Luis Arvizu, CEO at Blim TV (Televisa), was interviewed by Nextv News Latin America due to the launch of an AVOD version for the OTT platform, scheduled for 2021. The executive gave details about the scope it will have in the region; the content differences that it will have with the SVOD version, already available; the opportunities it will provide for brands and the performance of the paid version, more than a year after its relaunch with live channels.
Which Latin American countries are the ones aimed for Blim TV to launch its new AVOD version?
The platform will be available in all Latin American countries, except from Brazil. For rights-related issues, the content offer will not be the same in all countries, but we will feature a very good offer, with a number of assets and hours well above the offers that are available nowadays in Latin America.
What differences will Blim TV’s SVOD and AVOD offerings feature in terms of available content?
The name of the AVOD version will also be ‘Blim TV’. We are developing an experience through which subscribers will be able to switch from SVOD to AVOD via one button. We are currently reviewing the entire catalog that we have to make decisions about what content we will make available on one platform and the other. We want both to be attractive; for the AVOD platform to be more attractive than any other that operates on the market today; and for the SVOD version to have enough value so that all who decide to subscribe will find a differentiated value offer from the free version.
Within the decision regarding the content that will make up the catalog of each platform, we still do not have the final list. However, we have gathered more than 20 features through which we decide whether the content will be destined for the paid or free platform, related to issues such as how attractive the content is; how long you have been on the platform; how many episodes the content lasts; what gender does it belong to; and others. When thousands of hours of content are handled, more technology is required to push the content from one platform to another, with the business rules with which we are building the decisions around the content of each version. Even content could be transferred to the SVOD platform or the AVOD depending on how it fits the business rules.
Also, there is a lot of content on the market that is exclusively dedicated to AVOD platforms. The point that we will show on Blim TV is that all the content that we had, which only had an AVOD scheme, now we will also be able to have it available. Obviously, the most important content will be from Televisa, where today we have an incredibly high demand for content. We make very limited content available on social networks or sites like lasestrellas.com and, with that limited content, the demand and the number of views we have is immensely large. They are asking us for many full episodes. Within our sites, where parts of content episodes are offered, the entire part of Blim will be totally focused on longform, with which we will make full episodes available.
How have Televisa content offered on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube been impacting?
In these platforms we make available an excessively limited amount of content, where we do not offer complete chapters, but pure clipping. Every month we notice more than 4 billion views. The request of our audience is for us to make the full episodes of these contents available. I am sure that we will turn Blim TV into one of the platforms with the highest video reproduction in Latin America very soon, based on analyzing how good we are at being able to renegotiate the rights of the content. We have been doing a whole business scheme focused on the subscription part for many years. We must prepare the content licenses and the platform so that users can enjoy a very good experience. Users must clearly know which content is free and which is not, in order to make a decision on whether to access the free or paid Blim TV offer.
What key differences will Blim TV show compared to other AVOD platforms that are being launched in Latin America?
One difference that we will have on both platforms will be related to the users who consume the Blim experience. There are basically two parts. One of them has to do with content. Obviously, the winner of most of the market will be the one who has the ability to present relevant content that people want to consume. We believe that there we have a very great advantage, because we have already proven that we have a large amount of content that is in great demand, based on all the previous experience we had, such as the offer of parts of content that we make available and we saw how they are consumed; for the communication strategies we have developed with users; and others. Televisa’s formats that are most consumed are novels and, secondly, comic series. Another type of series that has a lot of weight are reality shows and, finally, movies.
What opportunities will brands find to advertise their products on the AVOD version?
Precisely, another of the differentials of the platform will be the offer we will show for advertisers: what is offered and what are the differences that we give for them to invest their money within Blim TV to other platforms. We are building all the capabilities to give these differentiators to brands, and one of them has to do with segmentation, in which they are usually based on contextual parameters (if the brand will be published in content related to comedies, novels, sports, and others); as well as are based on gender and age. However, brands are no longer looking for those basic segmentations. They are looking for audiences. We must put all our capabilities so that, based on data, we can make segmentations. We are spending a lot of time and resources to build not only the best user experience, but also to have the best solution from the advertiser’s point of view.
How has the consumption of Blim TV evolved on its SVOD version?
One of the big changes that were made since September 2019 was the introduction of live channels on the platform. We noted that there are two types of users: one who does like to watch specific content and looks for specific episodes; and another that is more ‘laid back’, and likes to consume a type of content, in a more passive way, without looking for what to watch. We highlight an increase in this passive mode of consumption, and now we are about to finish the technical part so that it is much easier to be able to build, based on live channels and with metadata, the type of programming that a person likes, and create a specific channel for users with that type of content. With the relaunch of Blim TV, customers can watch the channels on FTA TV and also through Blim. The aim is to make life easier for users and that they can enjoy the content in different ways, according to their preferences.
Are there negotiations being made with brands for the new AVOD platform?
We are now just building that plan. We will have news about the first partners with whom we are going to start this experience soon. We will have brands closer to Mexico, but many of them will also be regional and international. We will devise a strategy to cover several countries, outside of Mexico.