Adam Lewinson de Tubi
Tubi has launched two years ago in Mexico with TV Azteca as its main content and advertising sales partner. In that time, the platform’s audience grew by 60% (total viewing time or the number of hours viewed year after year) and in terms of viewers, it increased by 40%, according to Adam Lewinson, Chief Content Officer of Tubi.
“We’re seeing a high level of engagement and that our overall viewership is a significantly younger demographic, much more than in linear TV. That is why an expansion in Latin America makes so much sense,” Lewinson said, adding that the success in Mexico fueled the recent expansion to Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama.
To date, Tubi has more than 100 content partners in Spanish, including Lionsgate, Olympusat, Sony, RCTV, Hemisphere, and FilmRise, to name a few.
“We have a very calculated approach to expanding internationally. We want to make sure that we can deliver the content, and the experience, and that this experience is in line with our standard of it being easily available, as well as continuing our mission to democratize content. We want the content to be widely available with the most comprehensive library, and we use technology and algorithms to customize it for the viewer. This gives an idea of the filter we use before launching,” Lewinson explained.
The streaming platform is already investing in original content in Spanish “and some will be coming soon.” “We anticipate we will begin delivering some of this content within the next six months. We are focused on original Spanish-language content that appeals not only to Latin America but also to our US Spanish-language viewers,” he said.
“Tubi’s content in Spanish represents a significant volume of consumption in the US and Latin America. We have almost the same number of thousands of titles and hours of content in Spanish that are offered in the US, as we do in all of Latin America (Mexico and now Ecuador, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala),” he noted.
Of the content in Spanish, or dubbed into Spanish, the most demanded in Mexico are telenovelas such as La Promesa de Caracol and Cuando Seas Mía of TV Azteca; realities like MasterChef Mexico and the Hollywood movies starring Stallone and Schwarzenegger. While in the Latin American countries recently added to the platform, the novel Mi Prima Ciela of RCTV has worked very well, and the anime genre is a favorite of the audience, with the Saint Seiya series being one of the most demanded.
Regarding advertising partners in the new territories, Lewinson said that they are in active conversations with possible local advertising partners, “and our intention is to invest and partner with local brands that resonate with audiences in the territory.”
