Coming from Univision and being of Cuban descent, Otto Padron was the ideal man to step in and lead the media arm of Meruelo Group, which is generating more choices in the diverse LA media market for Latinos. As president and COO of Meruelo Media, Padron is intent on keeping Spanish-speaking media local. “We believe that ‘Made-in-LA’ Hispanic content creation is an area of great opportunity … we see a growing marketplace for content that is relevant and resonates with the U.S. Hispanic experience.”
Nationwide, the Latino television market accounts for nearly $3.6 billion in revenue. Los Angeles has nearly two million Spanish-speaking households, making it the largest Latino media market in the country. By comparison, New York City, the second largest, has approximately 1.5 million such households.
In addition to his role spearheading Meruelo Group’s efforts to serve the local Latino market, Padron also serves as commissioner of the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Padron’s primary role as commissioner is to research and implement, in his words, “not what modernizes but what futurizes the convention center…. That’s our greatest challenge. There is a lot of responsibility on our shoulders, and it speaks to Mayor Garcetti’s plan to make this a city of the future.”
With the NFL’s return to Los Angeles and the prospective Farmers Field in doubt, Padron and committee members backed by Mayor Eric Garcetti have turned to potential Plan Bs, hoping to resuscitate the flagging state of conventions in Los Angeles. In May, preliminary bidding began for major improvements to the Convention Center and building new infrastructure in the immediate vicinity. As for changes that could be made, Padron points to “contiguous convention space and hotel rooms within a half-mile walking radius of the convention center campus.”
meruelogroup.com
