Azteca América kicked off the Upfront week announcing tech partnerships, touting ratings growth and revealing its programming line-up for the 2015-16 season.
During the Upfront event held at New York’s Best Buy Theater on Monday night, Azteca boasted reaching over 21 million total viewers with a season-to-date primetime increase of +33% in the 18-49 audience demo over last year.
It also promoted a new daily one hour block of interactive family entertainment it’s calling “La Hora Ganadora” (The Winning Hour) that will feature reality programming.
Azteca is also adding Turkish global series “Kaçak” to its scripted/novela lineup.
As part of its efforts to expand on the digital front, the network announced partnerships with Google DoubleClick and Furious Corp to create and launch of The Hispanic Audience Platform (HAP), a new tool that will integrate linear and digital video account planning, aimed at delivering “higher ROI to advertisers and clients.”
According to Azteca, it will be the first broadcaster in the U.S. to implement this type of platform by the fourth quarter of 2015.
Azteca also announced a new alliance with Adobe in the development of Adobe’s Audience Manager Suite to power the network’s audience segmentation and insights.
Here’s Azteca’s 2015-16 programming slate:
“LA HORA GANADORA” – 7 pm
“Baila Si Puedes” (Dance if You Can)
Hosted by Tania Rincón,“Baila si Puedes” follows 16 celebrities, each paired with a professional dancer, as they face off every week, competing for a grand prize. A panel of well-known personalities, Kalimba, Ema Pulido, and Aylín Mújica, will evaluate the contestants’ performance in each episode.
“Todo o Nada” (All or Nothing)
Hosted by Mauricio Barcelata, contestants will play different activity and general knowledge question games to win prizes.
“Soy Tu Doble” (I’m Your Double)
Azteca celebrities, along with talented amateurs, will impersonate music industry stars and compete to see who can win the title of best double on the show. Hosted by Poncho de Anda.
“Escape Perfecto” (The Perfect Escape)
Hosted by Rafael Mercadante and Adianez Hernández, “Escape Perfecto” features two contestants battling to grab as many prizes as possible within individual cages.
TELENOVELAS 8 pm
“Caminos de Guanajuato” (The Roads of Guanajuato)
“Tanto Amor” (So Much Love)
“La Promesa” (The Promise)
SERIES – 10 pm
“Kaçak” (The Fugitive)
“Hit series from Turkey in which a family man finds he can’t outrun his past and is dragged back into a war with his old mafia enemy.
“Escándalos” (Scandals)
Produced in Miami, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela, this series dramatizes ripped-from-the-headlines scandals.
FAMILY SUNDAYS (Early afternoon)
“Hasta Mañana Al Lunes”
One-hour daytime variety entertainment program featuring interviews and special guest appearances, hosted by Shanik Aspe, Ivette Hernández, Regina Murguía, and Lambda García.
“Viva el Show”
Afternoon contest-driven entertainment program where Mexican families participate in different activities to win prizes. The show will also feature sketches and musical performances. Hosted by Víctor García and Cinthya Rodríguez.
REALITY SHOWS
“La Isla” (The Island)
An Azteca original reality show that features two groups of contestants: the first group is formed by Mexican celebrities, and the second group is made up of unknown participants that will act as the challengers. The 24 participants, 12 of which are celebrities,
will inhabit an island and face nature at its most extreme. Alejandro Lukini returns as the host of the program.
SPORTS
“Viernes Fútbolero” (Friday Night Fútbol)
Azteca America scored its biggest ratings with its popular franchise, “Viernes Fútbolero.” The network will continue to air home matches of some of the most dynamic teams of the First Division league. Once again, Azteca combines its stellar play-by-play transmissions featuring Christian Martinoli and Luis Garcia, along with some of the top sports analysts of Mexican soccer.
NEWS AND COMMUNITY ENAGEMENT
“Al Extremo”
Hosted by Verónica del Castillo and Juan Barragán, the a one-hour program that shows video clips of police stories, crime scenes, entertainment news and extraordinary events caught on tape. Gaby Crassus hosts the weekend edition, “Al Extremo Fin de Semana.” Produced in Mexico by TV Azteca.
Solución Azteca
National and local partnership with businesses, community service organizations, and government agencies to provide expert counsel and guidance to community members through a multimedia hotline including a live phone bank.
RETURNING HITS
“Venga la Alegría”
Morning entertainment show hosted by Poncho de Anda, Ingrid Coronado, Carlos Arenas, Sergio Sepúlveda, Tábata Jalil, Raúl Osorio, Vanessa Claudio and Tania Rincón. Produced in Mexico by TV Azteca.
“Ventaneando”
Celebrity news program, hosted by Pati Chapoy and her team, Atala Sarmiento, Daniel Bisogno, César Casares, and Pedro Sola.
Source: NTI Live+SD Data; National Toolbox R&F Time Period Report; 9/22/14-5/3/15; Six minute reach qualifier; M-Sun 6a-6a
NTI Live+SD Data; Persons 18-49 data; growth based on impressions (000); 09/22/2014 – 03/31/2015 vs. 09/23/2013 – 03/31/2014; Prime growth based on Monday-Friday 7 PM – 11 PM time period.