Alan Gomez

USA TODAY

MIAMI — The country's most popular Spanish-language TV network is growing its brand with an unlikely purchase: The country's most popular English-language satirical website.

Univision announced Tuesday that it is acquiring a 40% controlling stake of The Onion, the humor site founded as a small newspaper in Madison, Wis., 28 years ago.

The Onion staff will remain in its current headquarters in Chicago, but Univision will have the option to purchase the company outright.

"Onion Inc. has remained successful by putting editorial first," said Mike McAvoy, president and CEO of Onion Inc. "We're excited to partner with Univision, a company that understands and appreciates that foundation, and that can provide additional resources, expertise, and opportunity for our talented staff."

The pairing may seem odd: A network that features racy soap operas, sports and news targeted at the nation's 50 million Hispanics, and the nation's preeminent satirical site that pokes its finger at everything from politics to pop culture to the minutiae of Americans' daily lives (recent headline: "Corn added to list of items that upset Grandma's stomach").

Yet the purchase follows a years-long effort by Univision executives to reach portions of the U.S. population they feel are underserved by traditional news outlets.

In 2013, in partnership with Disney's ABC television network, Univision launched Fusion, an English-language news and entertainment channel designed to attract "young, diverse and inclusive" viewers. In 2015, Univision purchased The Root, a news and opinion website dedicated to African-American issues that was founded by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Adding The Onion, and its legion of young readers, represents the next step in that process to reach younger readers and viewers.

"Including Onion Inc. as part of our portfolio is a great fit for a significant step forward in our digital strategy as we continue to expand the ways we entertain and inform millenial and multicultural audiences," said Isaac Lee, chief news and digital officer for Univision. "Comedy is playing an expanding role in our culture as a vehicle for audiences to explore, debate and understand the important ideas of our time. The Onion has been, and continues to be, a leading force of this phenomenon of intellectual, social, cultural and satirical commentary online."

The Onion's enduring popularity is due in part to its ability to transition from a weekly newspaper to a 24/7 digital operation, constantly reacting to news of the day with its unique brand of humor.

'Onion' digital strategy is no laughing matter

In recent months, the site has closely followed the presidential campaign by hitting both parties with equal force. One post was headlined "'This will be the end of Trump's campaign,' says increasingly nervous man for seventh time this year." and another one titled, "Poll finds Hillary Clinton candidate most Americans want to have 8-ounce glass of tap water with."

The company's writers have maintained that editorial acuteness while venturing out into new platforms. In 2007, they created the Onion News Network, which cranks out fake news telecasts. And in 2014, they launched ClickHole, a website that mimics and mocks the proliferation of photo galleries, "listicles" and other Internet fodder designed purely to generate viral content.

And unlike many news organizations that have struggled to monetize their transition from printed newspapers to the digital world, The Onion has profited greatly from Onion Labs, a division that uses its editorial staff to create advertising that mirrors its regular news coverage.