Lifelong television explores a different model in the face of the advertising investment crisis caused by the economic impact of Covid-19. New platforms such as Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV + or the most recent Disney +, without forgetting YouTube, try to take hold in Spain in the midst of the boom in audiovisual consumption due to confinement ... They are not the only ones. The open channels, those so well known to the audience and originally free, also take positions with subscription offers that are not as well known as their traditional businesses at the moment.

Mitele Plus, from Mediaset, and Atresplayer Premium, from Atresmedia, consolidate their progress in the first quarter of the year, although this last tool, linked to Antena 3, has taken the lead on the Telecinco platform, in view of the months from January to March already determined by the confinement in the spectators' house.

Atresplayer Premium has computed in the results of its company in the first quarter a base of 235,000 subscribers . This payment platform of the Antena 3 group therefore gains an advantage over Telecinco's over the top (OTT) system, Mitele Plus , which remains at 130,000 subscribers , as reflected in the latest Mediaset Spain accounts.

Tied in late 2019

In the previous comparable count, at the end of 2019, the two tools were at the same level, barely separated by a difference of 1,000 subscribers. Exactly, at the end of December, Atresplayer Premium had 125,000 users, for 124,000 of Mitele Plus.

In the confinement, this distance has been stretched, also influenced by the fact that a large part of Mitele's offer is linked to football competitions, affected by the Covid-19.

With premieres ahead of television and its own content created expressly for Atresplayer Premium ( El nudo , La valla , Luimelia or Veneno ), Atresmedia tries to consolidate this incipient business route: it has recently enabled annual contracting for 29.99 euros, while the monthly plan maintains its price of 2.99 euros.

The price of the Mitele Plus basic package is similar: 3 euros. The OTT of Mediaset also offers other packages associated with the paralyzed sport of ball : Mitele Plus Champions League (16.99 euros per month), Mitele Plus La Liga (19.99 euros) and Mitele Plus Fútbol Total (35 euros).

Since in 2018 advertising investment in free-to-air television began to contract, something that had not happened since 2013, the large chains are trying to find a place in the vigorous competition of new platforms. An example of this is the project that Atresmedia maintains with Movistar, from Telefónica, a joint venture designed to gain strength in the international production of content, as EL MUNDO announced.

Free, win Telecinco

Atresmedia's free digital window, Atresplayer, had 3.3 million users and 7.8 million registrations in March. To carry out the calculations related to Mitele , the free modality with advertising from Mediaset, the Telecinco y Cuatro company refers to the reports of comScore, the reference digital meter, which gave it a total of 202 million videos viewed in March , 44 million (27%) above the Atresplayer data, which recorded 158 million videos.

The consumption of linear television, on the usual screen, continues while on the rise, until in April it reached 3 02 minutes per viewer per day (more than five hours) . However, it is difficult to monetize such good data due to the decrease in advertising recruitment by the Covid-19, a new argument to promote subscription systems. Telecinco continues as a leading audience channel, with a 14.5% share of the screen, followed by Antena 3, which marks a 10.8% share , according to reports by Barlovento on Kantar Media data.

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