The role of subtitling, dubbing, and post-production companies has become much more central in the OTT digital age. If before it was to deliver a concrete and ready product, now with orders from the Platform there are many more services in almost all orders: several languages, explanatory audios for blind people and subtitles also in several languages, and so on. The quality with which these things are resolved as a direct impact on the product image given by the platforms and channels.
Max Wynen, VP of Global Operations at The Kitchen, said: ‘What used to be methodical work now has much more value on top of it, such as solving operational and business problems for clients, to make the whole more efficient. Doing it in such a way and not in another, can reduce costs and look much better’.
Responding to this, The Kitchen created its first ‘Services Hub’ in Miami, which means converging the services of its different production centers and generating a curated solution for clients, who previously received services separately from Mexico, from Brazil in Portuguese , and so. Wynen continues: ‘Now the same is being launched for Europe, a market in which The Kitchen has grown strongly in recent years, after opening several operations. And the place chosen is Madrid, where the first European center was founded. The idea is to converge what is generated in Hungary, France, Russia, etc.’
How far can you go? ‘Today we have 14 production centers in 12 countries, and the idea is to continue opening new centers because, due to the same trends, more and more countries need to be covered. A platform that covers the whole of Europe, you can ask for your products to also be dubbed into as many new languages as it spreads. And to have that language efficiently, you need a local operation’.
‘On the other hand, the market evolves. Before, little work was done on dubbing into English because everything was produced in English. Now the other way around, the products come in other languages and translating them into English becomes the greatest activity. Today our work is already 50% Americas 50% Europe, and a large part of the business was taken over by OTT platforms, when before it was distributors and broadcasters. That is what we are working on, seeking to always be one step ahead in evolution’.
