• by Wayne Friedman , February 23, 2022

Strong TV upfront advertising business placed in the summer of 2021 helped TelevisaUnivision's fourth-quarter 2021 “core” advertising revenue gain 11.4% to $351.1 million.

Univision says its advertising business witnessed the highest volume and price growth in the company's history, with new brand activations and growth in all major sectors.

When factoring in political advertising, the Spanish-language network group was basically flat -- down 0.3%, to $373.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2021. This was compared to fourth-quarter 2020, when political advertising revenues posted record results for many TV networks and station groups.

For the 2021 year as a whole, advertising revenue increased 22.0% to $1.4 billion, while core advertising (excluding political) was 28.0% higher to $1.3 billion over the prior year.

TelevisaUnivision's media networks also posted strong growth in subscription fee and licensing revenue, up 14% to $296.0 million.

Radio revenue grew 3.8% to $65.0 million, with core advertising up 17% to $55.9 million.

Company-wide revenue for the fourth quarter gained 4.1% to $752.4 million compared to $722.9 million for the year-earlier period. The company trimmed its net loss to $2.4 million, compared to $39.1 million for the same period the year before.