V-me's Advertisers On The Rise

Spanish-Language Net Reports 35% Uptick in Sponsors

by Laura Martinez -- Multichannel News, 9/16/2009 4:19:42 PM

Four months into the 2009-10 upfront selling season, Spanish-language network V-me is reporting a 35% jump in the number of sponsors signing up to advertise.

New advertisers include Mazola, Burger King, Blackberry, Best Buy, Walgreens and Allstate, among others.

"A lot of the market is reporting not very good results, but we are in a growth mode," said Frank Donaldson, senior vice president and director of sales of V-me, channel owned by V-me Media, Inc., a partnership of public-TV station WNET New York and private investors.

V-me's news comes on the heels of yet more bleak news from the advertising world. According to figures released this week by TNS, total measured advertising expenditures in the first six months of 2009 fell 14.3%, compared with the year-ago period, to $60.87 billion. Television media was down 10% with Spanish-language TV reporting a decline of 12.7% in the period (January to June 2009).