Maria Sanchez
On Saturday 20, Paramount Global celebrated its traditional screening in Los Angeles, where the company presented its new programming to clients and press. In this context, Maria Sanchez, SVP TV Licensing for Latin America at Paramount Global Content Distribution, analyzed the current landscape of the industry and the challenges that the company faces in the market.
▸ With all these new trends and platforms that surged after the pandemic, what is different for you?
“I believe we made some adjustments for the pandemic and we are back to normal. We have more platforms and we are seeing little by little things are readjusting. We have films in the box office and the home entertainment window is very healthy. We have more ways to license the content. The pandemic accelerated digital consumption, but the traditional windows are still there. ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ was a huge success, and we have ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ and ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning’ coming up.”
▸ In terms of IPs, what is the biggest challenge you see in the market?
“Our challenge as a company is to continue the support of Paramount+ and Pluto TV, and also our commitment to growing platforms and how we balance that support with the content that we continue to license to our partners. It is a good challenge.”
▸ What are buyers asking for?
“I believe they are still looking for movies, kids programming, content that is successful and broad. We have it with CBS procedurals or Paramount movies. For example, clients that have franchises such as ‘NCIS,’ or ‘CSI’ have content all week. They are looking for successful content. We have a short number of episodic series, for example with Showtime, and those are good for more premium clients. For instance, ‘Fire Country’ is a traditional 22 episode season and does really well in Latin America.”
▸ Do you feel that the different territories have different content tastes?
“In the United States, if it is local content, clients in the South might have different needs than the North. However, I feel that US content travels across the region.”
▸ What is the company’s strategy for the future?
“We have great content, content for all, with networks such as Showtime or Nickelodeon. We continue bringing the three companies into one – Viacom, CBS and Paramount. My job is to have a strong sales team that can pitch this content to the whole region. My job as a leader is for the team members to know the content and clients well so they can pitch the right content for the channel. Competition is good. It pushes you to be better. I think it is good to make adjustments.”
By Fernando Calviño, from Los Angeles
Related News
