The Brazilian company UOL (Grupo Folha) announced its debut into the OTT market through the launch of UOL Play, its new SVOD platform. The company selected Watch Brazil as a technology partner and platform to support its new product. Access to UOL Play content can be done through its web version, apart from devices available for iOS and Android. The OTT will soon be integrated with smart TVs, Chromecast and Apple TV.
The UOL Play offer has different packages that include pay TV channels and OTTs, which can be accessed both linearly and on demand. The first one is called ‘Combo Light’, and includes content from Paramount +, Sony, Comedy Central, Noggin, MTV, UOL Mov and AwesomenessTV for R$ 15.90 (USD 3). The following is called ‘Combo Cinema’, and its catalog includes access to the Combo Light, with the addition of Fox, FX, National Geographic, National Geographic Wild, Nat Geo Kids, Baby TV, Fox Premium 1, Fox Premium 2, Foxlife , Fox Sports and Fox Sports 2, for R$ 39.90 (USD 7).
Another of the available packages is the ‘Combo Torcedor’, which includes the contents of the Combo Light, in addition to Fox Sports, Fox Sports 2, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN Brasil and ESPN Extra, for R$ 59.90 (USD 10.75). The last package offered is the ‘Combo Familia’, which all the contents of the Combo Cinema and the Combo Torcedor, at R$ 64.90 (USD 11.60).
‘Having Watch Brazil as a strategic partner was essential to create the offer with agility, and with the security equivalent to the technologies used in the Hollywood studios, which Watch Brasil already owns. We have secure and high-performance technology, with machine learning and business analytics applied to the user experience’, said Paulo Samia, CEO at UOL.
Mauricio Almeida, co-founder of Watch Brazil, has also expressed himself about the partnership agreement with UOL for the launch of UOL Play: ‘The marketplace strategy has always been part of our business model, and UOL bet with us on this concept. The Watch Brazil technology team integrated all of the content already offered on our platform, as well as new content partners, such as ESPN. We believe that users will not want to have dozens of streaming subscriptions. On the contrary, they would prefer to concentrate everything in one place, and that is the aim of UOL Play’, he said.
Almeida also reported that Watch Brazil will add transactional content (TVOD) for UOL Play soon.