Live content remains a significant driver of viewership, especially in sports and news within the AVOD space, says Rafael Urbina, COO of ViX.
“In sports, we’ve just come out of a massive summer of soccer with Copa America and UEFA Euro, with select matches available on our free tier. Copa and Euro drew record viewership across ViX, ranking as the top two most streamed sporting events ever on the service in the U.S. On the news front, our Noticias Univision 24/7 channel continues to be the go-to destination for live, round-the-clock coverage—especially during this high-stakes 2024 Election cycle—where Hispanics turn to us for the news that matters most,” added Urbina.
In addition to their live offerings, “there’s no doubt that novelas are hugely popular, and we have the most robust library to super-serve our audience with the best titles spanning decades. Beyond live content, as most scripted entertainment consumption is now on-demand, ensuring that there are always new on-demand movies and series available is important,” he said.
THE NAME OF THE GAME IS AUDIENCE RETENTION AND RE-ENGAGEMENT
“At the beginning of the business, distribution and user acquisition were paramount,” Urbina says. He comments that as the market has developed and most major AVOD providers are fully distributed, the focus has shifted to audience retention and re-engagement.
“The first step to drive engagement and retention is content differentiation. As the streaming marketplace becomes increasingly saturated, it is key to have a platform that delivers unique and relevant in-culture content to Hispanics. Additionally, it’s important to establish the content value proposition in the minds of consumers. What can a consumer expect every time they log onto your service? Ensuring there is new and fresh content regularly on your service is a must in today’s hypercompetitive business landscape. Lastly, and related to that, a personalized experience with new content being recommended based on past consumption is fundamental.”
The focus has shifted to audience retention and re-engagement
ADVERTISERS ARE RESPONDING
Urbina indicates they have seen very strong demand from advertisers for ViX.
“AVOD provides advertisers looking to reach the Hispanic audience with an opportunity to build brand awareness. More brands than ever are recognizing the impact of reaching Hispanics in-culture and in-language, and they know ViX is the premier, brand-safe destination to do so.”
Regarding the importance of cultural relevance for AVOD’s success, Urbina emphasizes that U.S. Hispanics are not a monolith. “They have diverse backgrounds and cultural roots that can be reflected in diverse stories. Our goal is to tell those stories to engage with the audience, regardless of their country of origin or ancestry. We have a long history of producing content that has been highly successful with this community in the U.S. and across Latin America. We work closely with directors, writers, and creatives to ensure we capture the cultural relevance of each story and create productions with broad appeal,” he notes, adding that the key is to be able to personalize content recommendations based on understanding the diverse nature of the U.S. Hispanic market.
