Univision isn’t just a hot broadcast commodity. It looks like it’s a fave among YouTube users as well, where illegally uploaded video of the Spanish-language network’s novelas is booming.
Tube Mogul, an online video analytics company, measured more than 586 million views for Univision’s 10 most-pirated shows on YouTube. Fox comes in second place with about 289 million views from their top 10 shows. Of the almost 600 million views for Univision shows more than half are from pirated clips of the novela “Cuidado con el Angel.”
According to a story on Advertising Age, Univision has not been effective in preventing the online piracy of the network’s content. Univision says it regularly monitors and asks YouTube to take down pirated program. However, Univision doesn’t currently have much of an incentive to proactively fight piracy of their content, while they’re battling in court with Televisa over who owns the digital rights to Televisa’s programming in the U.S.
The judge who presided over the Univision and Televisa programming trial last month, is scheduled to rule on the digital-rights issue in March, although it’s considered more likely that Univision and Televisa will once again reach their own settlement first. Univision claims the programming agreement signed in the early 1990’s, when digital media didn’t exist, covers all U.S. broadcast rights, including on the internet. Televisa insists it should control U.S. internet rights to its shows.
