TelevisaUnivision sees its profits decline in the third quarter due in part to a lack of advertising

Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivision said third-quarter profits fell as the company continued its efforts to streamline operations and a decline in linear advertising outweighed new gains in efforts to attract advertisers to streaming.

Net income fell to $90.5 million, compared with $180.9 million in the same quarter a year earlier, when TelevisaUnivision enjoyed gains from the sale of a group of towers that were not core to its business, the company said. Revenue fell 3% to $1.27 billion, compared to just over $1.3 billion in the same period a year earlier.

“Q3 results demonstrate the results of our disciplined execution of our reimagined content strategy and the continued momentum” of the company’s ViX streaming service, CEO Daniele Allegri said in a prepared statement.

TelevisaUnivison said advertising revenue fell 6% to $755 million during the quarter, citing lower linear viewership for its media assets. Subscription and licensing revenues rose 3% to $493 million, thanks in part to consumer interest in ViX in the United States.

TelevisaUnivision is strengthening its balance sheet after Alegre took over the reins at TelevisaUnivision from Wade Davis, the former Viacom CFO who orchestrated the purchase of Univision in 2020 before merging it with Mexico’s Grupo Televisa in 2022, ceding his executive role to him. Allegri was president and chief operating officer of Activision Blizzard, which was acquired by Microsoft for $69 billion. Davis remains vice president of TelevisaUnivision. Since Alegre joined last year, TelevisaUnivision has been working to streamline operations that were previously siled by geography. The company has media assets in both the United States and Mexico.