• by Wayne Friedman , November 5, 2018

At $2.2 billion, Spanish-language TV networks witnessed flat national TV advertising for the 2017-2018 TV season, according to Standard Media Index -- boosted by World Cup advertising.

Taking out the big every four-year event meant a 5% decline to $2.1 billion.

The World Cup gain helped Telemundo. which aired the month-long sport contest. witness a strong hike in revenues versus the previous season -- up 16% to $647 million. The soccer tournament brought in $122 million for the network.

For last season, Univision maintained its leadership position in terms of all Spanish-language TV -- at $975 million, down 9% versus the year before. Univision also dropped from commanding a 49% share of all Spanish-language TV advertising to 45%.

Telemundo was up to a 30% share from 26%.

Univision’s UniMas  -- its younger-skewing network -- was the third-largest Spanish-language network in terms of advertising revenue -- at $242 million, flat versus the year before. Galavision and Estrella TV were next at around $66 million. Galavision was down 4%, while Estrella was up 24%, versus the previous season.

In prime time, Spanish-language TV networks average $3,753 per 30-second spot.

Growth advertising categories include hospitals/medical centers, up 71%; business services, adding 67%; skin care businesses, 46% more; and OTC medicines, rising 27%. Ad categories that have pulled back include department stores, down 57%; travel services, 27% lower; specialty retailers, also losing 27%; theatrical movies, dropping 19%; and oral care, off 15%.

SMI gets 70% of its data from major and independent media agency invoices. It models out the remainder to get to 100% of TV advertising data.