• by Wayne Friedman , December 19, 2011

Spanish-language broadcaster Azteca America says its upfront advertising business for the current TV season has been way up.

For the 2011-2012 season, upfront sales were 33% higher over the same period of a year ago. The network, owned by Mexico's TV Azteca, says these results are as of December. It didn't disclose specific financial advertising revenues.

Some 17 new national accounts have been added -- including ACH Foods, Chrysler, Church & Dwight, Denny's, Goya, KFC, Kmart, Marshall's, Microsoft, Nintendo, Pepsico, Samsung, Sarah Lee, Sears, Sprint, Verizon and Volkswagen, as well as significant investment expansion from existing clients such as H&R Block, Eli Lilly, Kraft Foods, Olive Garden, Post Foods, Rent a Center, Toyota and Farmers Insurance.

Bob Turner, president of Azteca America network and advertising spot TV sales, said in a release: "National clients heard loud and clear the message of the 2010 Census, namely, that Latinos accounted for half of the population growth over the past decade and that the Latino population grew over 40% to 50.5 million in the same period... We're pleased to be part of the marketing plans of these forward-looking clients."