Univision: Our global streaming service will be home to the best and new creators of premium content in Spanish

The new global streaming service in Spanish, which Univision announced this Monday, will become “the home of the best and new creators of premium content in Spanish for streaming,” according to Pierluigi Gazzolo, president and CEO of Transformación de Univision. The service will have two main components: the free AVOD tier based on Prende TV, and a second premium tier of paid SVOD.

Gazzolo emphasized that the doors will be open for all producers and creators in Spanish. “For us, Spanish is the mission, not the addendum. And what is nice about all this is that cultural borders have been opened and we want to leverage on that and have the best content in the world to offer to the audience.”

The new global product, which brand will be announced once the Televisa-Univision merger is official, will expand PrendeTV (the AVOD) to have better entertainment content windows. “Prende is the double-checked VIX library. We are doing well because we have content that has not been curated well and we are reprogramming it well in themes. It will have a 24/7 news channel and a lot more soccer,” he pointed out. He added that the tier AVOD will be a funnel to drive its audience to buy the tier SVOD. In total the free tier will have over 100 linear channels and over 40,000 hours of wholly-owned and acquired content that will also be offered in VOD form.

They are “investing a lot in original content” in SVOD, he highlighted.

They will kick-off with 30 original productions in 2022, and by the third year, they estimate it will reach 165. This will be added to the reinvented and revamped Televisa library. “We are going to have second windows very close with the premiere of the Univision and Televisa networks; and are going to offer everything from the Hollywood drama very glossy in Spanish to series like Monarca, El Dragón, and everything that comes in between,” he said. The new premium subscription tier (SVOD) will feature more than 6,000 hours of Spanish-language content.

They are still evaluating the content assets and platforms of the merger and therefore the role of Blim in the new service is not yet clear, “but we will take all the best we have.”

Although the product will be launched in the US and Latin America in 2022, Gazzolo said that Spain would follow in phase two as well as other markets where there are immigrants who speak Spanish.