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Hispanic media giant TelevisaUnivision‘s total revenue slid 7% year-over-year to hit $820.7 million in the fourth quarter, hampered by a slowdown in U.S. advertising.
Revenue from U.S. advertising fell 5% to $467.2 million. Without mid-term U.S. political ad spending, World Cup broadcasts and radio station divestitures in the year-ago quarter, ad sales would have risen 4% in the 2023 quarter, the company said.
Privately-held TelevisaUnivision reports its bottom-line results as adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization, or OIBDA. In the fourth quarter, OIBDA fell 7% to $468.1 million.
The company blamed the downturn in profits on the absence of World Cup sublicensing and U.S. political revenue, noting that operating expenses in the quarter decreased 6%. There also was a $1 billion non-cash impairment loss due to goodwill and on the company’s FCC licenses. The loss was “driven by the impact of general market conditions, including comparable market valuations and the rising interest rate environment,” TelevisaUnivision explained in its earnings release.
Streaming service Vix, a major strategic focus for the company, ended 2023 with more than 7 million subscribers and $700 million in full-year revenue. Company executives are projecting Vix will become profitable later in 2024.
CEO Wade Davis noted a recent distribution renewal with Charter, operator of the No. 2 U.S. pay-TV system, Spectrum. The agreement includes integration of Vix into a Spanish-language offering. Asked during a quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts whether the Charter deal offers a blueprint for the industry, Davis replied, “The only thing that’s going to curtail subscriber declines in pay-TV is innovation.”
One key opportunity with the Charter agreement, Davis said, is to reach “price-sensitive” viewers who want a pay-TV packaged focused only on Spanish-language programming, “but at the right price.” He estimated the total available market for the service would be in the “low-single-digit millions, which is material for us.”
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