Movistar vs Netflix in Latin America
March 7, 2018
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Telefónica’s pay-TV platform Movistar Plus is stepping up its challenge to Netflix in Latin America aiming to become the leading Spanish-speaking content producer in the continent.
The company recently launched Movistar Series, with original content in the Americas market where it has 6.5 million pay TV homes and 110 million mobile customers. The service is now available in three countries – Chile, Colombia and Peru – with plans to reach 14 countries over the next few months with priority on Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Uruguay.
With the launch, Movistar will go toe-to-toe with Netflix, the current leader in the market, with “original Spanish-speaking content”, said Domingo Corral, Director of Spanish fiction at Movistar.
“There is little Spanish pay TV content with quality”, he added, speaking to newspaper Expansión. “We highly respect Netflix, Amazon and HBO but they are global platforms that mostly invest in English productions. In Spain the one that is investing in Spanish Series and local producers is Movistar +”.
Movistar will invest €70 million a year in original content until 2022, and will release 12 original series this year.