Del Barrio: We had a 9% increase in the number of hours produced and expect to grow 12% this year

In 2023, Del Barrio Producciones increased 9% the number of hours produced and expects to grow 12% in 2024. The achievement comes after a process of diversification of productions structured around the company’s internationalization strategy.

“We are doubling the number of production hours. We usually produce between three and four telenovelas and series a year of around 80 to 90 episodes of 45-48 minutes each. In other words, in 2020, we produced about 270-280 hours; in 2023, this number increased by 9%, and we expect a 12% increase in 2024. If we complete our new projects, we will exceed 300 hours of production,” said Hugo Coya, manager and general director of Del Barrio Producciones.

The telenovelas—produced for its partner América Televisión del Perú—have allowed Del Barrio to lead the industry in his country for 18 years and export to Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia with the help of his distributors Tondero (in LatAm) and Latin Media (in the rest of the world).

But now they are also focused on films, series, and documentaries for platforms.

One of their international projects is a romantic comedy film scheduled to begin pre-production this year and release in 2025. It is a co-production with Kapow from Argentina and will be Del Barrio’s first feature film. “We already had a very successful cinematographic experience with a short film, Zulen y Yo, which we shot at the beginning of the pandemic and won Best Latin Short Film and Best Director at the Cannes World Film Festival (Michelle Alexander, founder and CEO of From the Neighborhood). That gave us a certain reputation and opened many doors and opportunities for us,” Coya stressed.

In addition, they are working with two different Chilean companies to make a comedy film and a drama, which will be a film and a series. With Spain, they are already developing a streaming series based on the story of Francisca Pizarro.

They are also evaluating stories for documentaries. The idea is to have the first products at the beginning of 2026.

“With our internationalization, we are also opening the way for other Peruvian producers, which is important (…). We are looking for content that can appeal to platforms to enter markets where Latin American content is usually not so welcomed. And precisely for that reason, we are participating in meetings with investors interested in supporting our productions or being partners in these projects,” concluded Coya.