Samsung TV Plus continues promoting its FAST business in new markets, with great emphasis in Europe, among which its presence in Spain stands out, where after recent agreements, AVOD reached 100 channels in this territory.
In a interview for Prensario, Ana Izquierdo, country lead and business Development for Samsung TV Plus Spain & Portugal, spoke of the great moment that the service that is included in South Korean televisions is experiencing, its recent alliances and what its movements will be for the following years.
‘We are not only growing in volume of content for our users, but also in quality. With recently added channels of international brands, including from the BBC as «Top Gear», also Runtime film channels, among others. We have also brought in great local brands such as El País, El Confidencial and a channel dedicated to the Pocoyo franchise,’ said Izquierdo.
The executive specified that they are investing in strategic alliances with content providers to give a premium aspect to the AVOD offer: ‘We are going to offer more premium content in the Sports area hand in hand with strategic partners with very relevant content. Our goal is to become the first free content platform for consumers, agencies and advertisers.”
One of these alliances is the one signed with DANZ for the DANZ FAST+ channel, a new channel launched last December to service users in Germany, which shows live matches from the national football leagues in Spain (La Liga), Italy (Series A) and France (Ligue 1) on the Samsung TV Plus streaming platform. The line-up also includes exclusively produced preview and highlight shows of the UEFA Champions League.
Regarding this, Richard Jakeman, European Head of Business Development Smart TV, Mobile & Gaming, at Samsung, commented at the MIPCOM last edition: ‘Thanks to the cooperation, we are providing innovative and groundbreaking ways for fans to experience premium sports content – such as free live football matches for Samsung TV Plus users in Germany. This reflects our commitment to redefine the FAST landscape in Europe’.
The service manages two business models, on the one hand it makes O&O (owned and operated) channels in-house where the platform buys the rights to the content and pay a fee for them. ‘In Europe we have more than 20 channels that we produce and we have 100% editorial control’, explained Izquierdo. On the other hand, they also have third-party FAST channels that are already set up and with them they help brands and content managers set them up. ‘It is a revenue share model where the income from advertising is divided between the two parties’, she completed.
The re-broadcast is other business model that they managed. Example of this is the made it in 2022 with the Spanish RTVE. ‘The latter has allowed us to have large events on Samsung TV Plus such as the Qatar Soccer World Cup, among others’.
The service is currently interested in acquiring content to feed its O&O channels, such as «Todo Crimen» in Spain, which is focuses on factual, true-crime and fiction, while for the rest of the channels they apply the revenue share model, interested in all genres but with a strong emphasis on entertainment, news, film and Children’s.
Among the recent Samsung TV Plus agreements in Europe, in addition to the one made with DANZ, they also partnered with Fremantle, L’Equipe, ITV, BBC Studios, among others. They have also launched exclusive channels in the United Kingdom such as chef Jamie Oliver, American Idol and Project Runway, among others. In Germany, also exclusively, the premium channel “DAZN FAST+”, which includes a production of the UEFA Champions League Show program, and the DAZN Rise channel with women’s sports.
Also in Spain they have made a very important agreement with RTVE, being the first FAST platform globally to integrate public television channels. ‘This type of strategic agreement is what we are focused on in 2023 and we will see more big brands with premium content joining our offer very soon’, she concluded.
