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Univision plans its IPO

US's biggest Spanish-language broadcaster is at the top of its game, experts say.

We direct your attention now to Securities and Exchange Commission form S-1, officially titled a Registration Statement Under the Securities Act of 1933, filed today by Univision Holdings. The country’s biggest Spanish-language broadcaster is going public. No word yet on how many shares it’ll offer or what those shares might cost.

But experts say Univision is at the top of its game. It’s often beating the big networks during prime time among the coveted 18- to 34-year-old demographic. It’s got local television stations at the top of their markets.

“Their numbers are up, their advertising rates are up, they’re just doing a great job with the Latino community,” says Alex Nogales, CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

And the Latino community is a community that advertisers want. Moody’s analyst Carl Salas says Univision viewers are in “the perfect demographic.” It’s a demographic that’s growing, that’s young. And, Salas says, “the consumer spending represented by Hispanics is only increasing over time.”

By some estimates, the spending power of the Latino community in the United States is around $1.5 trillion.

Angeline Close Scheinbaum, at marketing professor at the University of Texas at Austin, thinks the very public fight between Donald Trump and Univision could be an important part of the IPO story. 

The decision by Univision to sever ties with Trump after he insulted Mexican immigrants, Scheinbaum says, allowed Univision to show potential investors its values. “From a consumer psychology lens, I think this couldn’t have been better.”

It’s the sort of brand awareness that would be tough to buy.

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