Published:
29-Sep-08
Media giant Grupo Televisa, which produces and distributes Spanish-language programming throughout Latin America and US, has launched two new online video portals – Tvolucion.com and televisadeportes.com - under the new arm Televisa Interactive Media.
The two services will offer programming from Televisa's archive. Once all content has been uploaded (at the rate of 2,000 videos per week), Tvolucion.com will host some 600,000 hours of soap operas (including two web-only series), films (around 700 titles), game shows and news programmes – available full length, on-demand and supported by advertising – which will also include current shows.
Televisadeportes.com will host a selection of unseen content, including on demand full matches, such as the 2008 'opening', 2007 'closing' and AAA football tournaments, and a web-exclusive sports channel called "Abran cancha". It will also offer a range of sports clips from the Televisa Deportes channel's catalogue covering Mexican and international football, baseball and basketball alongside player statistics and reviews.
Full-length video on Tvolucion.com and televisadeportes.com is not available to international users outside the US; users in the US have restricted access to programming depending on licensing agreements with US broadcaster Univision to whom Televisa supplies programming.
Video is delivered via the in-browser Move Media Player. Users are also required to download Microsoft's Windows Silverlight plug-in. Move Networks and Microsoft signed an agreement in March 2008 to integrate Move Networks streaming technology within the Silverlight development platform. The joint platform enables service providers and content owners such as Televisa to customize navigation and implementation of advertising around online video.
Our take...
In making such a range of programming available full-length and ad-supported, Televisa is showing strong commitment to establishing itself as a significant contender in the online video space that is already flourishing in Mexico (and in other Latin American markets). Adoption of online video services in the region is likely to climb alongside PC and broadband penetrations – currently low at around 13 and 23 per cent.
The content selection draws on the full resources of Televisa's catalogue – both sports and soaps – in an effort to maximize revenue potential by tapping into different viewer groups and appealing to different sets of advertisers. Further, the strategy of offering web-exclusive sports programming could help drive traffic to the site and increase potential for raising CPMs charged for associating ads with video.
Televisa's largest online competitor in Mexico is Telefonica, which through its TerraTV platform offers a wide selection of ad-supported news, drama and kid programming from leading US content owners (ABC, National Geographic, Discovery Channel and Cartoon Network) via an in-browser player. The fact that TerraTV has continued to expand operations in multiple Latin American countries since early 2007 suggests that the growth potential for ad-supported online video is not only restricted to Mexico, but could see similar competition between service providers implementing the model in other developing broadband markets.
Alongside its new portals, Televisa still operates a subscription-based service, esmas.tv, which offers simulcast of 4 Televisa channels (Channels 2, 4, 5, 9), with a small selection of catch-up shows excluding US titles and a limited selection of football games. By contrast, the two new portals launched by the Mexican media group have followed the free-to-view business model and in-browser player strategy followed by TerraTV throughout the latter's countries of operation. Screen Digest has frequently repeated its view that free-to-view business models draw significantly more eyeballs than subscription-based services, and that in-browser players increase viewership by avoiding downloadable players that create usage barriers. As such, Televisa's new portals are likely to see considerably higher usage patterns than its existing esmas.tv platform.
Televisa faces competition from two further rivals in the online TV space, over whom it has now stolen a march, particularly given their business models which are comparatively restrictive to usage (exclusive and subscription access):
• Incumbent telco Telmex which serves CNN and ESPN.com video via its Prodigy Media exclusively to Telmex broadband access subscribers; some free clip content is made available to international users.
• Broadcaster TV Azteca's online video service TV Azteca, offering simulcast of programming national channels and catch-up for 100 pesos (~ $9) per month.
Mexico,
