Sometimes it takes more than data points to really understand your audience.

Case in point – TelevisaUnivision, the TV network serving Hispanic Americans, says many advertisers are still overlooking the unique advantage in appealing to this audience.

In this video interview with research analyst Joanna O’Connell for Beet.TV, Donna Speciale, President, Sales & Marketing, TelevisaUnivision, explains why culture matters – and why she is relishing connecting with people at Cannes Lions again.

Language and Culture Matter

Some clients still don’t realize the huge growth potential of the Hispanic audience, which is currently 20% of the US population,” Speciale says.

“More and more clients are definitely leaning in, but there is a huge opportunity.

“Clients don’t realize that language is so important to our community, and it resonates so well with them.

“The culture of the community is just so innate to what they do – when marketers lean in in language and in culture, it literally hits a passion point with them.”

Only The Hispanic Graph Can Grow Your Business: TelevisaUnivision’s Donna Speciale

The Hispanic graph

Speciale emphasizes that reaching this audience is crucial for both short-term and long-term growth.

To address this issue, TelevisaUnivision took it upon itself to build its own household Hispanic audience graph, which now covers 95% of all US Hispanics.

Since announcing this initiative, nearly 150 brands have been using it. Speciale is excited that big data is finally recognizing the true representation of Hispanics, which has been invisible for decades.

It offers services such as audience targeting, social media engagement, influencer and creative networks, and content creation through storytelling.

Streaming in Spanish

TelevisaUnivision’s audience is still growing on linear TV despite macro media trends.

But the company’s ViX streaming platform has been live for a year and has seen great demand and passion from both consumers and marketers.

ViX is the only Spanish-speaking global streaming service in the world, making it an attractive offering for the Hispanic market.

Ahead of the merging with Grupo Televisa of Mexico, Univision had been building its streaming business by acquiring ad-supported platform ViX, planning to integrate it with its own PrendeTV. They relaunched as a combined ViX earlier in 2022.

‘Anything is possible’

As the TV and advertising industries prepare to converge on Cannes, France, in June for Cannes Lions, Speciale says the festival is a great opportunity to get creative with clients.

“What I like about going to Cannes is just really kind of getting out of the same-old-same-old and just start brainstorming and talking about innovation and creative things,” she says.

“I see a lot of clients there and marketers that I don’t get to see all the time. They bring creative teams with them that we don’t get to kind of be in the room with.

“We really just start talking about the possibilities… what can we do, how can we push the envelope, how do we break the status quo in our space? Anything is possible.”

You’re watching “The Road to Cannes 2023 – Making TV Advertising Relevant Across Screens, Platforms and Cultures,” a Beet.TV Leadership Series presented by FreeWheel. For more videos from this series, please visit this page. For more information on FreeWheel’s activations at Cannes Lions 2023, please visit freewheelcannes.com.

By Robert Andrews on @robertandrews