ViX on Pace to Be Profitable in 2024 Thanks in Part to New Ad-Supported Plan; Total Streaming Hours Doubled From Last Year
The Spanish-language streamer could stand out as one of the few services to show a profit if TelevisaUnivision’s CEO’s prediction comes to pass.
TelevisaUnivision is no different from any other broadcaster when it comes to facing the pressures of the industry today. The company owns and operates the Spanish-language Univision channel as well as the streaming platform ViX, and like many other providers, it faces pressure to show improving financial results from its streamers while its linear TV channels see their audience decline thanks to cord-cutting. The company showed a loss in its first quarter of 2024, but CEO Wade Davis also let slip that the company’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) segment, of which ViX is the crown jewel, could show a profit by the second half of this year.
Key Facts:
- TelevisaUnivision showed a $52 million loss as it invested more into its DTC segment.
- ViX saw its hours streamed more than double as compared to the first quarter of 2023.
- The streamer will launch a paid, ad-supported tier soon that could help it grow its margins quickly.
Revenue from TelevisaUnivision’s Mexican assets rose by 23% during the quarter to $409 million. But linear revenues from the United States make up a bigger part of the company’s income overall, and these remained flat at $740 million during the quarter. That’s especially discouraging considering Univision was responsible for offering a Spanish-language broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII in the U.S.
The company has made significant investments in its ViX streaming platform, and it appears that those investments are paying off. TelevisaUnivision CEO Wade Davis said in the company’s earnings report that he expected his company to have a “profitable DTC business in the second half of the year.”
“Although we are only one quarter into the year, 2024 is shaping up to be a historic year for us as our audience is likely to be the deciding factor in the upcoming U.S. elections and we expect that to drive commensurate political ad revenue,” Davis wrote.
This rosy financial forecast for ViX is no doubt thanks to a rise in viewership on the platform, at least in part. ViX saw total viewing hours during the first quarter more than double from Q1 2023, which helps to confirm the results of a survey from last year that showed that Spanish-language viewers were more likely to stream content than watch it on linear TV.
Will Ad-Supported Plan Help ViX Achieve Profitability?
A new, paid streaming plan with ads will allow ViX to collect revenues both from subscribers and from advertisers. The streamer currently offers its ViX Gratis free ad-supported service, but this does not offer all content found on the paid ViX service.
A new ViX Premium plan supported by ads is on the way from the company. TelevisaUnivision announced in January that it would be launching an ad plan of ViX Premium sometime in 2024. The plan will cost less than the $6.99 per month that the current ad-free tier of ViX, and feature all of the streamer’s on-demand and live content.
The streamer will also collect a wholesale subscriber rate from the cable channel distributor Spectrum once the ad-supported ViX Premium plan launches. Spectrum TV Select and Mi Plan Latino customers will get free access to ViX with ads thanks to a deal struck between the broadcaster and the pay-TV company in January. TelevisaUnivision gets to keep the ad revenues from these extra customers as well, and they’ll surely help the streamer increase its total viewing hours even more.
Most of the top streamers in the industry are still seeking profitability. Like ViX, Disney expects its DTC segment to achieve profitability by the second half of this year, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming arm showed a profit of $103 million in the final quarter of 2023 — though this number included revenue generated by linear HBO as well. But ViX can beat Paramount+, Peacock and other platforms to profitability if it achieves that milestone by the second half of 2024 as predicted.
ViX Premium
ViX Premium is a video streaming service focusing on Spanish-language content. Users will see 100+ TV channels, thousands of movies, TV series and soap operas, soccer leagues, and 24/7 news. Users can choose an ad-free plan, which has 40,000 hours of content, featuring originals and library content from Univision and Televisa’s pool of programming. ViX Premium includes 7,000 hours of live sports, including Liga MX and UEFA Champions League soccer.