Page 24 - HSMR2018

2018 Hispanic Social Marketing Report, presented by Being Latino
“It may take a little bit of a poke for them to recognize that social media, whether it was any of the companies, couldn’t exist if it wasn’t for broadcast media to push out the message out to that medium,” Geller says.
And, the conversation isn’t always about what is on the television screen, he adds. “It is centered on what viewers want to see.”
Geller says Azteca has looked into hiring consultants to evaluate and analyze what to do on social media, and the next priority is to continue to bolster Instagram.
Twitter isn’t so much a priority — right now. That could change as the platform moves further toward TV with added video choices.
With this advances at the SMS-like platform, “This will help with HC2’s commitment to growing business by scale,” Geller notes.
GUARANTEED CONVERSATION
Using social media should be more than promo messages. It requires a conversation, and Geller is adamant that this be done at all times for Azteca América.
“It’s not always about promoting the show at 7pm,” he says. “We have a better chance on our TV screens. Now, it’s ‘check out what happened with Kim Kardashian,’ or anything that affects the viewers world. We use it as a promotional vehicle, but at the end of the day we need to make sure we are pushing content on multiple fronts.”
Geller notes that these efforts are now done in-house not because the outsourced company was doing a poor job. Rather, “We wanted to make sure they lived within the belly of the beast.”
Does Geller see social media as an added monetization play, or a way to connect to the viewer on the second screen, thus adding viewers to the network?
“They are not mutually exclusive; they are mutually inclusive,” he says.
There are “a multitude” of different advertisers in the mix, and Azteca América’s 2018-2019 Upfront message is centered on how Azteca América’s digital content play will be expanded for all social platforms for advertisers to participate.
Where does “over the top” (OTT) viewing come in to the picture for Geller?
“I am very bullish on OTT, and I’m very bullish on the fact that we are a content-driven business that is second to none, and one that will continue to grow,” he says.
That’s a promise delivered from the network’s 2017 Upfront season. “Now, we proud to say that we have a full distribution on the Smart TV side. We rolled out and have 60,000 to 70,000 installs on a smart TV soft launch. There are mountains of hours consumed and it’s been exciting. We have about 300 hours of content uploaded into the platform.”
For growth, [content] has to be anywhere and anytime, and quite frankly on any screen.
Craig Geller