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MEDIA EXECUTIVES IN THE NO. 17 MEDIA MARKET AND HOTLY CONTESTED SWING STATE in this year's race for the presidency say advertising revenue has been robust so far this year, driven largely by political ad spending. Both campaigns and their respective activist supporters and national parties have funneled millions into the coffers of the local media in Florida.
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale market, with 1.51 million TV homes, is eclectic and diverse. According to BIA Financial Network, 41.5 percent of the population is Hispanic, with another 20.6 percent African-American. Given its dense Hispanic population, it should come as no surprise that the No. 1 station overall is Univision Communications' owned-and-operated WLTV, which has built a base of loyal viewers during its more than 30year history in the market. In 2003, WLTV won the NAB Service to America award for its collective work in the field of education.
On the news front, WLTVs Noticias 23 local newscasts ranked first in the May sweeps in all key demographics at 6 and 11 p.m. Univision Network's prime-time programming and Miami-produced programs on WLTV from 4-7 p.m. also lead the market, including El Gordo y La Flaca (The Fat Person and the Skinny One) from 4-5 p.m., which has been No. 1 for the last seven major sweeps, besting all other competitors including The Oprah Wmfi-ey Show on Viacom's CBS O&O WTOR-TV. WLTVs newsmagazine Primer Impacto (First Impact) from 5-6 p.m. also finished ahead of the pack in adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 in May. Sister station WAMI-TV launched as an affiliate of TeleFutura, a 24-hour, general-interest broadcast TV network, in 2001. Previously, WAMI had been the flagship station of Barry Diller's USA Broadcasting Network.
Sunbeam Television's Fox affiliate WSVN was No. 1 among the market's Englishlanguage stations in adults 25-54 during every newscast, and in prime time with Fox programming in May. WSVN put a new main anchor team in place about a year ago. Belkys Nerey was promoted to co-anchor at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. from co-host of Deco Drive, the station's popular, half-hour entertainment show at 7:30 p.m. WSVN entertainment reporter Louis Aguirre was tapped as Nerey's replacement on Deco Drive, which will unveil a new set and graphics next month.
WSVN, which has the market's...