Monday, June 11, 2007

Univision Taps Maven To Power Consumer Video Portal

Univision Taps Maven To Power Consumer Video Portal
by Gavin O'Malley, Monday, Jun 11, 2007 6:00 AM ET
UNIVISION ONLINE HAS TAPPED MAVEN Networks to power its new consumer video portal targeting the Hispanic community.

Univision last week launched a video portal on its Web site, Univision.com, where visitors can now view clips from Univision TV shows, interviews with Hispanic celebrities, music videos, news and sports clips.

Specifically, Maven is helping Univision scale its digital delivery platform as the online Hispanic community continues to grow, and with it Univision.com's audience.

"Hispanic online users are expected to grow to over 20 million by 2010, and clearly this is a vital audience," said Hilmi Ozguc, founder and CEO of Maven Networks.

The interactive subsidiary of Univision Communications has also partnered with major wireless carriers to launch a wireless video subscription service through Univision Movil, and plans to launch a new social networking service shortly.

The video portal is part of Unilever's larger effort to vacuum in online ad dollars with new digital initiatives including a Web-only novella being co-produced with Unilever. The novella, which is expected to debut in July, features Unilever's Caress body-care brand and follows extensive research by Unilever about how to target a growing young Latin female audience.

Univision has long dominated the three Spanish-language networks, with the NBC Universal-owned Telemundo and Telefutura left fighting for distant second place.

Univision.com, meanwhile, is the most visited Spanish-language Web site in the United States with over 15 million unique browsers per month, according to internal metrics accredited by the MRC.

Univision Online showed strong growth in the first quarter, increasing page impressions by 27% and unique visits by 46% year-over-year, the company reported in March.

Media companies using Maven's Internet TV platform to stream video online include 20th Century Fox, A&E Television Networks, CBS's CSTV, Hearst, Sony Pictures Television and Univision Online.

Gavin O'Malley can be reached at gavin@mediapost.com

 
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