Univision says revenues boosted by World Cup
* Univision sees revenues topping $2 bln in 2010
* Spanish language broadcaster boosted by World Cup
* Univision CEO says could be top U.S broadcaster by 2014
By Wendell Roelf
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, June 28 (Reuters) - U.S-based Univision Communications [UVN.UL] expects 2010 revenues to top $2 billion, "significantly" higher than last year, as millions tune into its World Cup coverage, the company said on Monday.
Broadcasting mainly in Spanish, but also in English for online streaming, Univision serves the fast-growing Hispanic community in the United States, which is bidding for the 2018 tournament and where football is increasingly popular.
"Univision's annual revenues for 2010 is projected to be in excess of $2.2 billion dollars. The World Cup has played a substantial role in that figure," Joe Uva, Univision's president and chief executive, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Fortune Global Forum conference.
"No single event gives us the kind of consistent viewership day in and day out for that 30-day period than we get every four years from having the World Cup broadcast," he said.
Besides the boost in ratings and viewership for the third most watched broadcast television network in the United States, Uva said revenues would tick upwards on the back of increased advertising as sponsors pay premium prices to be associated with the world's most watched sports event.
He said the fact that so many South American teams, more than any other continent, qualified for the World Cup's knock-out round helped spur record viewership.
"We feel very good about the prospects to have more teams in the quarter-finals which again is very robust for our viewers and our community," Uva said, adding that the U.S-Ghana game, played before the Argentina-Mexico match, averaged 4.5 million viewers.
Univision so far also racked up an "extraordinary" 6.5 million hours of online viewing on its mobile, internet and voice-on-demand (VOD) platforms, said Uva.
He said his company could claim top position as the most-watched television network in America in four years time because of changing demographics. The Hispanic community is about 47 million strong at present.
"I would say that given the population trends in the United States it's not inconceivable that the Univision television network could be the highest rated television network in the United States regardless of language by 2014," he said.
Uva said Univision wanted to learn from its coverage of the first World Cup in Africa ahead of Brazil hosting the next tournament in 2014, and was looking at new technology, such as 3D, as a possible addition to its platforms.
(Editing by David Cowell)
((wendell.roelf@thomsonreuters; +27 82 893 6088))
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