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"The US Hispanic
market is currently one of the most dynamic markets in the world
for the TV in Spanish. A network market of about 1.8 billion dollars
is expected for the season 2007-2008, and Azteca America is an
increasingly stronger player in this market, together with Univision
and Telemundo." |
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Luis J. Echarte, Chairman of
Azteca America, talked to ONLY TELENOVELAS, Fiction &
Formats. His
predictions are supported by the network’s distribution growth
with which they already have presence in 57 markets of the Americas.
The powerful network – sister company of TV Azteca, property of
the Mexican Grupo Salinas – has known how to sell a mixture of TV
Azteca’s products from Mexico with productions from the United
States and other Latin American countries. |
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“We expect a network market of 1.8 billion dollars
during this season.” – Luis J. Echarte. |
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“We have particularly
had a lot of success mixing our own productions with those of other
countries.” The offer of telenovelas is accompanied with news,
sports and entertainment programs, as well as reality shows. “We
expect a network market of 1.8 billion dollars during this season,”
says Echarte enthusiastically. Nevertheless, Azteca America has to
share the pie with Univision and Telemundo, the other two leading
networks that compete for the Spanish speakers in the northern
country. In the fourth place, there is Telefutura,” Echarte
clarifies.
Facing the boom of Hispanic channels, how to compete and
how to differentiate?
We are the only network that is 100% integrated from its production to its sales team. We produce
14,000 hours a year in Spanish, which turns us into one of the two
channels with more quality programming in Spanish. Besides our
telenovelas and reality shows, we have the rights for almost half
the games of the Mexican Football League. In this way, for
advertisers, flexibility in integrated advertising options is
great.
While Fox failed with telenovelas,
Azteca America attracted many audiences
Although Latins are increasingly
better placed in the US TV and cinema with their artists, prizes and
nominations, why have the attempts to produce and broadcast
telenovelas by US networks failed? (A concrete case is that of Fox
that bought scripts of Latin American telenovelas that did not
appeal to Americans.) To this question Echarte shoots: “They
failed because the Latin culture needs to be understood and,
besides, they lack experience in the production of our genre. They
have not done well despite the fact that there is an audience eager
for this genre,” states the executive.
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Contents in Spanish
As for the US
Hispanic audience, there are various positions. Some people
believe that television must offer all the content in Spanish,
others in English – to attract the new generations – and there
is a third halfway group who thinks that programming should be bilingual. Echarte doesn’t hesitate and states: “Hispanic TV must be
in Spanish. Audience figures confirm this and support us.”
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Mario San
Román, General Director to the powerful network TV
Azteca from Mexico, who has implemented strategies to
reach the top position they have today in the Mexican
and the US Hispanic market. |
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Sustained growth
According to the
company’s Chairman, figures are favorable; “in 2007 our sales
grew around 30%, and in terms of investment we have a bond with an
affiliate worth $130 million that is due next year.
Besides this,
we have completely supported our affiliates – US local businessmen
– for the growth of our distribution network. In terms of our
operation, we are at a balance point, contrasting some of our
competitors."
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