24 MAR 2020

SUPERNA KALLE: “WE ARE A GOOD DRIVER OF REVENUES TO OUR PARTNERS”

The Executive Vice President of International Digital Networks at Starz described the company’s business model for its SVOD platform Starzplay, which recently launched in Spain.

24 MAR 2020
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Superna Kalle, Executive Vice President of International Digital Networks at Starz

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A couple of days ago, Starzplay, the SVOD service from Starz, launched in Spain, adding a new market to a list that already included Italy, the UK, Germany, France, Mexico and Brazil. For €4.99 a month, Spanish subscribers are now able to watch hundreds of films and series like “Power Book II: Ghost,” “Hightown,” “Vida,” “The Act,” and “Divergente” on their smartphones or tablets.

The service, which offers current and past seasons of Starz original series alongside some of today's best movies and titles, is trying to roll-out all over the world and making huge steps specially in Latin America, where it already has presence in Brazil and Mexico, the region’s two biggest markets.

“We are really nicely set up so far, with a lot more distribution deals coming. For us, 2020 is a year for making the brand visible. We have a tremendous amount of really killer content secured for Latin America and all the Starz originals. It is really about the marketing now, about building the brand,”  Superna Kalle, Executive Vice President of International Digital Networks at Starz, told Señal News.

The SVOD service works direct-to-consumer or through operators. “Whoever wants to have us, we will closely work with them,” Kalle indicated. The exec described the premium service as a “layer on top of other people platforms,” admitting they are very comfortable with that. "We do not compete with the likes of an Amazon or a Netflix. We are a premium layer where you have a lot of content. Whether you want to have through your cable operator or you want to go directly on an app, we are right there,” she assured.

In Kalle’s words, what makes Starzplay unique is the way its business model works. “We are a good driver of revenues to our partners. We are good for the ecosystem. We keep people in the ecosystem, we drive revenue directly, there is no margin that we are asking for from the operators, and we are just building together as partners all the time,”  she said.

Regarding the future, although the company has not launched a co-production yet, they are “committed to launching local content sooner than later”. Lastly, in terms of international expansion, the executive described: “There are definitely some priority markets, but we are going to launch the direct-to-consumer app in every country”.

By Diego Alfagemez and Federico Marzullo