Highlights of the IFT’s Broadcast TV Study
More channels, but Televisa still dominates in share
With the IFT closed for most actions until April 30 — and probably longer, depending on what federal health authorities do — new information is something like manna from heaven. Especially when it comes in the form of an 87-page study on Mexican broadcast television from 2014 to 2019. This period of time means a lot to me, because it coincides with En Frecuencia’s operations, which began on July 26, 2014. It’ll have meant a lot to viewers, too, as the digital TV transition, two major auctions and the creation of several national subchannel services are reflected in the period under study.
Oh, What Could Have Been
Because of En Frecuencia’s focus at the time — the digital television transition — I didn’t quite realize who had knocked on the IFT-1 national network door in 2014. In addition to the three groups that made the final phase — Imagen (Cadena Tres I), Radio Centro (which didn’t pay) and OEM (which dropped out because of the death of Mario Vázquez Raña) — there were four other parties that opted not to move on: Concesionaria Comseg (a security company that won spectrum in 2017), Consorcio MAC (as in Maccise), Empresarios Industriales de México, S.A. de C.V. (the Germán Larrea vehicle), and Lauman Broadcast, S. de R.L. de C.V. (Grupo Lauman, owner of Comtelsat and El Financiero). How would things have gone for any of them?
Nu9ve Meets National Network Thresholds
According to the study, coverage of Nu9ve is now just shy of 60 percent of the population, which would qualify it for national network status and must-carry on satellite providers. About a third of the network’s population coverage is on subchannels, reaching 19 percent of Mexicans.
Excélsior TV (which still existed at the time of the study) and FOROtv surpass 60 percent, much more reliant on multiprogramming. They could also conceivably be declared must-carry services.
A fun fact about Nu9ve from the study: a plurality of its programming (40%) consists of infomercials. Only a+ has more programming in this type. The third-most infomercial-heavy station, according to the IFT’s data, is XEWO Guadalajara at 11 percent.
The Average Viewer Gets More Channels
Between Imagen, IFT-6 and the digital transition and national subchannels that have resulted, the average Mexican viewer gets more channels. In 2014, this figure was 10.4; today, it’s 15.2. Most of the increase comes from new commercial television stations and channel (particularly something like a+). The number of available services increased in every state.
22 percent of Mexican viewers have access to 25 distinct services — which nobody had in 2014.
Three in Four for Public/Social Broadcasting
Noncommercial television reaches 73.4 percent of the population — and the maps are missing XHNQR and XHLQR! That’s mostly public television, however. Social TV is not very available in general. XHABC-XHCTH, XHCOZ, XHCVP, and a few other stations really stand out in the second map on this page.
Televisa Still Dominates the Ratings
It may be down a full 10 percentage points since 2014, but Televisa is still capturing more than half of commercial television viewers. TV Azteca has 31 percent. Imagen TV has settled at a distant third, 6 percent, and has been relatively flat since mid-2017; Multimedios has 3.8 percent.
