While economic uncertainty created by President Donald Trump’s tariffs is looming large over the 2025-26 upfront season, Spanish-language network executives say the White House’s trade policy has yet to prompt a pullback in spending, while citing the unique niche they occupy in the media marketplace.
The two main competitors, TelevisaUnivision and Comcast-owned Telemundo, both saw revenue decline during the first quarter, as they head into an upfront that, beyond the challenges facing linear TV, has been roiled by the uncertainty tariffs have brought to the larger economy.
Donna Speciale, whose going into her fifth upfront presentation as TelevisaUnivision’s president of ad sales and marketing, has brought in over 300 new clients during her tenure, including more than 125 this year alone, making up $500 million in new business.
“Clients definitely are being more cautious and asking about flexibility, but the return on investment they get on the Hispanic audience is so exponential that this is not an area they’re pulling back on,” “Speciale told TheWrap.
Though its content is not directly impacted by tariffs, TelevisaUnivision is exposed to tariffs through foreign exchange rates with Mexico and advertising.
In the first quarter, TelevisaUnivision’s U.S. ad revenue fell 11% to $354 million, primarily due to softness in linear from the absence of the prior year’s broadcast of the Super Bowl. Mexico — which makes up 25% of its total ad revenue — fell 16% to $209.4 million but grew 1% in local currency from strong private sector ad sales and demand for entertainment and sports content, including Juego de Voces, Liga MX and the Super Bowl.
Rafael Urbina, chief operating officer of TelevisaUnivision’s ViX streaming service, said it’s too early to tell what the impact on its content production will be, but that it’s prepared to shift its production capabilities from Mexico to the U.S. if needed. CEO Daniel Allegre has also said the company would look to reduce costs to mitigate the impact of tariffs.
“I don’t think it’s time to hit the panic button for anyone,” Urbina added. “We produce a ton of content in the U.S., and we’ll adjust to the changing rules for the game.”
Meanwhile, Telemundo’s ad sales are included in the larger NBCUniversal portfolio, which makes up Comcast’s media segment.
The unit reported a 7% drop in domestic advertising revenue to $1.9 billion during the first quarter of 2025, primarily due to lower revenue at linear networks from sports content volume and timing and tough political comparisons only partially offset by an increase at Peacock.
“We can’t predict the market and what the market will do,” NBCU’s president of advertising partnerships Alison Levin told TheWrap when asked about tariffs. “We are focused every day on consumer behavior and categories that we’re watching closely, but we are really focused on what we can control.”
The power of live
Spanish-language networks are going all in on live content and sports.
In the 2025-26 season, 70% of Telemundo’s content, or roughly 5,000 hours worth of programming, will be live, including Miss Universe, Noticias Telemundo, Billboard’s Latin Music Awards and the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“Soccer is now considered to be the fastest growing team sport in America. We see 400% growth in fandom. The audience that Telemundo serves is innately connected to this,” Telemundo Enterprises chief administration and marketing officer Monica Gil told TheWrap.
TelevisaUnivision has also expanded its soccer rights with CONCACAF, adding theWomen’s Championship, Women’s Gold Cup, Nations League, and Champions Cup to its portfolio.
Meanwhile, ViX is leaning more toward unscripted formats for both linear and streaming, as well as content geared towards Latin music and artists through ViX Musica. It will also lean into its mobile app with short-form content, such as sports, news and entertainment highlights, and video podcasts showcasing Hispanic podcasters and creators.
Additionally, the streamer is planning to launch 50 to 100 minute-long episodes for vertical video, dubbed “micro series.” Around 40 will roll out in the back half of 2025, starting with dramas, before expanding to comedies and documentaries.
The Hispanic opportunity
Unlike most of the major networks, TelevisaUnivision and Telemundo are also touting their distinct advantage with Hispanic audiences.
Per Nielsen, Hispanic audiences spend an average of 25 hours per week watching TV, including nearly 14 hours on connected TV devices, and make up nearly 50% of all streaming viewership. U.S. Hispanics make up 19.5% of the population and represent over $4 trillion of gross domestic product (GDP) and over $1.9 trillion in annual spending.
“Hispanics are supercharging the economy. They are driving the demand. They’re deciding on trillions of dollars that are spent,” Gil said. “So we’re no longer a market niche. We’re really positioned to influence the growth of any business for years.”
Telemundo ranks as the No. 1 Spanish-language broadcast network with 962,000 total viewers in the first quarter of 2025 and had 12.9 million average monthly digital users for the period. Meanwhile, TelevisaUnivision, which invests almost $2 billion in Spanish-language content annually for streaming and linear, reaches a total of 28 million digital video viewers, a 60% year over year increase, and has surpassed 50 million monthly active users on ViX.
ViX, which is available standalone and in bundles with pay TV operators like Spectrum and DirecTV, offers a free tier, a $4.99 per month ad-supported premium tier and an $8.99 per month ad-free premium tier.
“We’re happy to take a lower subscription fee for the potential incremental output that we can deliver through advertising,” Urbina said, noting that the ad-supported premium tier has become the fastest-growing part of its business.
Speciale acknowledged that the flood of inventory from Amazon and Netflix resulted in a decrease in its cost per thousand impressions (CPMs) during last year’s upfront, but expects that pressure will eventually level off. “There is definitely a lot more inventory, but given we have a huge unique proposition, we’re in our own ecosystem,” she said.
