Sofa Digital Adds Three Specialty Film Channels, as FAST Markets, Led by Samsung TV Plus, Boom in Brazil (EXCLUSIVE)
Filmelier TV Esperanca, Filmelier TV Paixao and Filmelier TV Vida Real will be added to the FAST platforms Samsung TV Plus, LG Channels, TCL Channels, Pluto TV and Roku Channels, Fabio Lima, CEO of Sofa, told Variety.
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As the original Filmelier TV, the three new channels will feature programs with 24-hours of indie pics dubbed to Portuguese. Filmelier TV Esperanca (Hope) will have pics with plots centered on faith and the overcoming of difficulties. Filmelier TV Paixao (Passion) will offer romantic comedies, crime of passion plots and other films alike. Filmelier TV Vida Real (True Life) will have biopics, docs, and war and historical films, said Lima.
The three specialty channels are gradually boarding the different FAST platforms in Brazil, as well as in Mexico and other Latin American countries with feeds in Spanish, he said. With the new additions, Sofa now has a total seven FAST channels.
Heavily involved in Rio2C as it focuses on FAST channels, one of the biggest growth axes in Brazil, Lima will be the subject of a Rio2C fireside chat delivering tips on creating a FAST channel on May 27. He delivers a masterclass on building streaming audiences two days later and talks on a panel analyzing streaming economics on May 30.
FAST is booming in Brazil, where the sector leader is Samsung TV Plus. South Korean-based Samsung Electronics, the leading seller of smart TV devices in the world and in Brazil, launched Samsung TV Plus in South Korea in 2015, according to Aline Jabbour, director of Samsung TV Plus for Latin America. The company then deployed the services in Europe and the U.S., also launching in Brazil in 2020.
The platform is now available in 30 countries and has 88 million active users, defined as viewers connected at least 15 minutes per day. Brazil is in the second position on Samsung TV Plus' ranking, behind only the US, totalling 22.4 million active users, she said, which means 89.6 million potential customers watch the platform's programming.
Samsung TV Plus' lineup in Brazil consists of about 120 channels of different types. It has channels available in pay-TV, such as CNN Brasil and Record News and indie specialty channels, such as Sofa's bouquet. Some channels originated in YouTube, Instagram and other social media, such as Case TV, which has the rights for Brazil of some top sports events.
The platform also includes single IP (intellectual property) channels, which focus on a single program, such as 'Os Dez Mandamentos' (a TV Record telenovela), 'Malhacao' (a TV Globo soap opera/telenovela) and 'MasterChef.'
Telenovela channels lead the audience on Samsung TV Plus in Brazil, followed by news, film and kids channels, Jabbour said. But sports channels, namely Case TV, can lead the audience when it airs important live soccer matches and during the Summer Olympics.
Lima and Jabbour attribute the FAST boom in Brazil to several factors. First, the service is free, which is key to the success in a country in development such as Brazil, where consumers are notoriously price sensitive.
The service is easy to access. As soon as you turn on the TV set, a show pops up on screen, and it is simple to navigate and select another channel.
Brazilians are used to free-to-air TV and to watching shows with advertising breaks, including films – as long as they do not interrupt a soccer match.
Finally, the channels are segmented. 'Curators organize the content to specific audiences. We are at a state of the industry in which the curatorial work is key. Curatorship is the new distribution,' Lima told Variety.
Jabbour stresses the successful business model of FAST, which is based on segmented advertising. Samsung uses an automatic content recognition (ACR) software to collect data from each smart TV. The software monitors what the viewers of each device are watching, if subscribed streamers, such as Netflix or Prime Video or pay-TV, open-TV or FAST channels, and it can even recognize if the viewers are playing a video game. It points out what channels and the specific shows the viewers watch.
'We don't know who is watching, but we know exactly the consumer habits of each device. Advertising is much more sophisticated in FAST than in open TV,' said Jabbour. 'FAST is an evolution of open TV and pay TV, combined with the modern advantages of streaming.
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