(USNewsMag.com) – Recent election cycles have seen considerable Republican gains among Hispanic voters. By attempting to become the Fox News of Spanish-speaking America, a conservative media network is now striving to make that happen.
Americano Media, which debuted in March, is starting an aggressive expansion plan to influence center-right Hispanic opinion during the upcoming election cycle. By the end of the year, the network will have studios in Miami, Las Vegas, and Washington, D.C., with reporters covering the White House and Congress, and embedding in 2024 presidential campaigns. The network has hired over 80 Latino journalists and producers and is transitioning from radio to television. Americano is starting a $20 million marketing campaign to gain more viewers this month.
It’s the most recent development in a drive to win over the nation’s second-largest demographic group, which is becoming increasingly crucial to election outcomes.
Ivan Garcia-Hidalgo, the network’s CEO and creator, claimed that there isn’t a Fox News equivalent in Spanish, and that’s what Americano aspires to be. He claimed that despite listening to Hispanic Republican leaders lament the need for something similar for 25 years, no one ever took action.
After a career in telecommunications with Tyco, AT&T, and Sprint, Garcia-Hidalgo served as a Hispanic surrogate for Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign. He said he wants to “blow up” the conventional ways conservative Hispanics interact with the media, which he claimed consisted of appearing on networks with a liberal slant to “apologize for being Republican, bow your head, and take a beating for an hour.”
In Miami, where it still has its headquarters, Americano began with various radio programs. In the coming year, it hopes to expand to television and radio in competitive states around the United States and draw Spanish-speaking viewers to its online and streaming platforms.
According to Garcia-Hidalgo, Americano Media has so far raised $18 million from its first three investors and plans to conclude its only round of equity investment this spring to raise an additional $30 to $50 million. The first investors were Thomas Woolston, a patent attorney from northern Virginia, and Doug Hayden, an investor from San Jose, California; Americano declined to reveal the identity of the third investor. Americano makes the most of every chance to establish a name for itself in conservative political circles. In August, the network broadcasted live from CPAC Dallas.
At Turning Point’s AmericaFest in December, they erected a sizable booth on the radio row with a “No más fake news” sign that delighted guests at the Phoenix Convention Center who lingered around to watch a cast of conservative celebrities conduct interviews. As evidence of its expansion, the network recently secured interviews with Trump and several prominent Republicans in office.
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