On December 29, 2021, Searchlight III UTD and ForgeLight‘s acquisition of a majority stake of Univision Holdings formally closed. Weeks later, Wade Davis took the CEO reins from Vince Sandusky, and shook up the C-Suite.
This put the wheels in motion on a mega-merger insiders had been discussing for years. On January 31, 2022, a “transformative” transaction between Mexico’s Televisa and Univision Communications was completed.
So, how did the combined TelevisaUnivision, with Davis in command, perform in Q2, let alone the first half of 2022?
Double-digit revenue growth in the second quarter capped off what Davis, today CEO of TelevisaUnivision, calls “a stellar first half of 2022.”
In prepared comments released prior to a conference call with Wall Street analysts, a somewhat unusual move for a company that isn’t publicly traded, Davis noted that TelevisaUnivision in Q2 enjoyed “a historic quarter” of ad sales growth in Mexico and a U.S. Upfront that grew mid-teens “to the highest volume we have had in seven years.”
The domestic advertiser activity is particularly noteworthy, given Univision’s newfound vigor under Davis and challenges from No. 1 television industry competitor NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises that have not catapulted Telemundo-associated brands ahead of those from TelevisaUnivision.
“In the U.S., I’m thrilled to see advertisers demonstrating their commitment to support and grow with U.S. Hispanic audiences,” Davis said, noting that the growth “allowed us to fund the launch of both ViX and ViX+ in the first half of 2022 without any material decline in EBITDA.”
For Davis, “The fact that the growth of our core business can fund our investments in streaming highlights the power of our unique assets and the quality and focus of our execution. With our full streaming service launched, we are poised to supercharge the already impressive growth of our core business with the massive global Spanish-language streaming opportunity. We are just getting started on executing on our vision and I am excited about what’s ahead for TelevisaUnivision.”
BEHIND THE NUMBERS
For the three-month period ending June 30, on an unaudited basis, U.S.-based revenue climbed to $747.5 million from $700.2 million.
Both Subscription & Licensing revenue ($296.7 million) and Advertising revenue ($447.7) increased by 10% from Q2 ’21, in the U.S. That’s largely thanks to revenue growth from virtual MVPDs, following carriage at YouTube TV which began in Q3 2021.
On a combined historical basis, total revenue as reported increased to $1.096 billion from $700.1 million.
But, when all is said and done, did TelevisaUnivision see a net loss or net income in Q2 2022? The answer — the company registered a net loss of $7.5 million.
But, that is solely the result of deal-related expenses and the extinguishment of $5.3 million in debt during Q2.
Adjusted OIBDA, a popular non-GAAP figure used by broadcast media companies, increased to $373.3 million from $268.8 million in the second quarter.
