The beginning of an era? Hispanic soaps gain popularity

Hispanic soap operas gain popularity

Atlanta (CNN) -- At the Castillo home in suburban Atlanta, sitting down to watch TV at seven every night is a ritual full of excitement. The entire family is hooked on Hispanic soap operas in spite of differences in age and nationality.

Leslie Enriquez, the 28-year-old mother in the family, says she loves the soap operas because they have all of the ingredients to make them interesting. "Drama, love, and romanticism," Enriquez says. "They've got everything!"

She's from Guatemala. Her husband from Mexico, 32-year-old Juan Carlos Castillo, is also hooked on the soap operas as well as their 11-year-old son, Carlitos, who was born in the United States and speaks English more fluently than Spanish. They're occasionally joined by their friend 22-year-old Amy Sanchez, who was born in the United States of Nicaraguan parents.

They're all attracted by the fast-paced, intensely emotional and action-packed soap operas that are mainly produced in Mexico. "I like most of the drama," Carlitos says. "They're romantic and the action is really good!"

This happens at a time when traditional American soap operas are being canceled. An era came to an end last week when ABC announced the cancellation of "All of my Children" and "One Life to Live." Both programs had been on the network's daytime lineup for more than four decades. "General Hospital" is the lone survivor. On the other hand, Hispanic melodramas are getting more and more popular in the United States.

While the major broadcast networks are losing viewers, Spanish-language Univision has increased its viewership last year, mainly because of soap operas.

Univision's viewership increased by nearly 10 percent from September to April when compared to the same period last year. According to Nielsen, an independent company that tracks media ratings, during the same period NBC lost 16 percent of its viewers, CBS and ABC 9 percent and FOX 5 percent.

The final episode of Univision's soap opera "Eva Luna" reached 9.7 million viewers earlier this month. Univision called the grand finale "one of the top 10 novela (soap opera, novel) finales of all time and the highest-rated domestically produced novela in history." Eva Luna's plot revolved around the life of a humble but beautiful immigrant to the United States who arrives with her father and younger sister in search of a better life in California.

The popularity of Hispanic soap operas is likely to increase even more as the Hispanic population grows in the United States. According to the 2010 census, there are now 50.5 million Hispanics in the U.S. The Pew Hispanic Center says that during the last decade they accounted for 56 percent of the nation's growth.

Daniela Guevara, a Hispanic marketing expert at Lanza Group, an Atlanta-based marketing agency, says she's not surprised. "It's something that the Hispanic community has grown up with. It's part of our family, part of our life, since we're younger... so I'm not surprised. I actually saw it coming," Guevara says.

Companies are taking notice and refocusing their advertising efforts accordingly. "Different brands such as cosmetics, cars, even furniture, or just regular stores, they want to be involved. So this is huge. They're investing more money in the Hispanic market," Guevara says.

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