Continued investment in streaming contributed to a first-quarter loss for Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivision, which is seeing the bulk of its growth come from its Mexican operations while U.S. revenue stays flat with year-earlier results.
The company, which operates the Univision TV network, said operating expenses grew 16% during the first quarter, to $821 million, driven by continued investments in its ViX streaming service and the expansion of a third party ad-sales business in Mexico.
Revenue during the quarter improved 7%, to $1.1 billion, but the bulk of that was contributed by TelevisaUnivsion’s Mexican TV assets. Revenue from Mexican operations rose 23%, to $409 million. But revenue from U.S. businesses — a bigger part of the company’s overall financial results — stayed flat at $740 million, despite a first-quarter airing of a Spanish-only version of Super Bowl LVIII on Univision.
Wade Davis, the company’s CEO, pointed to reasons for optimism as 2024 continues. “Although we are only one quarter into the year, 2024 is shaping up to be a historic year for us as our audience is likely to be the deciding factor in the upcoming U.S. elections and we expect that to drive commensurate political ad revenue,” the executive said in a statement. He suggested that the company’s streaming operations would be profitable “in the second half of the year.” TelevisaUnivision is expected to launch a new ad-supported version of the premium tier of ViX.
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TelevisaUnivision has been on a mission to lure Madison Avenue to Spanish-speaking American audiences, pressing the notion that its viewership is growing while the crowd flocking to English-language TV rivals is in decline.
