In the following interview with ttvnews, Sandra Smester, EVP, Programming and Content Development, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, shares what content they want to add to their catalog in the international market.

In an industry as evolving as the entertainment industry, it is imperative to stay one step ahead of the latest trends and know what the international market demands regarding content.

To this end, ttvnews presents the Buyers: What are buyers looking for? Initiative to learn first-hand about the programming needs of buyers around the world.

This time, we spoke to Sandra Smester, EVP, Programming and Content Development, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises:

What content would you highlight among those that worked best for the company in 2024?

We are very happy at Telemundo that, for the first time in history, Telemundo becomes the first Hispanic television channel, Monday through Sunday, in prime time. 

Everything was a strategy, from the positioning of our reality shows and series to starting a very strong year. We used all the strategies we knew and had worked on for years in the industry. It was a well-formed team strategy, and the whole team supported it when it was proposed.

This allowed Telemundo to achieve the great purpose we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year. 

What content, formats, or genres do you go after at industry events?

When you work on a programming and content strategy, it is done a long time in advance, but that doesn’t mean that a good format will come out of the market. Scripted is a little more difficult because it takes time to do the scripts, and so on, it is usually done with a lot of time. 

It has happened to us that we got a good format with a strategy already in place. For example, Los 50, the first time it was integrated, basically we found it at MIP at the end of October, and then we saw it again in January. It was already on the air in the summer, basically we have a grid with plan a, plan b, and plan c; but if we find something that we know will connect with the audience and that carries Telemundo’s DNA, we implement it.