Why Hispanic TV is staying strong
The English-speaking Latino population is growing but that doesn’t mean Spanish-language TV is fading.
When Susana Rivera-Mills phoned relatives back in El Salvador from California, one of the frequent topics of conversation that straddled the bicultural divide was the telenovela airing on TV in both places. “It was a way of connecting, of shortening that distance,” says Rivera-Mills, a professor of Spanish linguistics at Oregon State University. “It’s one of those traditions that are passed on.”
Spanish-language television has flourished well beyond its beginnings half a century ago as an ethnic niche medium to become one of the biggest media markets in the United States, driven by the growing Latino population as well as its content.
Univisión, which launched in 1962 as Spanish International Network, now ranks as the fifth largest U.S. broadcast network, and its primetime ratings routinely best those of the four bigger mainstream networks. A host of smaller players provide local and national broadcast programming, plus pay TV channels offering sports, news and movies, all in Spanish 24/7. Most have launched since 2000.
Behind that juggernaut growth undoubtedly lies the sheer heft of the U.S. Hispanic population — around 54 million or about…
