On the latest episode of La Previa, Olek Loewenstein, the president of sports of TelevisaUnivision, joins Asli Pelit to discuss the upcoming Copa América coverage and the network’s growing soccer portfolio.
Loewenstein, born and raised in Venezuela, joined the network in 2011 after beginning his career in consulting. His father, who worked as a director of photography in Venezuela, familiarized him with the field from a young age.
“I went to the dark side of the force to work in consulting, finance, consumption and products,” he said, “until the opportunity was presented to me to return to the world of television and to launch the TV channel.”
Loewenstein joined the then-called UDN-TDN network, a co-production between Televisa and Univision, and saw its evolution from 2012 to 2018. In 2019 Televisa and Univision merged to operate as one entity.
Today, the network is the soccer leader in the U.S. regardless of language, accounting for more than 50% of soccer viewing, with rights to some of the most important leagues and events, including Liga MX, Liga MX Femenil, Leagues Cup, UEFA Champions and Europa League, Mexican Men’s National Team, CONCACAF Nations League, 2025 Gold Cup, UEFA European Qualifiers, Colombian Football League, UEFA Euro 2024 and Copa América.
The network acquired most of those properties in the last decade, with Loewenstein at the wheel.
“It was a time where few people invested in sports,” Loewenstein said of his early days in charge. The network acquired many properties for free during that time, with German and French soccer federations offering to broadcast their leagues in Spanish gratis. “The world has changed since then,” he said. “Today soccer is one of the most important sports in the country.”
The competitive and ever-changing landscape of sports broadcasting poses new challenges for sports networks. Loewenstein stated that four to five years ago, it was a seller’s market with intense competition for anything. “Now we have reached a point where it is a buyer’s market,” he said.
Leagues like the German, Italian and French “are having a hard time” selling their rights at the price levels they had become accustomed to, he said.
Meanwhile, premium properties like the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League offer more extensive packages, with more games to enhance their offerings.
Another challenge for the networks is how audiences are consuming live sports today. Networks must be innovative in attracting new consumers by packaging their sports properties across their linear, streaming and social networks.
“I think there are none so blind as those who will not see,” Loewenstein said. “Networks must be aware of what people consume, how they consume it, and how to make people more engaged in the content.”
This summer TelevisaUnivision will broadcast more than 150 soccer matches across all its networks. Loewenstein is bullish about the Copa América final. “I would dare to say that the final of the Copa is probably going to be the number one game of the year, regardless of language,” he said.
“Because whether it is between Argentina and Brazil or Argentina and Uruguay, or any of those combinations, it will be a sensation.”
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