We recently published an article asking whether Hispanic media companies are weathering the advertising recession better. Well, we just got data to answer that question, and the answer is yes, at least if we look at the largest Hispanic media company: TelevisaUnivision.
TelevisaUnvision announced that for the fourth quarter of 2022 total advertising revenue grew by 10%, comprised of 14% growth in the U.S. and 4% growth in Mexico. For the full year, consolidated total revenue grew 13% to $4.7 billion.
Compare TelevisaUnivisions results to the decline in advertising revenues in Q 2022 recently announced by tech giants Alphabet (Google’s ad revenue fell nearly 4% and YouTube’s was down 8% year over year) and Meta, who saw a third straight quarter of revenue decline, with its average price per ad falling 22% despite impressions being up 23% year over year. Comcast, on its part, reported a 5.6% decline in advertising revenue (excluding the World Cup).
TelevisaUnivision announced that advertising revenue increased 10%, driven by strong upfronts in both the U.S. and Mexico, where the company produced the highest volume growth in recent history in both markets and growth in scatter pricing and volume, and active clients. In the U.S., advertising revenue increased 10%, reflecting growth in both linear and streaming, and record midterm political revenue. In Mexico, advertising revenue increased 9%, and also benefitted from World Cup advertising revenue which increased 9% relative to the prior World Cup.
For the full year, subscription and licensing revenue increased 20%, reflecting nearly $150 million from sublicensing
the World Cup rights in other Spanish-speaking Latin American countries and the launch of ViX’s subscription tier. In the U.S., growth of 22% was also driven by virtual MVPD revenue following carriage on YouTube TV that began in the third quarter of 2021. In Mexico, growth of 14% benefited from strong content licensing revenue and linear
subscription price increases, while subscribers grew modestly.
Will Vix be Profitable Within the Year?
According to Televisa Univision, ViX is now the largest dedicated Spanish-language streaming service in the world, with more than 25 million monthly active users on its free tier alone. “ViX is now fully launched and is the definitive leader in Spanish-language streaming in less than a full year of operations. The growth and profitability of our core business more than offset the investments we made in ViX,” said Wade Davis, CEO of TelevisaUnivision. “The power of the combined assets in the U.S. and Mexico cause us to continue to expect ViX to reach profitability by the end of 2023,” he added.
TelevisaUnivision:Steep Loss Due to Impairment
During the latest quarter, the TelevisaUnivision posted a loss of US $1.59 billion, compared with a year-earlier loss of US $$2.4 million. TelevisaUnivision recorded a $1.66 billion non-cash impairment loss, mainly on its goodwill, driven by “the impact of general market conditions, including comparable market valuations and the rising interest rate environment,” the company said in its results as market conditions impacted its TV broadcast licenses and program rights.
