Owned by Rakuten Group (Japan), Rakuten TV is one of the longest-running platforms in the global market, having a large presence in Europe, available in 43 countries, operating TVOD, AVOD and FAST models, being the first to adopt the advertising model in this region.
The streamer’s success in the market is due to its powerful distribution strategy, pioneering alliances with television manufacturers and Telcos, who were preferred partners of the Rakuten TV application, facilitating usability with consumers. ‘We are available in more than 140 million homes’, said Marcos Milanez, Chief Content Officer, in a recent conference.
Although the transactional VOD business was their initial model, today they are focused on their FAST vertical, concentrating more than 100 channels on their platform. ‘Rakuten TV is a FAST combination of licensed third parties, but we also produce our own channels. Of which the news channels, live news and general films, are the ones that perform best’, highlighted Milanez.
The executive referred to the challenges of the European market, and compared it to the American market, a FAST market that has grown by leaps and bounds with Pluto TV as one of the main players in the region. ‘They are very different regions. One of the greatest complexities of European language and what has influenced its limited penetration is the language. Several languages are spoken in Europe, so localizing content is often a daunting task. Rakuten has had to deal with regulations, operations and advertising models’.
One of the advantages that Rakuten TV has over other competing players is that its parent company owns Rakuten Advertising, a division that manages the streamer’s advertising operations. They are based in London and handle negotiations with advertising clients throughout Europe. ‘I believe that not having outsourced advertising operations allows us to have an important advantage over our direct competitors, but it also gives us the possibility of dealing directly with our advertising clients’.
One of the company’s recent developments is that it is now also distributing its original FAST channels to other players. Last month Rakuten TV signed an alliance with Amazon Freevee in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. “This is Freitag Nacht News” (Friday Night News), a single-IP channel focused on the popular German comedy show of the same name broadcast between 1999 and 2006. ‘The launch of Freitag Nacht News through Amazon Freevee It is a great achievement for Rakuten TV since it is our first agreement with the platform’, said the executive.
The platform began its journey in trade events to make new direct licensing alliances for Rakuten‘s original FAST channels in genres such as movies, crime, reality and factual.
Milanez also referred to Rakuten TV‘s originals, detailing that they usually make between five and eight per year: ‘They are generally content related to commercial brands, who seek to associate themselves with our storytelling’, he concluded.
