Curvy dancers in girls' school uniforms grind out a sexy routine in front of a live audience of appreciative men at Mexico's Televisa studios -- and it's only 10 am on a Saturday morning.
MEXICO CITY: Curvy dancers in girls' school uniforms grind out a sexy routine in front of a live audience of appreciative men at Mexico's Televisa studios -- and it's only 10 am on a Saturday morning.
At rival broadcaster TV Azteca, presenters in 1970s attire, looking like they're about to board Scooby-Doo's Mystery Machine, are flogging floor detergent.
Programming then switches to video of the national soccer team ahead of the World Cup.
Sex and soccer sell easily in Mexico and advertisers are hungry for their piece of the action.
Add politics to the heady mix -- with national parties splashing out on spots vying for votes in the July 2 presidential election -- and broadcasters are enjoying an advertising treasure-trove.
With the monetary bonanza comes pressure to guarantee strong ratings, and providing the best coverage is paramount during the World Cup and in the run-up to the elections.
In 2000, President Vicente Fox ended seven decades of single-party rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which used to dole out big money for advertising to stay in power.
That has changed, partly because Mexico's election watchdog, the Federal Election Institute, -- to create a level and democratic political playing field -- gives millions of dollars of public money to all official political parties for their campaigns.
“With the democracy game in place, the vote is now important (for the candidates),” said Jesus Meza, a professor and public image consultant.
Candidates need to present themselves before voters the best way they can; and television is one of the best forms. Analysts estimate that the World Cup in Germany and Mexico''s presidential election could result in a combined $200 million of additional revenue for both broadcasters.
Televisa is expected to pick up the lion's share of that extra advertising income -- around $150 million, or 5 percent of its revenue last year.
TV Azteca should pull in about $50 million, or nearly 6 percent of its revenues in 2005.
“Things started to shape up late last year... you could see that the advertising was a lot more aggressive,” said analyst Ana Gabriela Ocejo with Scotia Inverlat.
“Unlike other years when you could not find a spot in the city without a billboard or political banner, this time you can see the difference, and (parties) opted for more exposure on television,” she said.
Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon, shown almost even in polls as they compete for the nation's presidency, are taking advantage of every opportunity to reach out to Mexican viewers for votes.
TV Azteca got a break in January when it sold a half-hour early-morning slot to Lopez Obrador. His programme will run daily until late June.
For months, Lopez Obrador enjoyed a lead in the campaign when he visited potential voters in remote rural areas. Then he lost support when he entered into verbal exchanges with President Fox, who is still popular among Mexicans.
In recent weeks, Lopez Obrador switched to attacking his rival''s brother-in-law, accusing him of not paying taxes and benefiting from contracts in the energy sector while Calderon was energy minister.
Calderon denies misconduct.
Meanwhile, Calderon has pushed his candidacy mainly by using television, not only in advertising spots but also via personal appearances on morning shows at both Televisa and TV Azteca.
To reel in the extra cash and keep ratings strong, the broadcasters are using different strategies to pull in viewers.
They range from steamy soap operas and racy gossip shows to massive crew deployment to document the progress of soccer teams in Germany.
Televisa, the No 1 producer of Spanish-language programming worldwide -- whose soap operas are popular with viewers from China to Greece -- raised the bar recently with sexy scenes that leave little to the imagination.
Two of the lead characters in La Verdad Oculta (The hidden truth) soap opera, which airs at 9 pm locally, recently shared such intimate bedroom scenes that parts of the actors' bodies had to be blurred.
Its hit production Rebelde (Rebel) ended two weeks ago and advertisers were elbowing for space in one of Televisa's longest-running soap operas set in a posh school, where rich and beautiful students struggle with adolescence.
Rebelde's level of popularity was such that it spawned a pop music group, a magazine, a comic and several franchises across Latin America, opening new advertising windows for clients in Mexico as well as the United States.
To build on Rebelde's success, Televisa has just started airing another production, Codigo Postal (Postal Code) -- similar to ABC's Falcon Beach about teens in a fictional summer resort town.
TV Azteca has not been left behind. Its Amor en Custodia (Custodian love) -- whose main character, a married heiress, falls for her young bodyguard -- gives it a solid foothold with both adult and youth audiences.
And, Azteca's evening entertainment programme Ventaneando (Exposed) is the leading gossip show on Mexican television.
To please sports fans with plenty of World Cup soccer coverage, Televisa and TV Azteca have around 250 staff each in Germany -- including anchors, reporters, technicians, comedians and actors.
On the political front, experts see television ads intensifying in the next two weeks as candidates prepare to finish their campaigns on June 28.
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