Webnovelas: Branding Interactivity in Hispanic TV

The Latino television industry has transformed in order to adapt to a new technological environment, and such changes have had a deep impact on their long-standing strategies of production, marketing, distribution, and consumption of media commodities. Because of changing demographics, such companies have moved to reach new audiences. Given the technological sophistication of those audiences, corporations that sell televisual goods have put branding at the forefront. Webnovelas have become a powerful techno-cultural device that achieves the dual goal of becoming a preferred site for brand entertainment through sponsorship, while at the same time triggering audiences interaction in different mobile platforms producing data over audiences conceived as more "valuable consumers." Through data available to companies via audience interaction, these preferred audiences are even more susceptible to further commercial exploitation.