Univision to expand its online offerings through Hulu

The nation’s leading Spanish-language broadcaster will aggressively expand the breadth of its online entertainment offerings, making its popular telenovelas, variety shows and reality series available through Internet television distributor Hulu.

The deal represents a milestone for Univision Communications Inc., the fifth-largest television network in the U.S., whose popular programming dominates the Latino market.

For Hulu, owned by media giants News Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp., the partnership enables the online video service to reach a population of 50.5 million Latinos — a group coveted by advertisers.

Univision said that later this year it plans to make some of its prime-time shows available on the free, ad-supported Hulu.com site a day after an episode’s initial airing on its television network. A more extensive collection of its current season’s shows and past series will be offered on Hulu Plus, the subscription service that charges $7.99 a month.

“The deal is significant, not just for Univision and Hulu but for individual [viewers] as well,� said Tonia O’Connor, Univision Communications’ president of distribution and sales. “This is the first time we are making this content available online.�

The Internet is a mainstream medium for U.S. Latinos, about 32.2 million of whom go online at least once a month, according to researcher eMarketer. This online audience tends to be young and voracious consumers of media who wield significant market clout. Latino consumers are expected to account for $1.3 trillion in spending by 2014, according to a study from the University of Georgia.

“Why not put the content in a place where the consumers are actually consuming the most and actively sharing the most?� said Ian Schafer, chief executive of the Deep Focus digital marketing agency. “It makes perfect sense.�

Univision has taken only tentative steps to satiate the thirst for Spanish-language content online. It streamed World Cup soccer matches in June 2010 and allowed viewers to watch full episodes of one of its limited-run serial dramas, “Eva Luna,� fueling television viewing. The show’s April finale drew 9.5 million viewers, making it the highest-rated domestically produced telenovela in history.

The biggest impediment to Univision making the online leap stemmed from a legal dispute with its main program provider, Mexico City-based television giant Grupo Televisa, over the rights to digitally distribute the Televisa-produced telenovelas in the U.S. The issue was resolved last October, when Televisa bought a 5% stake in Univision and granted it Internet and mobile rights.

Andy Forssell, Hulu’s senior vice president of content acquisition, said the deal will enable his company to tap into a segment of the U.S. population that has been largely underserved online.

“It’s young, it’s active, it’s upwardly mobile, and it’s hard to get to,� Forssell said. “It’s exactly the audience you’d expect to be online in force, but they haven’t been. There has not been any significant amount of long-form Spanish-language content online.�

Forssell said the Univision deal will break down the barriers to online viewing of these shows.

Univision did not identify which of its highly rated programs would be offered through Hulu. The network dominated the first two weeks of the new fall season, claiming all of the top 25 prime-time Spanish-language shows.

Separately, Univision’s chief broadcasting rival, Telemundo, announced Wednesday that it would launch two YouTube channels. One will offer weekly summaries of its telenovelas with English subtitles, and another will feature clips from mun2, a cable network aimed at young Latino viewers.

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