• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, May 10, 2013

Univision unveiled 30 new shows today in advance of its formal upfront presentation to advertisers in New York next Tuesday. They include a new telenovela from Televisa called "The Storm" that will air on the main Univision network and an adaptation of AMC’s critically acclaimed hit "Breaking Bad" that will air on sister network Unimas, which targets younger Hispanic males.

Speaking to reporters on a teleconference call Friday afternoon, Randy Falco, president and CEO of Univision Communications, said the two biggest trends in media today are the growing marketer focus on digital and the rapidly expanding Hispanic market, now with spending power estimated at $1.6 trillion.

“Our positioning has never been better,” said Falco -- noting the company’s efforts to have a presence across all key media channels, including TV, cable, radio, online, social media and other outlets. The company is positioning itself for the coming season as the one-stop shopping destination for marketers that want to connect with Hispanic consumers.

Part of the company’s pitch, Falco said, is that advertisers must shift dollars away from the shrinking and fragmenting English-language networks to the growing Hispanic audience if they want to continue to maximize the efficiency of their spending. “It’s a fairly easy math problem to solve,” he said, predicting that Univision’s total ad sales this year will be “substantially more than last year.”

Keith Turner, president of advertising sales, Univision Communications, said that for the second quarter, advertisers exercised options to pull ads at record low rates. “It feels like a pretty strong market to us going forward,” he said. “The indication from the street is that the money is there.”

On the prime-time comedy front, the company has three new sitcoms coming from Televisa. They include "Sleeping With My Boss," described as a “modern Mexican twist” on "The Odd Couple." Also being readied is "All-Inclusive," set at a boutique hotel in Mexico and "Marry Me," about a woman who flees the altar for the third time.

New reality shows include an "American Idol"-type competition called "Va Por Ti," a joint effort from Univision and Televisa.

The company is also ramping up in the sports programming arena and will offer 10,000 hours of sporting events over the summer and next season, up from 1,700 in less than a year. For the first time, the company has acquired rights to Formula One racing.

Company officials said that its new news and lifestyle network Fusion, a joint venture with ABC, would debut by the end of 2013. Details on programming for that network will come later.  

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