• by Paul Gough , October 1, 2003

In its first meeting with the investment community after its $3.1 billion merger with Hispanic Broadcasting Corp., the newly expanded Univision Communications Inc. is looking forward to adding blue-chip advertisers who are interested in its footprints in television and radio.

Los Angeles-based Univision already was a powerhouse in the Hispanic media marketplace, with ownership of flagship Univision and fledgling TeleFutura networks, cable channel Galavision and 50 stations, along with a record label and an Internet site. It also owns 27% of Entravision Communications Corp., which owns Univision TV affiliates and 55 radio stations, including many that compete with Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. As part of the approval deal with federal regulators, Univision will reduce its Entravision stake to 10% within six years.

Andrew Hobson, executive vice president of Univision Communications Inc., told investors at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia XII conference Wednesday morning that about 60% of the major advertisers in the United States don't use Spanish language media.

"We think that's a huge opportunity," Hobson said.

Univision hopes the brand-building power of television and the promotional driving capabilities of radio will cause non-Univision advertisers to make the leap into Spanish-language media. He and other executives said they had often heard from potential advertisers who wanted to test in radio first before going to television and that Univision's new footprint in radio would help ease them into campaigns that might eventually move to television.

Hobson said that five years ago, there were 35 national advertisers on Univision, a number that rose to 100 two years ago and 140 after this year's upfront Hobson said that's sizeable but remarked the rate of growth was still slow.

"That's really not fast enough, but these are not really easy things to do," he said.

Hobson explained that it requires a change in thinking in the mindset of some big companies and, often, a commitment to research on the part of Univision. To pitch the Big Three automakers, Hobson said Univision hired J.D. Power and Associates to prepare demographic information on buying habits. The Big Three now all advertise on Univision but not all models.

Univision's new radio-TV synergy is becoming a part of planning in the fourth quarter, said Ron Furman, executive vice president for network sales. He said it was good timing in that marketers were planning their budgets for 2004.

"In terms of being in the market and timely, it should be all of that and more," Furman said of Univision's plans.