Univision Moves from Multicultural to Mainstream: Upfront News and Views

UCI President of Advertising Sales and Marketing Keith Turner greeted the audience after a performance by singer and actress Becky G recent star of the movie Power Rangers amp160He made it clear that Univision has been the leading Spanish broadcast network for twentyfour consecutive seasons and continues to grow despite what competitors may claimamp160 amp8220UCI is now driving 100 percent of all growth in the Spanishlanguage marketamp8221 he declaredExecutive Vice President of Ad Sales and Marketing Steve Mandala pictured belowamp160later noted that amp8220the most valuable consumer group is US Hispanicsamp8221Together Univision and UniMas outdeliver ABC CBS NBC Foxamp160and The CW among adults 1834 making the combo the No 1 place to reach Millennials regardless of language Mandala explained noting that Hispanic households are becoming increasingly more diverse multilingual and techsavvy amp160He shared that UCIamp8217s Galavisiamp243n is the No 1 Spanish language cable network and that Univision also has the No 1 news stationamp160amp8220regardless of languageamp8221 in New York Los Angeles and DallasOne of UCIamp8217s priorities going forward is the expansion of lifestyle network Fusion TVamp160 An impressive amp8220creative boardamp8221 including Chairman Henry Louis Gates Jr Viola Davis Meryl Streep Jodie Foster and Ezra Edelman has been assembled to guide the franchise Focusing mainly on pop culture satire and news Fusion TV is geared toward younger generations and uses multimedia platforms to showcase content including social media and YouTubeJessica Rodriguez Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer joined Turner for the rest of the presentation which focused on the five amp8220passionsamp8221 of the Hispanic audience amp8211 Sports News Family Music and Dramaamp160 amp8220Passionamp8221 was at the heart of this yearamp8217s Univision Upfront amp8220Proof of Passionamp8221amp160 The top takeaways followSportsamp160 After an interactive video presentation Univision Deportes President Juan Carlos Rodriguez came on stage to emphasize the evergrowing love for soccer amp160The sport is a staple in nearly every Hispanic household with families crowding in the living room clad in their favorite playeramp8217s jerseys cheering loudly when their team scores and screaming at the referee when they think he made the wrong call amp160Rodriguez said that Univision acquired the Spanishlanguage broadcast rights for one of the biggest European sports events of the year the UEFA Champions League Starting in the summer of 2018 the global soccer event will be telecast exclusively in Spanish across Univision UniMas and Univision DeportesNewsamp160 Hispanic news icons Jorge Ramos and Maramp237a Elena Salinas pictured below came onstage to an uproar of applause amp160Ramos and Salinas have become two trusted voices among the Hispanic audiences in the US who have the desire to be told real news without any hidden political or personal agendas One of UCIamp8217s latest news endeavors was the creation of Edicion Digital Digital Edition an interactive multimedia news show geared toward Millennials and younger audiences amp160Rodriguez stated that the Hispanic audiences of their news programs are an average of sixteen years younger than that of Englishlanguage news showsFamilyamp160 UCI39s new President of Entertainment Lourdes Diaz then took over the presentation to introduce new shows and returning series that are geared toward family audiences somewhat stepping back from primetime telenovelas and dark dramasA new series premiering later this year is Tu Cara Me Suena Your Face amp8220Soundsamp8221amp8217 Familiar where wellknown celebrities undergo rigorous music and dance training and intense makeovers to impersonate entertainment icons and perform live amp160Mira Quien Baila Strictly Dancing is a returning dance competition series in which a Hispanic celebrity is paired with a professional dancer to go through weeks of themed performances and judged by a panel of dance industry professionals2017 saw the inaugural season of Pequeamp241os Gigantes USAamp160Little Giants USA a childrenamp8217s talent competition that was the first endeavor to create more family programming for Hispanic audiences amp160The stage was then overtaken by performers and winners of this past season dancing and singing their hearts out pictured at top amp160Pequeamp241os Gigantes will return for its second seasonAmerican Idol and The X Factor executive producer and judgeamp160Simon Cowell will serve as the executive producer of the new family game show A Jugar en Familia Keep It In the Familyamp160in which families compete against each other in a series of physical challenges in front of a live audienceLatin pop band MIX5 winners of Season 2 of La Banda The Band then took the stage to perform a song from their latest album after which Diaz announced the third season of the hit singing competition series that creates new Latin entertainment groupsNuestra Belleza Latinaamp160will return under the new name NBL Belleza Totalamp160Our Latin Beauty Total Beauty continuing its mix of a beauty contest and reality television as contestants prove they can break the barriers of societyamp8217s standards of beautyMusicamp160 It was announced that the biggest music events of Hispanic television will be moving to Sunday evenings much like the Oscars the Emmys and the Tony Awards The Latin Grammys and Premios Lo Nuestro are among theses award showsThe remaining contestants of the latest music show La Reina de la Cancion The Queen of Song took the stage and performed together with powerful vocals and incredible range amp160La Reina de la Cancion is a new music competition show seeking the next big Regional Mexican star amp160The series premiered with strong ratings and is telecast Monday through Thursday at 8 pmSeveral musicbased series are coming to Univision this season including Luis Miguel El Sol de Mexico a drama series based on the life of Hispanic music icon Luis Miguel and his difficult upbringing with his fathermanager whose alleged poor financial decisions put his earnings at risk from a young age amp160Barrio Records focuses on the popular music genre reggaeton following the events at the title music label its artists and the dark goingons of the producers and brokersDramaamp160 Univision and Netflix were quick to announce the second season of El Chapo a dark criminal drama centered on one of the most notorious Hispanic criminals that we just canamp8217t seem to get enough of amp160MediaVillagecom critic Ainsley Andrade has something to say about itamp160 The second season continues the story of Joaquin Guzmamp225n otherwise known as El Chapo and his rise to notoriety and his eventual downfallUnivision has always been known for its onehour telenovelas and dramas and this season is introducing some more familyoriented dramas including La Tierra Prometida The Promised Land a sequel series to the popular Los Diez Mandamientos The Ten Commandments amp160Dramedies coming this year include Mi Marido Tiene Familia My Husband has a Family about a young woman who has problems with her erratic family and happily marries a man who was adopted and has no family amp8211 until he finds his real family and invites them to visitPapa a Toda Madre The Mother of All Dads follows the story of a young bachelor and businessman played by telenovela superstar Sebastian Rulli who meets a 9yearold girl who claims to be his daughter This thwarts his plans to marry into wealth and save his familyamp8217s businessAmar Despues de Amar To Love After Loving described by Diaz as a amp8220sexy thrilleramp8221 follows two families whose lives collide when a tragic car accident reveals a love affair between the father of one family with the mother of the other amp160When the father falls into a coma and the mother goes missing suspicion of a possible murder arises causing more questions to arise than answersAs is the Univision tradition the event concluded with a miniconcert by a giant superstaramp160 This time around the performer was Shakira pictured aboveamp160 She powered through several songs from her new album ensuring that the audience left on a high noteClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Univision Moves from Multicultural to Mainstream: Upfront News and Views

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Juan Ayala

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Univision Moves from Multicultural to Mainstream: Upfront News and Views

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