Gustavo Minaker WBD
Within the framework of International Conferences 2023 in Buenos Aires, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) held a conference focused on expanding its portfolio in Latin America with two new pay television channels: TNT Novelas, launched in June, and Adult Swim, available starting the 31st of this month. Both show that linear channels and pay television are sustainable businesses and that WBD is strongly betting on them.
Gustavo Minaker, Head of Distribution and TNT Sports for Cono Sur and general manager of WBD in Chile, who led the presentation, said that the company’s media ecosystem has several points of contact with consumers: cinema, streaming, games and home entertainment, linear television, digital, consumer products and events, and experiences. “With this ecosystem, 375 million people consume WBD content on different platforms monthly.”
TNT Novelas and Adult Swim were born from the success of their content on HBO Max, deserving to have specific channels.
TNT Novelas leverages the Latin American tradition of watching telenovelas on linear television. The channel will schedule daily premieres, weekend marathons, and special cycles of content dubbed into Spanish (for LatAm) and Portuguese (for Brazil). Among the titles are the Turkish dramas Será que es el Amor?, Doctor Milagro, and Traicionada, the most viewed drama on HBO Max and currently with the highest audience on TNT Novelas.
Minaker stressed that the match between telenovelas and pay television is perfect since the profile of telenovela consumers is 68% women, 70% over 35 years old, and an average consumption of 1 hour and 11 minutes (which amounts to 1 hour and 23 minutes among women +35). The profile of the pay television user is 50% women/men, 63% +35, and an average consumption of 3 hours and 14 minutes, and of that time watching pay television, 1 hour and 11 minutes is spent watching soap operas.
Adult Swim, an animation channel for adults, anime, and gaming, will launch on October 31st for more than 35 million homes, with feeds for Mexico, Brazil (in Portuguese), and the rest of Latin America. Some of the titles available will be Rick & Morty, Primal, Smiling Friends, and Unicorn Warriors Eternal.
“These are content searched on the Internet and brought together by the channel to its programming. Many did not reach Latin America,” said Minaker.
WBD has three important bookstores: Hanna Barbera, Adult Swim, and DC (the superhero label), plus Toonami with the anime hits Naruto, Dragon Ball Z, and One Piece.
