No. 10 media & entertainment: whether it's Latin music, magazines, cable television, radio or advertising, Miami is at the epicenter of regional media and entertainment - FTAA

South Florida CEO, Oct, 2003

The American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami is usually home to Miami Heat basketball games. This fall it was transformed into ground zero for Latin music, as it hosted the annual Latin Grammys, recognizing the best in Spanish-language music by artists from across the hemisphere. This month, the MTV Video Music Awards Latin America will be held in the Jackie Gleason Theater on Miami Beach, and will do the same, albiet more cutting edge.

Both the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences and MTV Networks Latin America are based in Greater Miami. But they are just the tip of the iceberg of Miami's Latin entertainment industry, which runs the gamut from music labels and recording studios to cable production and broadcast companies.

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Miami is also home to Telemundo, the No.2 US Hispanic television company, purchased two years ago by NBC for US$2.7 billion. The largest US Hispanic television network, Univision, is headquartered in Los Angeles, but its network operations are in Miami, where all production is handled. Greater Miami is also the capital of Latin American cable TV, with the regional operations of Claxson (formerly the Cisneros Television Group), Discovery Latin America, HBO and MGM Latin America.

In addition to programming and broadcasting cable television, Miami is a growing production center for the Americas. Venevision International, headquartered in Miami-Dade County for 30 years, is the worldwide distributor of TV programming produced by the Venevision broadcasting network in Venezuela. With US$120 million in annual revenues, Venevision recently began filming five hours a day of telenovelas in Miami, and branching out into theater production.

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On the print side, Miami is the dominant city for regional magazines in Latin America. From its Miami headquarters, Editorial Televisa, the largest publisher of Spanish-language magazines in the world, produces 45 titles distributed in 19 countries, magazines such as Vanidades, Cristina and the Spanish language versions of Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar and Maxim. Miami is also home to Ideas Publishing, which produces the Spanish language version of a dozen titles sent into Latin America, such as Glamour, Newsweek and Discover.

For music, Miami is an epicenter, the Latin headquarters for over a dozen top labels, such as the Latin divisions of Sony, EMI and BMG. From here, Estefan Enterprises CEO Emilio Estefan manages the music careers of such performers as Shakira, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Jon Secada. Miami is also home to the top US Hispanic radio networks: Radio Unica and Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS). Miami-based Latino Broadcasting is the largest syndicated service for US Hispanic radio stations (115).

In terms of marketing, Miami is the place where the concept of Hispanic media was born, and where most top trans-Latin advertising and public relations firms are located. Local firms such as The IAC Group, Publicis Sanchez & Levitan, The Jeffrey Group and Zubi Advertising have pioneered both US Hispanic and pan-regional markets. In Miami they are joined by the Latin American divisions of top national pr and ad shops Burson-Marsteller, Fleishman-Hillard, Foote Cone & Belding, Young & Rubicam, Ogilvy & Mather and McCann Erickson.

Latin music labels, based in Miami

BMG               MP
Caliente          Palma Music
Disa Latin Music  Plantano Records
EMI Latin         Sonolux
Fonovisa          Sony
J&N               Universal Music Latino
Lideres           WEA Latina

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Amount that NBC paid to buy the Miami-based Telemundo network, in US$: $2.7 billion

Miami's city rank for trans-Latin cable cos: No. 1

Miami's city rank for Latin music labels: No. 1