[lg policy] Disney open to more Spanish-language ads

Harold Schiffman haroldfs at gmail.com
Sat Mar 9 20:24:29 UTC 2019 

Disney Open to Running More Spanish-Language Ads on English-Language TV
(EXCLUSIVE)
*By* BRIAN STEINBERG <https://variety.com/author/brian-steinberg/>
[image: Brian Steinberg]Brian Steinberg
<https://variety.com/author/brian-steinberg/>Senior TV Editor at bristei
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[image: verizon-spanish-language-ad]
CREDIT: COURTESY OF VERIZON

When Verizon wanted to speak to viewers of the recent Oscars broadcast in
Spanish, ABC had to change its rules to make it happen. Now the
Disney-owned network is willing to do it again.

The telecommunications giant aired two commercials in the Oscars featuring
people speaking in both English and Spanish. Typically, ABC would require
subtitles for the Spanish portions, says Rita Ferro
<https://variety.com/t/rita-ferro/>, who oversees ad sales for all of
Disney’s TV properties. No longer. “That has been our policy and we are
looking to challenge that, when we have the right ad and the right partner,
and potentially do things differently,” says Ferro, president of Disney
Advertising Sales, in an interview.  She says that philosophy could apply
to all the Disney TV networks, which also include ESPN and Freeform.

As more Spanish-speaking consumers in the U.S. watch a broader range of TV
programs, a sales pitch might just be the same in any language.

Nearly one-quarter of Americans between the ages of 6 and 34 are Hispanic
or of Latin origin, according to 2018 report from market-research firm
Simmons, compared with 23% in 2013. Meanwhile, 13% of Americans aged 35 or
older are Hispanic, compared with 12% five years prior.  Under current
conditions, TV networks typically generate more revenue from advertisers
when their TV programs reach more people between 18 and 49.

“The older generation still consumes media in-language, but when you are
talking about millennials and Gen-Z people, they are definitely more
culturally fluid,” says Diego Scotti <https://variety.com/t/diego-scotti/>,
Verizon’s chief marketing officer, in an interview. “They move in and out
of different groups. They identify with more than one culture.”

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Madison Avenue has in recent years broadened the content of its commercials
to match changing U.S. demographics.
<https://variety.com/2014/tv/news/is-madison-avenue-leaving-america-behind-1201091740/>
In
decades past, seeing anything but a Caucasian male or female pitching a car
or a can of soda might have been shocking. Ads in recent years, however,
have featured same-sex couples, marriages between people of different races
or creeds and people with physical challenges.  It’s the latest signal that
advertisers are grappling to keep up with an American consumer base that
has become increasingly diverse.

Various marketers have tested ads featuring snippets of different languages
for general audiences. Coca-Cola did it to memorable effect in 2014
<https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/coca-cola-pulls-super-bowl-commercials-2019-1203116744/>
with
a Super Bowl commercial featuring the voices of children singing “America
the Beautiful” in seven different languages. CBS has run Spanish-language
ads in the past during events such as the Grammys, according to a person
familiar with the matter.

Most TV networks will consider running ads in different languages,
according to people familiar with their policies. NBCUniversal and Viacom,
for example, evaluate commercials on a case-by-case basis.  Fox
Broadcasting does the same, along with whether to require the use of
subtitles. CBS wants to ensure a viewer can understand an ad’s message, no
matter what the language used, the person familiar with the matter said.

There’s good reason for Disney to woo Spanish-language advertising.
Marketers put approximately $5.7 billion into Spanish-language TV in 2018,
according to Kantar, a tracker of ad spending That figure compares to $5.6
billion in 2017 and $6 billion in 2016. Among the biggest supporters of the
medium are telecommunications advertisers and auto marketers, including
Dish Network, Sprint and Nissan.

And yet, advertisers seeking Spanish-speaking customers aren’t likely to
abandon Spanish-language outlets like Univision or NBCUniversal’s
Telemundo. “Advertising in Spanish is still most efficiently done via
Spanish language programming,” says Larry Chiagouris, a professor of
marketing at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business. But “when the size
of the audience matters, English language networks can be very
advantageous” because their programs tend to draw bigger crowds.

Running ads in Spanish can help make a commercial more meaningful to some
of the viewers who see it, says Verizon’s Scotti. “My hope is some of the
archaic rules that still exist in the marketplace around use of subtitles
that are very rigid would eventually change for the whole industry,” he
says. “I think the whole world needs to think differently about what
advertisers can do.” Verizon spent nearly $1.13 billion on advertising
inventory in 2017, according to Kantar, and around $765.6 million in the
first nine months of 2018.

Disney’s Ferro has noticed more programming segments in which Spanish is
used naturally, such as the appearance of the Mexican rock band Mana on
ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Some advertisers run ads with Spanish in them on
ABC’s owned-and-operated stations, she adds.

She does not anticipate running commercial breaks with ads hawking their
wares entirely in Spanish, But she does see reason for letting advertisers
have greater flexibility when the occasion seems appropriate. Disney has in
recent months worked to help some of its sponsors run content that is
tailored for a specific appearance. ABC, for example, has let Procter &
Gamble work a product into the plot of an episode of “black-ish”
<https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/procter-gamble-blackish-tv-advertising-abc-1202664501/>
and
helped Clorox Co.’s Hidden Valley Ranch weave a real-life commercial into
one of the segments of “A Million Little Things.”
<https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/a-million-little-things-hidden-valley-ranch-abc-advertising-1203116875/>

“I think commercials can tell great stories,” says Ferro. “And you can
fully understand the message when you have one that’s inspired and super
simple.”

-- 
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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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