• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, May 4, 2007

Spending on Spanish-language network TV soared 14.2% last year to nearly $3 billion, according to new data. Executives at networks such as Univision believe the trend will continue this year, starting with the coming upfront. For the first time, networks will make deals based on the same ratings data as their English-language counterparts.

The Nielsen Monitor-Plus data shows that overall Spanish-language media spending increased at a slightly faster rate than network TV--by 14.4% to $5.6 billion. Further, every sector was up, led by a 31% percentage jump in local radio (a trouble spot in the English-language area) to $739 million. Another suspect area in the English-language arena--local newspapers--also showed an increase, up 4% to $110 million.

But network TV leads the field in overall volume jump (up $364 million) and executives like Univision's ad sales co-president Dennis McCauley have said several factors portend even more growth. For one, the network will conduct negotiations for the first time using Nielsen's general-market data, something the network pushed for a year ago but found no takers. (The Hispanic household sample is gone.) At the upfront, Univision can position itself as a "fifth network," since it beats the CW in that network's target 18-to-34 demo.

McCauley also said he has no concerns that negotiations based on commercial ratings will negatively affect his network, which loses only about 4% of viewers on average during breaks. "If people want to go with commercial ratings, we have a great story." More broadly, it's difficult to get a read on trends regarding specific advertisers' interest in Spanish-language media. For example, Coca-Cola boosted spending by 65% to $54 million, while Pepsi showed a decrease of 22% to $64 million (still a higher volume than Coke.) And GM dropped spending by 12% to $110 million (Ford and DaimlerChrysler posted lesser percentage decreases), while Toyota increased it by 11% to $78 million, according to Monitor-Plus.

AT&T posted the highest percentage jump among the top-20 advertisers: a 69% increase to $117 million. The world's largest advertiser, Procter & Gamble, increased outlays by 5% to $174 million.

In addition to network TV, cable and local TV also showed jumps in 2006--with cable up 20% to $126 million and the massive local market up 9% to $1.5 billion.