• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, May 16, 2006

Though they sprinkled their upfront presentation with the obligatory Spanish phrases and ham-fisted jokes, executives of Azteca America, a Mexican-owned TV network in the United States, did not beat around the bush Monday night in the IMAX theater at the Natural History Museum: the "Hispanic" audience is growing rapidly in both size and buying power, and unsurprisingly Mexican-Americans are strongly represented.

Luis Echarte, chairman of the board, recounted the network's history, from its beginnings as a single station in Los Angeles, reaching 16 percent of the Hispanic population, to a national network of 45 stations reaching 70 percent of the total Hispanic population, according to estimates from Nielsen Media Research.

Echarte also reminded the audience of the "enormous economic potential it represents to all of us," focusing on its "purchasing power of more than $700 billion," while noting "what's tragic to American business, however, is that although Hispanics represent 14 percent of the U.S. population, and 10 percent of expenditures, advertising expenditures for the whole group are just over 2 percent [of total ad budgets]."

Of course, Azteca America, the third Spanish-language broadcaster behind giant Univision's networks and NBC Universal's Telemundo, claims to have the key: a mix of Mexican and made-for-America content, in Spanish, that includes Mexican soap operas, or telenovelas, news, and reality TV shows like "La Academia," a version of American Idol that takes you inside the lives of 20 participants a la "Survivor."

"The face of this country is changing," boasted Adrian Seckel, Azteca America's president and CEO, "We're in a perfect spot. We have the content. We have the distribution. And we have the demographics."

Azteca America is actually an underdog in the market targeting Mexican-Americans and other Hispanics. Noting its recent network status, Seckel drew the lines of battle: "We are a U.S. network, and that means the industry has changed. This means it's no longer a Univision-Telemundo marketplace."

Overall Azteca America has grown from a 2 percent to a 5 percent share of the Hispanic TV ad market in the U.S., according to Carlos de la Garza, president of sales and marketing. On weekends, thanks in part to regular airing of Mexican league soccer, its share of male 21-34 Hispanic viewers grows to 15 percent. De la Garza added that Azteca has made inroads on a desirable demographic. "In prime-time we reach an audience that is younger, more likely to have kids, more likely to have a job, and more likely to own a car."

Meanwhile, when discussing product integration, de la Garza gave a hint of the small network's hunger for advertising dollars with admirable frankness: "Just ask what you need, and we're going to do it. From story line integration to [product] mentions... you name it, we're going to do it," before showing a number of clips that supported his assertion.