Of the many tectonic shifts that have taken place in the Hispanic media market over the past year, the Splitting of Yahoo! Telemundo easily ranks as one of the more significant.
While the split could be construed as a hit to the Hispanic media landscape as it means that now there are two big players vying for Hispanic ad dollars where before there was one, Marla Skiko, SVP, Director of Digital Innovation at Chicago–based Tapestry, sees the move in a positive light: “I think the split is actually good for the marketplace as it really only means additions vs subtractions,” Skiko tells Portada. “By that I mean more content and more behavioral targeting by both players.”
Skiko says that it is great for advertisers targeting Hispanics to have more content choices and, with a new site offering, Telemundo hopes to bring just that in addition to a fresh look and improved functionality. “On the Yahoo side,” Skiko tells Portada, "it is important that a major portal player continues to place emphasis on the Hispanic online audience as they too add relevant content and offer the ability to target behaviorally across their site and site partners.”
Kristina Canada, of Miami-based interactive agency Media 8, also sees the move as being good for both brands: “Separately, Yahoo and Telemundo are both strong brands that have a lot to offer US Hispanic audiences,” says Canada. “After the split, I think both entities will survive and continue to grow separate from one another. I envision Yahoo having a smooth transition back to their original Yahoo en Espanol property and the Telemundo/MSN partnership will provide US Hispanic audiences and media buyers and planners with a stronger resource for content.”
And what about the other online properties battling for marketshare? Univision is probably not too worried, but some smaller properties may be. Whatever the case, it is hard to argue against the fact that the increased competition will make for better content, ultimately benefitting consumers.