'El Chema' Premiere Draws 2.4 Million Viewers

Telemundo's first ever super seriesspinoff El Chema ranks as the #1 Spanish-language program in primetime, delivering 2,435,000 total viewers and 1,434,000 adults 18-49 on premiere night, outperforming Univision at 10 p.m. by +22% and +63%, respectively, according to Nielsen. Starring Mauricio Ochmann, the series reached a cumulative audience of 3,089,000 total viewers and 1,827,000 adults 18-49.

Locally, El Chema ranked #1, regardless of language among adults 18-49 in Los Angeles, New York, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco, Orlando and Miami, where it also ranked #1 among total viewers.

In a first time ever for Spanish-language television, TELEMUNDO launched a virtual reality experience called "El Chema 360°", which has generated 3,700,000 global views to date. On Facebook, the video generated 2,600,000 global views. The El Chema Facebook page generated 1,400,000 global video views on Facebook and 63,000 global actions across social channels (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) on the day of the premiere.

An original Telemundo production made by Argos Televisión, El Chema tells the story of how Chema Venegas (Ochmann) got his start in organized crime and rose through the ranks to become the head of the cartel he runs in El Señor de los Cielos. Chema began breaking the law at a young age, transporting marijuana across the US-Mexico border when he was just a boy. Little by little, he worked his way up to become a successful and skillful leader, earning his place through bloodshed and brutality, in the history of drug trafficking. Since he was a young man, Chema has been one of the most important public enemies of both the US and Mexican governments.

Source: Nielsen 12/6/16, NPM L+SD IMP TEL vs SLTV nets; Fastie Reach w/6+ min qual. NSI L+SD, Ranking based on P18-49 & P2+ IMP for 10p-11p time period (vs UNI, UMA, AZA,ETV,MMX). Adobe Analytics US Only, 12/6/16. Shareablee, 12/6/16; YouTube Analytics, 11/21-12/6/16; Tubular Labs, November 2016.

'El Chema' to Feature First-Ever Viritual Reality Experience on Spanish-Language TV

For the first time in the history of Spanish-language television, Telemundo announced today the launch of a 360-degree virtual reality experience to engage with viewers in advance of the launch of its upcoming telenovela El Chema. On the heels of its success in reaching the coveted Generation M – mobile, multicultural, millennials – with original content tailored to their modern cultural interests, Telemundo’s Marketing and Digital divisions teamed up to bring viewers "The Chema: A 360 Escape.” The experience gives fans the opportunity to immerse themselves in a dizzying journey, accompanied by El Chema Venegas (Mauricio Ochmann), as they undertake his daring tunnel escape from a high-security prison. Telemundo also partnered with Facebook and YouTube to release the experience across those social platforms to engage fans as a lead up to the highly-anticipated spin off’s premiere.

“Our marketing team is always looking for new and innovative ways to connect with our audience and engage them with our programming through cutting edge, entertaining experiences” said Aileen Angulo-Merciel, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Creative, Telemundo. “We are thrilled to bring viewers an unforgettable opportunity through our ground breaking virtual reality escape for El Chema.”

As part of the 360 experience, Telemundo activated a campaign to allow viewers to enjoy the virtual reality experience in person across multiple cities including Los Angeles, California at Stonewood Mall; Houston, Texas at Plaza Americas; Bronx, New York at the Mall at Bay Plaza; and Chicago, Illinois at the Gurnee Mills Mall.

“Our digital initiatives and partnerships allow viewers to stay connected during our shows and in between on-air episodes,” said Peter Blacker, Executive Vice President, Digital Media and Emerging Business, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. “The campaign we are launching across multiple platforms provides our fans with yet another inventive experience and more exclusive content, which enables us to continue to connect with Generation M.”

In addition to the partnerships with Facebook and YouTube, the network also presented an exclusive online preview of the Super Series on Telemundo.com, VOD and the Telemundo Novelas app titled “capítulo cero” (chapter zero). The preview gives fans an exclusive look at El Chema’s backstory and what he has been doing between the character’s end on El Señor de los Cielos and the start of the new series.

El Chema, premiering Tuesday, December 6 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, is a spin-off of the wildly popular* series “El Señor de los Cielos.” Starring Mauricio Ochmann, Mariana Seoane, Julio Bracho, Itatí Cantoral, Carmen Aub, Alexandra de la Mora, Arcelia Ramírez and Sergio Basáñez with the special participation of Rafael Amaya, “El Chema” tells the story of how Chema Venegas (Ochmann) got his start in organized crime and rose through the ranks to become the head of the cartel he runs in “El Señor de los Cielos.”

El Chema is an original production of Telemundo, made by Argos Televisión directed by Danny Gavidia and Nicolás Di Blasi and produced by Mariana Iskandarani and Patricia Benítez.

*The season four finale for El Señor de los Cielos on July 18 ranked as the #1 most social primetime program in broadcast across all networks, regardless of language and reached 4.57 million viewers per Nielsen.