Invoking Ricky Ricardo, NuvoTv Aims at the ‘Bicultural Latino’

April 25, 2012
By STUART ELLIOTT

A popular figure from the early days of television was conjured up Tuesday night for an upfront presentation to help a cable channel sell commercial time.

The presentation to Madison Avenue from NuvoTV, which was formerly known as Si TV, elaborated on its target audience — the “bicultural Latino,” Latino viewers, ages 18 to 49, who speak English. And they offered a prime example: Desi Arnaz, and the character he played on “I Love Lucy,” Ricky Ricardo, husband of Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball), who was hailed as “the original bicultural Latino.”

A clip was shown at the start from an episode of “I Love Lucy.” The episode, called “Mr. and Mrs. TV Show,” was quite appropriate for the presentation; the plot was centered on an advertising agency’s search for a personality to appear in a TV program for a client and deliver commercials.

NuvoTV plans to introduce several new series for the 2012-13 season, all in the reality genre. The channel will also bring back a reality competition series, “Model Latina,” for a sixth season.

“Model Latina” will be joined by a series titled “Curvy Girls,” which will be focused on a group of plus-size models.

Other new series include “Fight Factory,” a look inside the American Kickboxing Academy, known as AKA, in California; “The 7 of Clubs,” about a Latino D.J. named Jesus Cortez, who goes by the name DJ Dirty Draws; and “Low-Ballers,” a look at a company called Exotic Motors, which buys beat-up used cars and transforms them into desirable rides.

“I’m not asking you to buy a car from these guys,” Maria Perez-Brown, senior vice president for programming and development at NuvoTV, said, laughing. “I’m asking you to buy the show.”

Michael Schwimmer, chief executive of the channel, which is based in Glendale, Calif., said it was now being rated by Nielsen. (Many advertisers and agencies are reluctant to buy commercial time on channels that do not provide them with Nielsen data.)

NuvoTV is also offering Madison Avenue additional information about the channel and its demographic target audience. The information is available at nuconnect.tv, which redirects to the media kit section of the NuvoTV Web site, mynuvotv.com.

The presentation was the third of three made by NuvoTV executives to advertisers and agencies. The others were in Los Angeles and Chicago.

Source: New York Times