Adios to TeleFutura, and hola to UniMás

TeleFutura will soon be going the way of the WB and UPN.

Parent company Univision is rebranding its second broadcast network as of Jan. 7, when it will morph into UniMás, a channel targeting Hispanic Millennials.

In Spanish, más means more, and in announcing the change today, Univision promised more series, more sports and more movies that connect with young Hispanics, many of whom were born in the U.S. but want to keep a connection to their cultural identity.

The population of young Hispanics in the U.S. is growing faster than any other group. The U.S. census recently found that a quarter of all kids under age 18 are Hispanic, and 15 million Hispanics are ages 18-34, a number that will grow from 21 percent of the Millennial population to 23 percent by 2020.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that Hispanic brands are increasingly looking for ways to target this group and its considerable spending power.

TeleFutura was ripe for a makeover. During last spring’s upfront, one buyer of Hispanic media told Media Life that the network he was most disappointed in was TeleFutura, because it lacked innovation and a clear identity.

Though its ratings are up this year in primetime across key demographics, the Telefutura name was similar to NBCUniversal's Telemundo, the No. 2 Spanish-language network behind Univision.

The new name will tie UniMás more closely to its parent company.

UniMás will air content from Caracol Televisión, RTI Colombia and Televisa. The new programming will kick off in January with two dramatic thrillers, Carcol’s “Made in Cartagena” and RTI’s “Quien Eres Tu,” and a Televisa boxing-themed drama called “Cloroformo.”

Another project, “Diablo Guardian,” based on the popular novel by Xavier Velasco, is in development.

UniMás also plans to feature sporting events from the Mexican National Team, Liga MX, CONCACAF Gold Cup 2013, FIFA Confederations Cup 2013 and World Cup 2014.
 

Tags: broadcast, Caracol Televisi, Diablo Guardian, Hispanic Millennials, hispanic tv, media life, Mexican National Team, Quien Eres Tu, RTI, telefutura, telefutura rebrand, U.S., unimas, univision, univision rebrand, UPN, what is unimas, World Cup, Xavier Velasco