I have always felt interest for this channel; Mun2 founded in 2001 has the headquarters located in Universal City, CA. With a payroll of 60 to 70 employees, Mun2 is part of General Electric. Mun2 is a subbrand of Telemundo that is a subbrand of NBC. Their not syndicated programming counts with 18 & Over, The mun2 Shift, Vivo, mun2 Shuffle, One Nation Under Hip-Hop, The Chicas Project, Reventón, Party Mix, Se Habla Rock! 2RSLVJ (Tú Eres El VJ or You are the VJ), Day in Day Out, Pepsi Música, and El Show. They also have a Sin senos no hay paraiso where Pico, a vj from mun2, gives the viewers a wrap around from the soup opera and the viewers go to the website, give their opinion and Pico comments and relate to their stories. Making it relevant to them through the website. Mun2 has no slogan. They have a tagline: The prominent voice for the bilingual Latinos in America. The name mun2 is pronounced, "moon dos" which is written "mundos" in Spanish meaning "worlds" in English. Mun2 in such a short period of time has managed to become a brand that are the pioneers, breaking thru with this audience that was crying for attention and for a channel designed for them. Mun2 target market is the bilingual, bi-cultural Latinos from the age of 18-34 that reside in the US region. The only direct competition is MTV3, which was launched on 2006. Primary competitors are typically considered MTV3 and to a lesser extent Si TV and LATV. Other competitors that share this audience include Fox, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, Galavision and Discovery in Español, among others. In June 08, mun2 had a Current Position of 7.3 of the p12-34 Hispanic SOV (share of viewing). This ranked behind only Univison, Telemundo and Telefutura, networks with much larger distribution and broadcast. In this demo it ranked ahead of other channels such as MTV (3.42), Azteca, MTVtres (2.84), Discovery en Español and Carton Network.
According to Moises Velez, Head of mun2 Development and Current Programming “Mun2 has operated from a point of insight, research and authentic connection and understanding of its audience. First run, original programming has been key, with additional strategic acquisitions based on viewer research and demand. Mun2 programming is based on response to the demographic it serves, insight from its in house producers and executives and a constant interaction with the audience from on air to online. A quick look at competitors will reveal that many of the music trends are followed by leading initiatives at mun2, who have been first in the space with many genres, key to breaking Hispanic urban genres and expanding the reach of Mexican regional when others ignored it completely. Many of the competitors have used reruns from other sister networks, re-titled or subtitled for consumption. Thus properties from Latin American outlets are repurposed for US Latino viewers, a disconnect from their core audience.”
In Growth rate and trends Moises Velez said “Since the brand re-launch the p12-34 IMP (total day) has grown from approx 7(Q4 2005) to 19(Q3 2008). In the past 6 months, the performance of the network has prompted an increase in cable carriage resulting in an increase of nearly 8 million more households, placing total measured at approximate million households total. The increase in distribution brings it into an even more competitive landscape, placing it in competition with other networks of similar size, with delivery expectations increased. Growing our programming offerings, appealing to an older available audience and dealing with a retraction in the advertising business are challenges that mun2 at the rest of the cable band broadcast business will have to retool and strategize for in the coming years, especially on the well publicized challenges facing all networks due to the global financial downturn. Consumer trends from the digital space have increased the need to connect to audiences on their timetable and where they choose to consume their media, be it online, through delayed viewing on DVR’s or mobile. Mun2 has been a leader in this space via holamun2.com, a space that is fully integrated into all our on air programming, participatory with a social networking space tailored for our audience and from which we gain valuable insights and immediate feedback and response.”
How does this brand differentiate itself and position itself against them? What does it see as its main competitive advantage or selling points?
According to Moises Velez, Head of mun2 Development and Current Programming: “ Mun2 has operated from a point of insight, research and authentic connection and understanding of its audience. First run, original programming has been key, with additional strategic acquisitions based on viewer research and demand. Mun2 programming is based on our response to the demographic it serves, insight from its in house producers and executives and a constant interaction with the audience from on air to online. A quick look at competitors will reveal that many of the music trends are followed by leading initiatives at mun2, who have been first in the space with many genres, key to breaking Hispanic urban genres and expanding the reach of Mexican regional when others ignored it completely. Many of the competitors have used reruns from other sister networks, re-titled or subtitled for consumption. Thus properties from Latin American outlets are repurposed for US Latino viewers, a disconnect from their core audience.”
