Adrián Ortega, director general of Content at TV Azteca: We are focused on creating content with this country's DNA
TV Azteca is undergoing a period of evolution parallel to the growth of the industry, where original content and user engagement are becoming key points of their strategy. This was shared by Adrián Ortega, the company’s director general of Content, who announced that this year they will have new seasons of their fiction series, a return to soap operas with Cautiva por Amor, strengthening reality shows with new installments, and highlighting La Academia as one of their major bets.
“At TV Azteca, we are very excited this year because we are focused on Mexico, creating content for all Mexicans, with our own identity, products that touch emotions, feelings, and the DNA of this country. There are properties we are working on with great care and nostalgia,” said the executive.
One of these projects, which is also an original intellectual property, is La Academia, a musical reality show returning this year with a new season and becoming one of the network’s biggest bets: “It’s a renewed Academia that touches on the origin of the format, it’s also 24/7, with high-quality host Jaime Camil and a professional cast, fulfilling the promise of being a life-changing format. We’ll see a great evolution, with a surprising change in production, advancing significantly while evoking nostalgia from the early seasons.”
Being owners of the format allows them the freedom to “create creative magic, to create, imagine, redesign, and turn it into a time machine that can go back to year one or year seven, and adapt to the future with technological innovation, which will have a digital connection with the environment and facilitate international distribution, as we have already done, making it sold worldwide.”
FICTION, KEY PIECE OF THEIR STRATEGY
Regarding fiction, they highlighted TV Azteca’s return to soap operas with Cautiva por Amor, where we return to these productions with prime content, an original, powerful story, a top-quality cast, a Mexican production crew, and a melodrama that covers romance and a special focus on the issue of human trafficking. With this story, the company puts all its production experience, including notable directors from cinema.”
In addition to this, they are in pre-production for Dra. Lucía 2, featuring a surprise cast and Marimar Vega again as the protagonist: “With powerful Mexican directors, top-notch cameras, original stories focused on Mexico. This is an example of innovative, confrontational stories that encapsulate the TV Azteca brand and differentiate us from other products.”
As part of their hybrid content strategy, ranging from fiction to entertainment and live programming, Ortega mentioned they are preparing 100 Mexicanos Dijeron, a format that exploits elements people love in a show, “a noble format with many years of success in the US market and globally. Focused on the Mexican family with a touch of comedy that brings us even closer to the audience.”
“This hybrid strategy also involves bringing original fiction production content, but we also have live shows like Acércate a Rocío and powerful reality programs. We are the network with the most reality shows worldwide, with products like Exatlón, Tentados por la Fortuna, Survivor; Abandonados, La Ruta del Dragón, La Isla, and Desafío Grecia-Turquía, which take Mexicans to different countries around the world. Competitively, no one else has this and we are the only ones with these experiences, making us masters of reality.”
A YEAR OF AZTECA DEPORTES NETWORKS
The company celebrates this month the first anniversary of Azteca Deportes Networks, 100% focused on sports and in the pay-TV segment, “which reaches different parts of the world and currently has great distribution and exclusive products like the Saudi League.”
They continue to boost Azteca Deportes with sports journalism personalities like Christian Martinoli, Luis García, Zague, Warrior, Jorge Campos, Medrano, Inés Sainz, in addition to covering events like the Copa América and upcoming tournaments such as the People League, licensed to broadcast Tigres’ matches.
Finally, he commented on the current state of the industry in terms of original production, describing it as a “turning point we are experiencing, a cinematic, television, production, and advertising revolution like never before seen. We are in a significant transformation, with original content that attracts large, diverse audiences across multiple platforms. We also have total technological evolution, preparing us to generate better content and talent. We have the best to create 360-degree user connection strategies.”
