New York — YouTube on Monday announced that it is making alliance with Univision Interactive Media, the most-watched Spanish-language media network in the U.S., to feature short and full-length programs from the Spanish-language broadcast network to on Google Inc.’s online video-sharing site YouTube.
This will be the first third-party site to host the Univision content, according to YouTube. On the YouTube Blog, Strategic Partner Development Manager Laura Lee described the importance of this arrangement by stating that the size of YouTube’s Hispanic audience has increased by 80 percent in the last year. She also stated that this deal counts as “one of YouTube’s most comprehensive partnerships for full-length content to date.”
The YouTube-Univision association will bring Univision videos to YouTube, this deal could propel new traffic providing YouTube a break-through at the growing U.S. Hispanic television-viewing audience, according to Nielsen. Hispanic TV homes are expected to increase 2.3 percent for the 2009-2010 season, compared to just 0.3 percent for total U.S. Homes.
“Clearly, Univision has established itself as a premier provider of Spanish-language television content here in the U.S.,” said Chris Maxcy, head of content partnerships at YouTube. “This deal is a major victory for us and marks one of the most comprehensive partnerships for full-length programming signed to date. There is a huge demand to watch Spanish-language content on YouTube.”
The Univision deal follows other strategic recent YouTube deals.
YouTube said programs from Univision’s three networks — Univision, TeleFuture and Galavision. Additionally, unique coverage from celebrity interviews and special events such as next year’s “Premio Lo Nuestro a la Música Latina” (Lo Nuestro Latin Music Awards) will be presented on the site, according to a blog post from Lee.
“This is a very exciting milestone,” said Kevin Conroy, president of Univision Interactive Media, Inc.
“It constitutes the first time that any Univision programming is available on the Web outside our own properties in both a long- and short-form format,” he said in a statement.
The revenue from advertising will be split between YouTube and Univision. The agreement encompasses new and archive Hispanic programming, including shows from Univision Communications’ Univision, TeleFutura and Galavision networks.
The revenue will be produced by advertising featured around the programming. Executives said that Univision will receive the majority of the revenue but declined to give further financial details.
The deal is the latest in a string that YouTube has reached with major entertainment partners as it moves to offer more professional content rather than the user-created videos through which it became popular. Last year YouTube has struck deals with Walt Disney Co and Time Warner Inc, among others.
Univision will also be employing YouTube’s leading Content ID technology to more rigorously track user engagement and monetize Univision content uploaded by YouTube users.
Univision will create new display ads for YouTube and offer advertisers one more opportunity to reach U.S. Hispanic audiences. However, it is still vague whether YouTube will be running Spanish-language ads alongside the new content.
“There is a huge demand to watch Spanish-language content on YouTube,” Maxcy said.
As for the partnership’s financial details, nothing was disclosed, meaning it should receive at least a little bit of money.
Google, which acquired YouTube for 1.65 billion dollars in 2006, has been adding more professional content to the site, known for its user-generated video, in a bid to make it more attractive to advertisers.
YouTube has yet to make money but Google executives have said recently that it is getting closer to becoming profitable. YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley said last month that YouTube had surpassed more than one billion views a day.