Miami's Univision Taps into Hispanic Growth Nationwide

Miami's Spanish-language Univision TV network has leapfrogged powerhouse NBC during the most important month for television ratings, a telling sign of the Hispanic audience's expansion nationwide.

In the latest numbers from the February sweeps, Univision finished in fourth place, behind CBS, Fox and ABC. NBC rounded out the top five for the first time in history. Univision had never beaten NBC in the ratings race.

Just last week, Univision Communications CEO Randy Falco was touting the network's fifth position in the ratings, as the company reported its fourth-quarter financials.Univision reported a loss of $27.7 million for the fourth quarter, a significant difference from the $356 million loss a year ago. But, fourth-quarter revenue rose 8.9 percent to $671.7 million.In 2012, revenue increased 7.4 percent to $2.44 billion.

Falco cited the companys transformation to a multimedia corporation as its strength for the future. The media giant now owns 12 networks, 69 radio stations, 62 television stations as well as online and social media outlets.