orion
05-12-2006, 12:57 AM
According to Zachary Rodger, Yahoo and Telemundo (http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3605136) have formed a strategic alliance. The news mentions that Yahoo is merging Yahoo en español site, with NBC Universal's Telemundo.com to create a more potent portal.
Too little, too late.
While things are getting Yahoo-Telemundo vs. Google-Univision, once again, Yahoo is betting on the wrong horse.
First, some historic background about Telemundo.
Television started in Puerto Rico in the late 50's with few local stations. Eventually we ended with 5 non cable stations in the island: Wapa (Channel 4), Telemundo (Channel 2), TeleOnce (Channel 11), SuperSiete (Channel 7) and WIPR (Channel 6).
Then Channel 2 was absorbed by bigger players who decided to go network and keep "Telemundo" as their brand. All this happened many years ago. Recently there were other local moves: Univision bought Channel 11 and changed its name to Univision Puerto Rico. Wapa branched out in few States as Wapa America.
After going network, Telemundo lost focus and never became a serious contender to Wapa or Univision Puerto Rico. This in part due to dumb management who were always culturally disconnected from local users behaviors and marketing preferences. They thought that what works with Miami's cuban audience and the latino melting pot in Florida works in Puerto Rico or elsewhere in Latin America.
Coincidentally, just yesterday the President of Telemundo PR, Mr. Luis Roldan, was fired (http://www.primerahora.com/noticia.asp?guid=71D139E4C5AD47F8AAA71077F34469AD) by Ibra Morales, President of all Telemundo stations. Officially, he "retired" to pursue other projects:
"El presidente de Telemundo Puerto Rico, Luis Roldán, se retira de su posición, efectivo mañana, viernes.
"La información la ofreció ayer Elia Calvo, relacionista pública del canal, mediante un comunicado de prensa, en el que se precisa que la renuncia del ejecutivo corresponde a su deseo de emprender "nuevos proyectos".
"La persona que sustituirá a Roldán aún no será anunciada por la cadena, según se desprende del comunicado. "
"En estos momentos no estamos preparados para anunciar quién sustituirá a Roldán. NBC/Telemundo reitera su compromiso con Puerto Rico", se establece."
Reasons for firing Roldan were discussed in several local newspapers and tv stations. Many agree that the real reason -well known by Telemundo middle management and insiders- was incompetence and lack of understanding of local markets.
In recent years Luis Roldan made obvious mistakes, like eliminating great performers (popular shows and programs that generated good revenues for Telemundo PR) and replacing these with productions culturally disconnected from Puerto Rico. This is like delivering optimized content using spanish regionalisms that local consumers do not understand or do not care about. That is, he implemented a wrong targeting strategy.
The same mistake was done by Univision PR when they entered in the local arena and tried to stuff the puertorican airwaves with mexican programming. Fortunately, they learned their lesson and changed programming.
And how about Telemundo in the states? Well, they have never been a serious contender to Univision, online or offline.
If Yahoo really wants to capitalize on this partnership, they must do better and listen to those that do knows about cultural diversity. Don't come with Telemundo's management mentality (shared by certain marketers as well) that one size fits all when it comes to latinos and hispanics.
If Lloyd Braun and Yahoo think that a plug-and-play strategy (just partnering with owners of current spanish content) will do the trick, then they should think again. Listen to those that know how things are done in the local latino markets.
My advice to Yahoo and Telemundo: thinking about using already available content and in cultural diversity is good but is not enough. You need to think locally. Not all latinos are hispanics (and vice versa), and not all like telenovelas and Don Francisco type of shows.
Yes, once again Yahoo is betting on a dead horse. At least they are betting. How about you, MSN and ASK?
Orion
Too little, too late.
While things are getting Yahoo-Telemundo vs. Google-Univision, once again, Yahoo is betting on the wrong horse.
First, some historic background about Telemundo.
Television started in Puerto Rico in the late 50's with few local stations. Eventually we ended with 5 non cable stations in the island: Wapa (Channel 4), Telemundo (Channel 2), TeleOnce (Channel 11), SuperSiete (Channel 7) and WIPR (Channel 6).
Then Channel 2 was absorbed by bigger players who decided to go network and keep "Telemundo" as their brand. All this happened many years ago. Recently there were other local moves: Univision bought Channel 11 and changed its name to Univision Puerto Rico. Wapa branched out in few States as Wapa America.
After going network, Telemundo lost focus and never became a serious contender to Wapa or Univision Puerto Rico. This in part due to dumb management who were always culturally disconnected from local users behaviors and marketing preferences. They thought that what works with Miami's cuban audience and the latino melting pot in Florida works in Puerto Rico or elsewhere in Latin America.
Coincidentally, just yesterday the President of Telemundo PR, Mr. Luis Roldan, was fired (http://www.primerahora.com/noticia.asp?guid=71D139E4C5AD47F8AAA71077F34469AD) by Ibra Morales, President of all Telemundo stations. Officially, he "retired" to pursue other projects:
"El presidente de Telemundo Puerto Rico, Luis Roldán, se retira de su posición, efectivo mañana, viernes.
"La información la ofreció ayer Elia Calvo, relacionista pública del canal, mediante un comunicado de prensa, en el que se precisa que la renuncia del ejecutivo corresponde a su deseo de emprender "nuevos proyectos".
"La persona que sustituirá a Roldán aún no será anunciada por la cadena, según se desprende del comunicado. "
"En estos momentos no estamos preparados para anunciar quién sustituirá a Roldán. NBC/Telemundo reitera su compromiso con Puerto Rico", se establece."
Reasons for firing Roldan were discussed in several local newspapers and tv stations. Many agree that the real reason -well known by Telemundo middle management and insiders- was incompetence and lack of understanding of local markets.
In recent years Luis Roldan made obvious mistakes, like eliminating great performers (popular shows and programs that generated good revenues for Telemundo PR) and replacing these with productions culturally disconnected from Puerto Rico. This is like delivering optimized content using spanish regionalisms that local consumers do not understand or do not care about. That is, he implemented a wrong targeting strategy.
The same mistake was done by Univision PR when they entered in the local arena and tried to stuff the puertorican airwaves with mexican programming. Fortunately, they learned their lesson and changed programming.
And how about Telemundo in the states? Well, they have never been a serious contender to Univision, online or offline.
If Yahoo really wants to capitalize on this partnership, they must do better and listen to those that do knows about cultural diversity. Don't come with Telemundo's management mentality (shared by certain marketers as well) that one size fits all when it comes to latinos and hispanics.
If Lloyd Braun and Yahoo think that a plug-and-play strategy (just partnering with owners of current spanish content) will do the trick, then they should think again. Listen to those that know how things are done in the local latino markets.
My advice to Yahoo and Telemundo: thinking about using already available content and in cultural diversity is good but is not enough. You need to think locally. Not all latinos are hispanics (and vice versa), and not all like telenovelas and Don Francisco type of shows.
Yes, once again Yahoo is betting on a dead horse. At least they are betting. How about you, MSN and ASK?
Orion