Case Study – The rise of Telemundo

Introduction

The case study provided explains the rise of Telemundo as a major market shareholder of Spanish-speaking cable television viewers. The author explains the challenges Telemundo faced in its start-up phases and how the network’s manager, Cesar Conde, alleviated the situation. Additionally, the case study provides detailed information on how Telemundo defeated its competitors after being well-established in the telenovela market and why its target audience, comprising young people aged between 18 and 34, prefers its content over other networks with near similar programming. By reading the case study, the reader understands how companies can enhance their self-confidence by embracing competitive and cutting-edge strategies that are yet to be invented. The reader conceptualizes the methods they can use in their future businesses to adapt to changing demographics, customer preferences, and business trends that threaten organizational revenue income, such as the rise of internet programming. Overall, the case study is a narrative of resilience and grit in the face of adversity, as evidenced by Telemundo.

Case Facts and Root Causes of the Problem

Telemundo was birthed from the NBCUniversal Network parented by NBCUniversal International Group. The television channel was created to rival Univision, a cable television provider that had captured a major share of the United States Spanish-speaking viewers. Univision had realized early enough that the United States’ major ethnic minority group was the Hispanics, who refused to embrace bilingual capabilities even after establishing themselves in the country (McGee et al., 2017). At the time Univision was beginning its operations in the United States, Spanish-speaking Latinos were neglected by cable and satellite television networks, such as Fox and ABC. Shows that appealed to Hispanics did not exist in the United States media industry, creating a lucrative market niche that the cable television network provider exploited successfully for several years.

NBCUniversal Network assessed the market share held by Univision and realized that it presented an opportunity to venture and compete against the existing cable network provider. However, there were several challenges that nearly discouraged the network provider from venturing into the Spanish-speaking cable television programming industry. Firstly, the audience for Spanish-speaking content on cable television has changed significantly since Univision started operating, and this aspect presented a great challenge for NBCUniversal Network (McGee et al., 2017). When Univision began airing Spanish content on cable television in the United States, its primary consumers were baby boomers who mainly spoke the language. However, by the time Telemundo was introduced as an alternative product in the Spanish-speaking cable television industry, the majority of content consumers were between 18 and 34 years old.

NBCUniversal Network also discovered that Spanish-speaking content consumers had started watching shows on the internet, yet the network wanted Telemundo to be hosted by cable television. The new generation was dynamic and owned more smartphones and tablets than television sets, an aspect that presented a significant challenge to NBCUniversal Network (McGee et al., 2017). Furthermore, NBCUniversal Network had to face the fact that its content consumers were used to the themes provided by Univision shows, a fact that presented a major problem to the television content provider. If NBCUniversal Network wanted to capture part of Univision’s customer base, it would have to capture their attention using a fresh idea that was yet to be conceived. Lastly, NBCUniversal Network required an excellent leader to help the organization establish Telemundo in the market as a worthwhile competitor to Univision.

Analysis and Decision-Making

For NBCUniversal Network to successfully compete with Univision, it had to strategize extensively and then decide on the methods it would use to outperform its competitor. Firstly, the organization had to analyze the extent of the impact of demographic viewer shifts on the Spanish-speaking television content market (Brown et al., 2018). NBCUniversal had to assess if the new viewer profile of the youth aged between 18 and 34 presented any challenge to the revenue income it would earn compared to the original content consumer base of baby boomers (McGee et al., 2017). Secondly, NBCUniversal Network had to analyze ways to capture the attention of the youth that presented its major market share, which preferred to stream content through the internet instead of a cable television subscription. Thirdly, the organization had to assess if there were any cost-cutting strategies it could embrace to outperform Univision, seeing as the competitor was already well-established. Creating a new cable television network was a costly venture that would require NBCUniversal Network to invest heavily and also make plans to break even early enough to compete successfully with Univision.

The extensive analysis of the problems launching Telemundo to compete with Univision in providing excellent content to the Spanish-speaking market resulted in the NBCUniversal Network creating several remedial strategies. Firstly, NBCUniversal Network decided to contract an experienced media professional to head its new Telemundo television channel so that it could compete robustly with Univision. Secondly, NBCUniversal Network decided that it would create its content instead of buying telenovela shows from external sources, a costly venture that Univision engaged in. The competitor could afford to buy shows for consumers and still make adequate revenue, but NBCUniversal could not at the time it was launching Telemundo (Kitaw & Goshu, 2017). Thirdly, NBCUniversal Network decided that it would find ways to capture the internet-based content consumers that presented a challenge to cable television subscriptions, as this was the major way of selling that the organization had selected. Lastly, NBCUniversal Network decided to introduce new and fresh content themes that had been unexplored by Univision to attract some of its loyal clients. In the end, NBCUniversal Network was competing against a well-established television network, and it was critical that it establish plans that would help it compete on the same level as Univision quickly enough after launching Telemundo.

Action Planning

NBCUniversal planned to execute its decisions using several methods. Firstly, the organization analyzed the cable television industry with the intent of finding a professional who would help it break even quickly after launching Telemundo. Through this analysis, NBCUniversal Network identified Cesar Conde, who played a significant role in establishing Telemundo as the primary go-to channel every time Hispanic cable television and internet program consumers chose. Secondly, NBCUniversal Network assessed the internet content consumption market to see the opportunities it presented that could be explored in addition to selling Spanish shows through cable television. NBCUniversal was able to successfully identify that it could introduce applications, such as Snap shows, that Snapchat Hispanic viewers could use to watch Telemundo shows (Kitaw & Goshu, 2017). Thirdly, the organization decided that it would introduce new content to Spanish speakers who were used to watching telenovelas aired by Univision to capture their attention. Through this plan, the organization was able to contract unique content from platforms, such as FIFA World Cup, Latin America Music, and Spanish news, that consumers loved, as they were a fresh feel from the conventional telenovelas that Univision consistently aired.

Measurements

NBCUniversal Network could measure its successful outcomes of executing planned actions in several ways. For instance, if viewers increase after launching its action plans, then the television network will determine its plans were reasonable. However, if NBCUniversal Network continues to lose clients even after executing its designed plans, then it will have failed and may need to re-consult its head of the Telemundo network for further direction that will help it compete successfully with Univision. Further, the organization should assess the market feedback it receives from clients after implementing the plans it created to help it compete on the same level as Univision (Naslund & Norrman, 2019). Lastly, NBCUniversal Network should assess the costs it continues to incur even after launching its action plans. If this cost continues to increase, then the launched action strategies should be revised accordingly, but if the cost of operating Telemundo and improving content declines as revenue increases, then NBCU will determine that its action plans are efficient and effective.

Conclusion

NBCUniversal Network conducted extensive market research and realized that in the United States, Spanish speakers presented a lucrative opportunity that could be explored to increase its revenue income. Spanish speakers in the country were consuming telenovelas aired by Univision in large numbers, and NBCUniversal Network thought that if the market could be tweaked, it would be able to capture the existing clients its rivals enjoyed. To achieve this objective successfully, the organization conducted an in-depth analysis of the problems venturing into the Spanish-speaking cable television industry it would experience. NBCU then created action plans based on the decision-making it engaged in step one, which would be measured through different techniques, as explained.

References

Brown, T. C., O’Kane, P., Mazumdar, B., & McCracken, M. (2018). Performance management: A scoping review of the literature and an agenda for future research. Human Resource Development Review, 18(1), 47-82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534484318798533

Kitaw, D., & Goshu, Y. Y. (2017). Performance measurement and its recent challenge: A literature review. International Journal of Business Performance Management, 18(4), 381-402. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijbpm.2017.10007477

McGee, H. W., Knoop, C., & Snively, C. (2017). NBCUniversal Telemundo: Transforming Latino Television.

Naslund, D., & Norrman, A. (2019). A performance measurement system for change initiatives: An action research study from design to evaluation. Business Process Management Journal, 25(7), 1647-1672. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/BPMJ-11-2017-0309/full/pdf

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Question

Using the information provided in the case as a foundation, develop the analysis using current years and the global environment for your recommendations.

Case Study – The rise of Telemundo

Note: The paper should not exceed 6 pages (not including the cover page).

Introduction: a brief overview of the topic and how you plan to proceed with your discussion.
Case Facts and the root cause of the problem

- Identifying and listing relevant case facts
- Identifying and describing the root cause of the problem
- Identifying and describing the problem components

Analysis & Decision Making

- Generating alternatives
- Evaluating alternatives
- Choosing and supporting alternatives(s)

Action Planning: Describe how you will turn your solution or decision into action, how, when, and what.
Measurements: Recommend measures that will evaluate performance.
Conclusion: a summary of the key points of the case analysis.

Case Analysis Assignment Description

Case studies present you with real-life scenarios and situations that help to develop your critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills in the relatively safe environment of the classroom. Whether the situation described in a case is fairly straightforward or highly complex, the entire problem-solving process involves 4 phases and eight steps outlined below.

The analysis process will involve four phases:

Problem identification and definition

The process of identifying and defining the problem involves three steps:

i) Review the case and identify and describe the relevant facts.

This step allows you to identify the key facts (the most relevant ones) so that you can figure out what is going on before making a decision. Identifying and stating the key facts helps you identify the most important facts.

Provide a list of the most relevant case facts. These facts should be organized around external forces (external environment) that affect an organization, including but not limited to political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, legal, and competitive, or internal factors such as management problems, staffing issues, and financial or marketing challenges.

ii) Determining the root or cause of the problem

This step expands on the previous step by identifying the facts in the case that are contributing to the problem and/or are symptomatic of the problem. In this step, a simple question that might guide the discussion is: what are the current challenges faced by XYZ company? Identify all the challenges that the company is facing, including international/global business decisions and ethical/social responsibility issues.

iii) Identify the problem components

This third part of the problem identification fully identifies the problem and the key components of the problem.

Case Study – The rise of Telemundo