Univision Readies Telenovela Web Site
U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications Inc. is creating a video Web site for the popular telenovela soap-opera genre, hoping to fill a void as Internet use grows among Hispanics.
The new service, dubbed “Novela y Series,” or “Novelas and Series,” is slated to start in the spring. It will offer full episodes of telenovelas from Univision and outside suppliers free online and through mobile phones.
“The world has shifted,” Joe Uva, Univision’s president and chief executive, said of the move online. “Our audience is consuming more and more content on digital platforms and the go.”
Between 2006 and 2008, the percentage of Hispanic adults in the U.S. who use the Internet grew to 64 percent from 54 percent, according to survey results from the Pew Hispanic Center.
