Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivison unveiled a surprise overhaul of its ad-sales structure Monday — with just weeks to go before the TV industry opens its annual “upfront” marketplace.
The company replaced Tim Naividad, who had been in place since June of 2025, with a veteran internal choice, John Kozack, who has worked at TelevisaUnivision over two decades. Natividad had previous experience at Roku and Amazon, and his digital chops were no doubt welcome at a traditional media company that has recently made significant strides in streaming. And yet, the move suggests TelevisaUnivision couldn’t abandon its reliance on the millions it generates from linear TV.
The company’s advertising revenue in the fourth quarter came to $856 million, flat with results from the previous year. In the U.S., advertising revenue declined 11% to $423 million.
TelevisaUnivision has been working to bolster its balance sheet since Wade Davis, the former Viacom CFO who orchestrated a buyout of Univision in 2020 before merging it with Mexico’s Grupo Televisa in 2022, ceded his CEO role to Daniel Alegre, a former senior executive at Activision Blizzard. Since Alegre joined in 2024, TelevisaUnivision has worked to streamline operations that had previously been siloed by geographic region. The company owns media assets in both the United States and Mexico
“Over the last year, Tim has been involved in a significant transformation in our commercial strategy, particularly as we shore up our partner engagement, digital strengths and diversify our content to new formats and platforms,” said Alegre, in a statement. “We are grateful for Tim’s leadership throughout his tenure and for the talent he has brought into the company.”
The executive said Kozack had a “deep understanding of our business, passion for the U.S. Hispanic market, and proven track record of driving growth.”
The ad-sales shuffle marks the second choppy handoff of executives who oversee one of the company’s key sources of revenue. In June of last year, veteran Donna Speciale exited the company quickly after TelevisaUnivsion had made its annual upfront presentation to advertisers and media agencies. People familiar with the matter said Speciale and the company could not come to terms on a contract renewal at the time.
But the moves create difficult optics as the industry prepares for the upfront, an annual sales market during which U.S. TV companies try to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory ahead of their next cycle of programming. Under such circumstances, the appointment of Kozack might be reassuring. He was previoulsy responsible for all client and agency relationships, serving as a critical lead in the upfront talks and focusing on, among other things the sales behind TelevisaUnivision’s sports portfolio.
Kozack began his career at The Media Edge, a media buying agency under the aegis of WPP. He was responsible for creating the first presenting sponsorship of the Rose Bowl on behalf of AT&T. He then went on to become an account executive with Fox Sports, before joining Univision as an account executive in 2003
More to come…
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