The emergence of the great multinationals of streaming in Spain a few years ago forced traditional television networks to adapt to a new scenario in which adjustments continue to occur. "As an essential base we are a company of open content and advertising revenue, but when developing new consumption models what we have done is to expand our base incorporating other things", explains José Antonio Antón , director of Programming and Digital Business of Atresmedia, company which has initiated a tactical movement to boost Atresplayer Premium , its paid video platform.
Within this strategy, the production of exclusive series for this new online channel is framed. And the first of these productions is The knot , fiction developed by Diagonal TV that every Sunday premieres a new episode only accessible to subscribers. "Having an ecosystem that includes a payment option without advertising allows for a greater variety of products," explains Anton, who denies that this two-way bet can be understood as a certain self-competence. "They are two different but complementary markets," he says: "In this scheme, what we are looking for is that our content provide us with the best possible return and that the connection with our audience is still there."
Anton cites as an example the example of the American CBS whose main business base is its open channels, but which has incorporated the CBS All Access streaming payment platform. "We are not inventing anything new," says the manager of Atresmedia, convinced of the viability of this dual business project. "In a changing market the position always evolves," he emphasizes.
Fiction is one of the main bets of Atresmedia, a company that has been opening new avenues in this field. After turning to the production of own series with the creation of Atresmedia Studios and expanding the exploitation of their titles with sales to other operators ( The paper house to Netflix, Velvet to Movistar + or Vis a vis to Fox), he took a step more with the creation of content for third parties ( Small matches for Amazon or El embarcadero para Movistar +). But now, the environment is complicated by the need to feed the new payment channel with original series. "We have to try to find the best house for each content we handle," explains Anton: "Each product can have many lines of business and we, as creators, open many doors ."
The series intended for Atresplayer Premium cannot be viewed off the platform. In the case of El knot , the project started before starting this new path and with the intention of being broadcast in open, but finally those responsible for Atresmedia decided it was the first title for the platform. On the horizon is Veneno , the series about the life of the popular transsexual that Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi are developing, and with which Atresmedia is confident in setting their pay bet.
According to Antón, the decision to distribute future projects among its payment platform, the open issue or its sale will not take into account quality, but the potential mode of consumption. In the case of El nudo, the manager explains that it is "a fast-paced thriller in which many things happen, with many characters and plot twists", something that, in his opinion, fits to be consumed within a platform » . Natalia Verbeke , Cristina Plazas , Oriol Tarrasón and Miquel Fernández lead the distribution of this story of two couples who cross with a forbidden love. A story told in two times, past and present; a plot with a knot that the viewer (subscriber) must untangle.
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