Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivision said its first quarter swung to a profit as the company reduced expenses and saw its streaming business gain traction, even as key areas of revenue experienced declines.
The owner of the Univision TV network in the U.S. said net income came to $11.7 million, compared with a loss of $52 million in the year-earlier period. The company cut back expenses while increasing cash flow, which helped it stave off the effects of a 13% decline in advertising revenue across its businesses in the U.S. and Mexico as well as a tumble of 7% in subscription and licensing fees.
One of the challenges TelevisaUnivision faced this period was the absence of last year’s Spanish-language Super Bowl broadcast, which helped snare new advertising and viewership.
“We delivered strong operational execution in the first quarter,” said Daniel Alegre, CEO of TelevisaUnivision, in a prepared statement. “As we continue to evolve the company in 2025, we are driving tighter alignment and integration between our teams in the U.S. and Mexico, and we are building a more agile and efficient organization.”
TelevisaUnivision has been working to bolster its balance sheet after Alegre took its corporate reins of TelevisaUnivision from Wade Davis, the former Viacom CFO who orchestrated a buyout of Univision in 2020 before merging it with Mexico’s Grupo Televisa in 2022, ceded his CEO role to him. Alegre was president and chief operating officer of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired for $69 billion by Microsoft. Davis remains TelevisaUnivision’s vice-chairman.
During the first quarter, TelevisaUnivision said its ViX streaming service won new customers across both its free and paid tiers. The company also struck a new distribution pact with DirecTV and expanded its portfolio of sports rights, securing the rights to broadcast the Olympics in Mexico through 2032.
