said.

Ford multicultural marketing manager David Rodriguez added: “Ford is proud to partner with Azteca to create a unique co-branded online hub as a source for Hispanic boxing lovers and newcomers alike to come and enjoy extended content beyond the matches in the ring – something we know the audience is passionate about.”

Coral Gables, Fla.-based Zubi Advertising, Ford’s longtime U.S. Hispanic agency of record, assisted in producing the webisodes. The sponsored-content initiative is a natural extension of Ford’s relationship with Azteca, Zubi associate media director Michael Roca told Hispanic Television Update in an interview.

“Given the passion of boxing among Ford’s key Hispanic audiences, the partnership with Azteca America over the years has concentrated on their robust boxing platform, across broadcast and digital channels,” he said. “In an effort to further engage audiences on a personal level, Ford, Zubi and Azteca came up with a concept of a custom digital series of boxing tutorial videos that organically fused in the F-150 ‘Fuerza’ messaging and vehicle attributes. The videos’ objective is to provide a source of ‘Boxing 101’ tips while showcasing the fuerza of the F-150 from a unique perspective.”

Latino boys from across the U.S. will soon have the opportunity to convince a panel of judges that they’re the next Ricky Martin or Robi Draco Rosa.

On July 1, online entries will be available to talented (and likely visually appealing) Hispanic boys between 10 and 15 who will be given the chance to land one of five spots in the newest incarnation of Menudo.

Menudo rose to global fame in the early 1980s, making Martin and Rosa into heartthrobs in nearly every Spanish-speaking nation. In New York, their fame was so strong that an English-language single released in summer 1984, “If You’re Not Here (By My Side),” earned airplay on Top 40 giant Z100 despite the song’s failure to reach the national charts.

Martin is now one of the world’s most recognizable Latin male vocalists, while Rosa has enjoyed a highly successful career as a songwriter and performer with an impressive fan base in Puerto Rico.

Newly launched digital music entertainment discovery platform Showpitch.com is leading the quest for the five individuals who will ultimately be offered a slot in the new Menudo. The rules allow prospective contestants, boys age 10-15, to build their own “Talent Stage” microsite and upload a three-minute video that showcases their singing and dancing moves.

While the competition is open to any boy, regardless of ethnicity, the online registration page first asks to select Spanish or English as their preferred language — a hint that band members will be Hispanic. For legal reasons, the parent or legal guardian of the potential contestant must complete and submit the required forms on behalf of their child.

Once the online entry process is complete, their “Talent Stage” will then be shared with Showpitch.com’s Twitter and Facebook feeds, allowing fans to vote for their favorite would-be Menudo member. Of the total contestants, the 25 with the most social media votes will be selected following August 30 as finalists and flown to Miami, where they will perform before a panel of judges for the chance to become the newest Menudo member.

While nearly every component of the search will be conducted online and through social media, Telemundo Station Group is playing a key role in what’s being dubbed “Menudo — En Busca de la Nueva Generación.” Viewers will be able to “fully engage and join in this unique production” by visiting the local websites for Telemundo O&Os across the U.S., TSG senior vice president of sales Mike Chico said.

“The Telemundo Station Group has a robust digital offering that allows our viewers to connect and engage with our local stations while they are on the go to get the latest news and information they need or learn about exciting new offerings, such as this presentation,” Chico notes.

On the website for Miami Telemundo station WSCV,  a promotion video with Spanish narration appeared on the top left-hand side of the page and began playing.

While relaunching the iconic Menudo brand is noteworthy in and of itself, it is interesting to note that Telemundo is putting its muscle behind an initiative that won’t lead to TV programming for the Telemundo broadcast network, TeleXitos multicast network, or the NBC Universo cable platform — at least for now. That hasn’t deterred at least one sponsor, the Local Honda Dealer Association, from signing on.

Telemundo owns TV stations in Los Angeles, New York, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, San Antonio, San Francisco, Phoenix, Harlingen, Fresno, Denver, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Boston, Tucson and Puerto Rico.

Telemundo has salivated at the opportunity to topple its chief rival, Univision, in the ratings for many years.

Twists and turns in programming rights, and programming strategies, across the networks have left Telemundo firmly in the No. 2 position. But things are changing at lightning speed at the NBCUniversal-owned Spanish-language broadcast network.

It has invested heavily in local and national news in an era where manila folders filled with COBRA information are more common than offer letters. At the same time, Telemundo has hit its stride with so-called “super series” that shed the traditional start-to-finish telenovela story arc by introducing a second, or even third, season — something not seen since the days of Dallas, Dynasty and Falcon Crest.

Perhaps most importantly, Telemundo and its sister properties are now the U.S. rights holders of FIFA World Cup coverage in Spanish. Telemundo also happens to be the Spanish-language home of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — part of a $1.2 billion investment by NBCUniversal in securing the rights to what potentially could be a ratings and revenue windfall for parent Comcast.

It therefore stands to reason that Luis Silberwasser may be the luckiest television executive in North America. Or he may be the most challenged, given the heavy expectations presented to him and his team. Just six months into his role as Telemundo Network president, it is evident that Silberwasser is ready for battle and is leading the attack on Telemundo’s top rival, Univision.

“I am super excited about the possibilities,” Silberwasser said. “I’m super excited about being here at Telemundo. It is a very different company than Discovery, and we have very different programming genres. Here, at Telemundo, we are running a big broadcast network that has general entertainment, from prime-time programming based on scripted series to our sports offerings. The combination of those genres makes this job a challenge … and it makes this job exciting. Telemundo is a challenger, and we have a tremendous opportunity to challenge.”

BEAUTIFUL TRANSITION

Silberwasser’s lone connection to Telemundo 20 years ago — or to Hispanic television, for that matter — would likely have been a 60-second commercial for Secret or Oil of Olay. From 1991 to 1997, he was a brand manager at Procter & Gamble Co., overseeing the two beauty brands.

His entry into Hispanic television came in late 2003, when he joined Discovery Communications as its senior vice president of strategic planning in the international division. Now, armed with a Harvard MBA and a Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech, he has “gone against the stream” by strengthening Telemundo’s news operations.

“I want to give credit to where credit is due,” Silberwasser said, “and [NBCUniversal CEO] Steve Burke and [NBCUniversal chairman of Hispanic enterprises and content] Joe Uva felt as I did that, given the importance of Telemundo as a voice for the Hispanic viewer, we needed a much stronger effort to connect to the community and to connect to the Hispanic marketplace.

“We are investing in dual anchors, and [the opportunity to provide] breaking news,” he added. “We are investing in our weather coverage. The network has completely supported this, and we’ve even changed our network programming schedule so we can have a local newscast at 5:30 p.m.”

Silberwasser said he is also pleased with the ratings growth at Telemundo’s weekday morning show, Un Nuevo Día, following a six-year period that saw a name change from ¡Levántate!, a shift in production from Telemundo Puerto Rico to Miami-based studios, and the addition of longtime telenovela actress Adamari López and veteran newscaster Ana Maria Canseco — one of the original hosts of Univision’s Despierta América morning show.

“We have a ways to go, but I think we have a tremendous opportunity,” Silberwasser said. “Un Nuevo Día is a still a news and entertainment morning show, but we are providing much more information than ever before. We have segments with financial advice, with medical advice — segments that are more consistent on the schedule.”

In fact, Silberwasser said he believes Un Nuevo Día is “more of a utility vehicle” of a morning show while remaining fun. “The ‘other’ show is really about entertainment and frivolous things, while we are providing a little more info … and it’s paying off,” he said.

Additionally, Silberwasser is quick to point out that José Diaz-Balart, anchor of the 6:30pm weeknight news show Noticiero Telemundo, is now on MSNBC, making him the first news anchor in history to appear on an English-language and Spanish-language newscast at the same time. Veteran Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos appears on a newsmagazine on the Fusion cable channel, while former WSVN-Channel 7 in Miami and CNN news anchor Rick Sanchez now helms a Spanish-language newsmagazine for Miami-based Mira TV while simultaneously hosting a daily talk-radio show for iHeartMedia’s WIOD in Miami.

PRIMED FOR GROWTH

Silberwasser said Telemundo has  much room for ratings growth in prime-time — at least before 10 p.m. He’s particularly proud of his network’s performance in the 10 p.m. hour, where the Telemundo-produced telenovela Señora Acero debuted in late September and wrapped up its run on January 12. Señora Acero was the No. 5 prime-time series in Spanish-language television, averaging a 9.5 rating across its final Monday-Friday broadcasts and attracting more than 2.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen viewer estimates for Spanish-language television households for the week ended Jan. 11, 2014.

“Señora Acero [beat] the competition on a consistent basis for the past three months,” Silberwasser said. “In launching of each ‘super series,’ we are seeing numbers we’ve not seen since the first Kate del Castillo telenovela, La Reina del Sur.”

La Reina del Sur, a 2011 blockbuster telenovela, set the stage for the “super series” concept of multiple-season story arcs for Telemundo. The star power of del Castillo was key to the series’ success, and Telemundo has once again called on her to continue its ratings riches at 10 p.m. The new Telemundo Studios soap Dueños del Paraíso, in which del Castillo stars, is now airing in Señora Acero’s old time slot.

“We are creating telenovelas with the idea that [the shows] can come back,” Silberwasser said. “Usually in this marketplace they come and they go, and perhaps seven years later they’ll come back as a remake. Now we have a Season Two, or a Season Three, of a show. We’re giving the viewer something different, and you’ll notice that the tone of our 10 p.m. telenovela is different than what has been seen at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m.”

Indeed, Telemundo broke new ground on telenovela plots by airing the Caracol TV-produced Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal, based on the true-life occurrences of Colombia’s most notorious drug lord, from July 2012 through early January 2013.

SOARING WITH SPORTS

Although the next FIFA World Cup is three years away, Silberwasser said Telemundo and basic-cable sibling NBC Universo (née mun2) are already employing a portfolio strategy that involves getting viewers interested in the athletes set to make a statement in 2018.

“We will be the Spanish-language broadcast home of the under-17 games, and a lot of those players will be stars of the 2018 World Cup,” Silberwasser noted. “We want to follow them, and take those tournaments ahead of the big tournament seriously, instead of just focusing on the main event.”

Player profiles will help in establishing familiarity with these potential future stars.

The use of social TV, where live tweets and social media updates corresponding to a Telemundo program help generate conversation among viewers, will also likely help build early interest in FIFA programs. Social TV is already generating buzz at Telemundo for the level of activity associated with some of its telenovelas.

“One of the fascinating things I found here was the symbiotic relationship between our social side and our programming side, and how the one side supports the other,” Silberwasser said. “It’s the conversation that happens, and the viewer engagement, that are truly amazing. For the final episodes of Señora Acero, I was watching it on screen and following the Twitter feed at the same time, and people were really into it.

“With the plot line, everyone thought that the lead male character was going to incriminate the lead actress on the show, and they were upset,” Silberwasser said of Señora Acero. “But in the end he didn’t, and everyone reacted by putting hearts all over the Twitter feed. Our viewers are commenting while things are happening, and they are very much engaged with the story. That is something that I hadn’t seen before. Social TV is something we are all learning how to do better. Hispanics are a young audience, and we have to think of a multiscreen environment when thinking about this audience.”

Understanding the audience and all of its Telemundo touchpoints is one component of a network vision that Silberwasser has done much to fulfill in the short time he’s been at the network.

“We have a vision to be the best of what Hispanic America is all about,” he said. “This market deserves something different: unique original content for the people that live here. My goal is to ride the curve of the growing U.S. Hispanic population. While this marketplace still has a foot in Latin America, it is a market that lives here and is growing in economic and political clout. I think we are positioned to be the best place for this audience.”

The arrival of the latest telenovela to feature veteran actress Kate Del Castillo, Dueños del Paraiso, may be weeks away, but that hasn’t stopped Telemundo from igniting the promo machine now.

In what it calls “an innovative multiplatform campaign” in partnership with Facebook, Telemundo is offering a first-look preview of the series exclusively at www.facebook.com/DuenosParaiso. At the same time, a Twitter account -- @DuenosParaiso -- has been created that allows fans to follow all of the latest news regarding the show.

Based on a screenplay by Pablo Illanes (¿Dónde está Elisa? and Alguien te Mira), Dueños del Paraiso is an original Telemundo Studios co-production with Television Nacional de Chile currently shooting on location in Miami and Chile with an ensemble cast of nearly 30 actors. Del Castillo is cast in the protagonist role as Anastasia Cardona, “a woman without a trace of innocence whose life has been derailed by violence and poverty.” Ambition lures her into the world of drug trafficking, making Dueños del Paraisoanother entry into the “narco-novela” subgenre.

“We are very excited to have Kate back in this major production, which features an excellent script and a spectacular cast of top-notch talent,” Josh Mintz, executive vice president for scripted programming and Telemundo Studios GM, said. “We are also proud to co-produce a super series for the first time with TVN Chile, a major producer of Spanish-language television content.” 

Mintz also serves as the executive producer of Dueños del Paraíso, working alongside supervising producers David Posada and Gemma Lombardi.

Del Castillo helped Telemundo in achieving new ratings heights for her role in the 2011 telenovela La Reina del Sur.  

In March of 2010, none other than The Wall Street Journal took notice of a new trend in the ratings and revenue magnet of Hispanic television, the telenovela.

Rather than focusing on the racy (and toned-down) title of the Telemundo drama Sin Senos No Hay Paraíso (“There’s No Paradise Without Nipples”), the Journal instead turned its magnifying glass on the character of Catalina — a “beautiful but poverty-stricken young girl who wanted nothing more than an ample bosom so she could attract a boyfriend in a powerful drug cartel.” For added drama, Catalina’s life is thrust into turmoil when a hit man hired by her narco-novio winds up shooting her.

Nearly five years have passed since Senos ushered in what the Journal dubbed the “narco-novela” — a trend that includes MundoFox’s airing of Colombian series El Capo; the 2012 Telemundo smash Pablo Escobar, El Patrón del Mal; Telemundo’s early 2014 entry Camelia la Texana; and even a Colombian scene-by-scene retelling of AMC’s acclaimed meth-fueled series Breaking Bad — UniMás’s Metásasis.

The latter program debuted June 8 at 10 p.m. on UniMás. As Hispanic Television Update reported in June, lead character “Walter White” is now “Walter Blanco,” a Colombian high-school chemistry teacher who, like a certain Albuquerque, N.M.-based high-school chemistry teacher, turns to methamphetamine production with a former student to provide for his pregnant wife and disabled son after he loses a battle with terminal cancer.

Unlike Breaking Bad, the tale of Señor Blanco was condensed into a typical telenovela arc of four months; the Metástasis series finale was Sept. 18.

Now airing in that timeslot as of Nov. 10: En la Boca del Lobo, which tells the story of the man responsible for the downfall of the infamous Cali drug cartel.

The story centers on Ricardo Salgado, portrayed by Luis Fernando Hoyos (Love in The Time of Cholera), an engineer and soldier who rises to become head of security for the godfather of the Cali cartel, which is at war with the Medellin cartel. After losing his best friend and family, Ricardo has nothing else to lose and is willing to turn in the Cali cartel to the CIA. The operation goes south, forcing Ricardo to fight for his own life.

As of the week ending Nov. 9, En la Boca del Lobo had not placed among the top 25 most-watched Spanish-language prime-time programs; the aforementioned Pablo Escobar-themed telenovela ranks No. 22.

In fact, the top-rated telenovela is a prime example of the tried-and-true Cinderella story. Mi Corazon es Tuyo, airing at 8 p.m. weeknights on Univision, tells the story of a wealthy widower who unknowingly hires a struggling exotic dancer as the nanny of his seven unruly children. According to Nielsen, the show averaged roughly 7.3 million viewers during the week ending Nov. 9.

The No. 2 ranked show, Univision’s Hasta el fin Del Mundo, focuses on the oldest of three sisters who takes over the operations of the family chocolate factory following their father’s death. For added value, the female protagonist is engaged to a man looking to cash in on her wealth but falls for her chauffeur, a former race-car driver. Hasta averaged slightly more than 3.1 million viewers for the week ending Nov. 9, according to Nielsen.

No. 23-ranked Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del Mal attracted an average of 421,000 viewers for UniMás.

So much for that quinceañera.

NBCUniversal’s mun2, which last month celebrated its 13th anniversary as a youth-targeted Hispanic basic-cable network, will dispose of its identity next Feb. 1.

In its place: “NBC Universo,” described by network president Rubén Mendiola as a “modern general-entertainment cable channel for Latinos.” The NBC Universo logo will prominently feature the iconic NBC peacock, while the network’s new name reinforces its ties to Comcast’s broadcast and cable-TV holdings — a move clearly designed to increase awareness among media buyers and, subsequently, boost ad revenue.

More significantly, the pending evolution of mun2 as it approaches adolescence to NBC Universo will instantly pit the rebranded entity directly against Univision’s Galavisión, the longtime ratings and revenue leader among Hispanic basic-cable networks. The move reinforces NBCUniversal’s quest to attack and topple Univision, widening its fight from broadcast TV to the cable sphere.

In prepared comments, Mendiola said: “We will super-serve the Latino community with a universe of exciting viewing options in ways that are compelling and culturally relevant. Through this strategy, we are building a high-quality cable TV channel that we believe distributors are ready to embrace, advertisers are ready to support, and viewers will be drawn to.”

Mun2’s success with live sporting events — along with NBCUniversal becoming the new home of U.S. Spanish-language World Cup coverage for the next several years — fueled its transition to NBC Universo. In fact, the network’s official rebirth is concurrent with its U.S.-exclusive Spanish-language broadcast of Super Bowl XLIX. (NBC has the English-language rights.)

In particular, mun2 has seen considerable ratings and revenue success with telecasts of the Barclays Premier League, England’s top-level soccer league. Additionally, mun2 will air five National Football League games during the 2014 season.

But it is the audience growth and pending revenue bonanza tied to FIFA World Cup coverage set to air over the next several years that makes NBC Universo a draw before it even debuts. As NBC Universo, the network in 2015 will air the Men’s FIFA U-20 World Cup, with coverage from New Zealand, from May 30-June 20. Concurrently, the network will feature coverage of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, held in Canada, from June 6-July 5. NBC Universo will then feature coverage from the FIFA U-17 World Cup, to be held in Chile from Oct. 17-Nov. 8.

NBC Universo will also serve as the exclusive Spanish-language U.S. home to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series; and Spanish versions of the popular World Wrestling Entertainment programs WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown.

“Mun2 is now clearly well positioned to better serve its stakeholders across all its platforms,” NBCU chairman of Hispanic enterprises and content Joe Uva said. “The network’s transformation into a high-demand cable network is one of our company’s top priorities.”

To accomplish this, a shift to “Telemundo Deportes” was not made; such a move would have put NBCUniverso in a crowded marketplace with ESPN Deportes, Fox Deportes, beIN SPORT, Univision and Gol TV, in addition to niche networks imported from countries across Latin America.

Instead, NBC Universo will have an entertainment component — using a formula that has proven successful for Galavisión.

Staying on the programming grid for NBC Universo is the reality show A Toda Gloria, which follows the daily activities of Mexican pop star Gloria Trevi; Larrymania, a reality show featuring popular entertainer Larry Hernandez; and Fugitivos de la Ley, a true-life bounty hunter show.

It’s not yet known which mun2 shows will be getting the axe following its transformation to NBC Universo; specific programming details are slated to be released in early 2015, the network announced.

Mun2 was born out of the former Latina-focused basic-cable network GEMS Television, which originally launched in 1993.