Univision is on pace to end the July sweeps in the numero uno spot, a milestone for the U.S. Hispanic network. Market leader expects to dominate July sweeps primetime among both Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34 demos, in broadcast or cable.
The summer tends to be a slow period for the general market, with new seasons normally slated to launch in the Fall, but as Univision Prexy-CEO Randy Falco pointed out, dominating July has become more significant now that “other networks are investing more than ever in summer programming.” There has been more original programming on ABC, CBS and NBC (including scripted), but the general downslide of these networks has caught up with the Big 4, while Univision continues with 100% originals.
“Univision has become known for airing first-run primetime programming every night, 365 days each year,” said Univision Networks Prexy Cesar Conde.
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Univision’s July 2013 sweep is a 6% jump from July of the previous year among Adults 18-49 while ABC (-24%), Fox (-20%) and NBC (-12%) were down by double-digits.
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Overall however, Univision ends July in the number 4 position among Total Viewers +2, ahead of Fox. Univision also finished fourth, ahead of NBC, in the February sweeps.
“Our audience has high expectations for us to deliver on the promise to bring them the best telenovelas, variety, news and sports programming, and our track record shows the result,” said Conde.
Univision’s July viewership got a major boost from its 10th annual “Premios Juventud” on July 18, which reached nearly 10 million viewers who tuned in to all or part of the youth awards program.
Long-running variety show “Sabado Gigante” (“Giant Saturday”) reported year-over-year audience growth in July 2013, across all demos.
Telenovela “Amores Verdaderos” (“True Love”), which wraps its nine-month run on Sunday (July 28), has outperformed first-run airings of English-language shows in the Adult 18-34 and 18-49 demos. These include ABC’s entire line-up, such as “The Bachelorette” and “Castle”; CBS’s entire line-up including “Big Brother 15” and “Under the Dome”; NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” and Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance.”
