It's not political revenues, but soccer that made for tough comps at Univision. Q2 net revenues were down 6.9% over all to 562.2 million, but if you exclude the 2006 FIFA World Cup, revenues were up 8.2%. Univision Radio was particularly strong, with revenues up 12.3% to 117.1 million. Excluding soccer revenues, TV was up 7.2% to 433.7 million. Internet revenues rose one million to 11.4 million. Univision continues to issue quarterly results because, while it no longer has public stock, it does have public bonds.
New CEO Joe Uva missed the quarterly conference call, but was quoted in the company's news release. "Univision achieved strong operational and financial results in the second quarter compared to the broadcast industries, with continued momentum in our radio and online businesses. The Univision Network earned the #3 primetime ranking for the entire quarter, with a young adult audience larger than CBS, NBC and CW. Univision Radio achieved industry-leading revenue growth. Univision.com further solidified its place as the #1 Internet destination among Hispanics with the successful launches of its video portal and social networking platform. This quarter we began to demonstrate our focus on leveraging the connection Univision has with its audience in new and creative ways through the development of an innovative campaign with Unilever, which included a first of its kind mininovela on Univision.com that was launched in July. We intend to continue to find unique ways to leverage our connection to our audience and their loyalty to Univision for the benefit of our advertisers across all of our platforms," he said.
In the call with analysts, President Ray Rodriguez raved about the audience gains by the flagship Univision network. He also praised the O&O TV group, noting that during the May sweeps Univision's local TV stations were #1 primetime in Adults 18-34 in Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Fresno and Bakersfield, not just among Spanish stations, but beating all English stations as well. They were also #1 in Adults 18-49 in LA, Houston, Fresno and Bakersfield.
