When it comes to its combined business created by a $4.8 billion mega-merger, the Spanish-language television corporation said on Tuesday that its revenue would have increased by 2.2 percent to more than $1 billion in the first quarter.
The giant, which combines the assets of a Spanish-language media business with the content and production assets of a Mexican TV company, is led by CEO Wade Davis, a former head of Viacom, and Alfonso de Angoitia, who was promoted chairman of the board of directors. Pro forma results for the first quarter were said to "assume that the Televisa content business acquisition occurred on January 1, 2021."
TelevisaUnivision's advertising revenue increased by 0.8 percent on that basis to $569 million, owing to the highly successful upfront 2021/2022, which had the greatest volume and price rise in the company's history, new brand activations, increased in previously low-volume accounts, and increased sales by 3.4 percent to $407 million.
Pro-forma operating earnings before depreciation and amortization, a key profitability measure, reached $397 million, compared with $372 million in the year-ago period. Quarterly, for which the company did not disclose pro-forma figures, came in at $36 million, compared to $66 million in the year-ago period.
At the end of March, the company established a streaming service called VIX, a free, advertising-supported video on demand service, and is preparing to begin the use of a subscription VOD service in the second half of 2022.
We continue to grow as the fastest-growing media and entertainment company in 2022, Davis said. The results show a great growth across the board, including ad revenue and distribution revenue growth increasing double digits, which makes us very optimistic about the rest of the year.
"It's just the beginning of our growth-oriented strategy," says the CEO of the company, who founded ViX on March 31, 2022. In Mexico, we further distanced ourselves from the competition with a 60% market share of weekday broadcast. "I am ecstatic to build on this momentum with a world-class team that is already working as one."
