TelevisaUnivision approaches Trump to be key in Latino audience

Televisa executives have maintained a close relationship with President Donald Trump, which analysts say could benefit his company ViX in reaching US advertising contracts.

Televisa Group seeks to remain close to the Donald Trump administration . The firm's relationship with the Republican was close during his first administration. But today it takes on greater relevance for the TelevisaUnivision business, which has obtained moderate numbers in its operation.

In the third quarter of 2024 alone, it posted revenues of $1.304 billion, a slight increase of 2% year-on-year, while its Operating Profit Before Depreciation and Amortization (OIBDA) – an indicator of a company's financial performance – recorded $427 million, 4% more than in the same period in 2023.

But this situation could change. Experts believe that Televisa's rapprochement with Donald Trump would allow the company to achieve economic benefits for its streaming business and even encourage greater capital injections from US investors.

Humberto Calzada Díaz, economist and chief analyst at Rankia Latin America, believes that one of the main benefits would be government advertising contracts for the streaming company ViX, as it is one of the main platforms that reach the Latino community, thanks to the consolidation of the Univision media outlet in the United States.

For TelevisaUnivision, government advertising in the United States has played a relevant role in boosting its business. In the third quarter of 2024 alone, the company reported $483 million in government advertising, representing a 5% year-on-year increase, driven primarily by political advertising.

"The U.S. government is aware of the importance of Univision and Televisa in disseminating their political agenda within the Latino community, and the company in turn knows that it needs to consolidate the political relationship to generate advertising contracts," Calzada Díaz explained.

For Donald Trump's inauguration alone, held on January 20, 20.5 million people followed the event through TelevisaUnivsion channels, according to company data provided by metrics from the Nielsen consulting firm.

Trump also benefits from ViX

The Republican is aware of the media leadership that TelevisaUnivision has in the United States. For this reason, in 2023 he would have granted this media outlet an exclusive interview, as part of his relationship with Televisa, to spread his political agenda to the Latino community.

For U.S. politicians, the Latino community takes on relevance if one takes into account that they already number approximately 17.5 million, according to data from the Educational Fund of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).

Moreover, the Latino community has become a relevant voter, favoring Democratic candidates in presidential elections for many decades. But now Trump wanted them to look to the Republican position. And this would have worked.

According to the consulting firm Edison Research, 45% of the Latino population in the United States voted for Donald Trump, an increase of 10 percentage points compared to the votes he obtained in the 2020 elections.

From this perspective, Julián Fernández, investment strategist at MAR Capital Trading, believes that the Trump administration could once again view ViX as a media ally to spread its political message to the Latino population through advertising.

"The relationship that Televisa has with Trump would help the president see TelevisaUnivision as the means to disseminate his entire political vision, such as the issue of immigration, tariffs, everything that is affecting mainly Mexico and other countries, but from a positive perspective or so that what he seeks to do in Mexico and Latin America has a less negative reception," said Fernández.

Claudia Benassini, a specialist in restricted television and digital platforms and a researcher at La Salle University, agrees that ViX can play an important role in the political dissemination of Trump, but also through coverage that favors the decisions of the now president of the United States.

“Vix’s presence as a media outlet is very important, not only in traditional windows, but also on social networks such as TikTok. And that is where coverage of deportations is being disseminated,” says the specialist.

Wave Davis, vice president of the board of directors of TelevisaUnivision, has said on several occasions in conferences with analysts that ViX has positioned itself as one of the most relevant platforms for the Latino community in the United States, due to the treatment of content based on the Spanish language and with Latin American themes. This situation has led the executive to consider that his platform becomes a relevant window for the United States government to disseminate its policies.

“Our ability to resonate with the U.S. Hispanic audience was on display when we televised our first Super Bowl and achieved the largest Spanish-language audience in the history of the game,” Davis said in a conference call with analysts.

Expansión asked Televisa for a position on the issue but it was not available.