TelevisaUnivision will launch ViX, its new streaming platform, on March 31

Visualization of the Vix platform (left) and frame of the Televisa series 'Nosotros los Guapos'.televisa

TelevisaUnivision, the new Spanish-language media conglomerate, has launched into the

platform market with great expectations.

This Wednesday Grupo Televisa and Univision presented ViX, their new video-on-demand platform created for Spanish-speaking users.

Its goal is to reach 100 million people in Mexico and the United States, in addition to 19 other countries in Latin America.

The ViX platform, which is free and with ads, will begin operations on March 31, 2022 and will show the star content of both companies: great dramas in a telenovela version such as

and

, soccer matches of the Liga MX, as well as Mexican-produced films.

Additionally, ViX+ will be launched in the second semester, with

content that will include original productions and exclusive soccer broadcasts.

The beta version of the

application has been released today for some users in the United States and Mexico.

But the path for this new competitor will not be easy.

platform market

is already largely dominated by actors such as Netflix, Disney+ or Prime Video, who have more than 200 million users worldwide.

"We are sure that we are going to be an essential product among Spanish-speakers and that we are going to have a very good market share," said Wade Davis, executive director of TelevisaUnivision.

Paradoxically, the platform, which bases its content in Spanish, has been presented this Wednesday in English to the media, although they have made it clear that they want the Spanish language to be the center of attraction.

At least in Mexico, the country with the most Spanish speakers in the world, they already have significant competition.

At least seven platforms are preferred by Mexican consumers, with Netflix being the king of

with 76% of total subscriptions, followed far behind by Amazon's Prime Video, which accounts for 8.5% of the 11.6 million users, according to data from the consulting firm The Competitive Intelligence Unit (CIU) at the end of 2020.

With such a vast offer of content, a new subscription would be a reason for reflection, especially because of the cost that it reflects in the pockets of consumers.

The average monthly price registered among the main platforms is 132 pesos per month (6.50 dollars), with Netflix having the highest cost with a monthly price of 266 pesos (13 dollars) in its premium plan.

At this time, the companies have not revealed the cost of the subscription for ViX+, which will launch in the middle of this year.

"We are doing an analysis, but the price will be much lower than what

platforms currently have in the world," says Pierluigi Gazzolo, one of the directors of TelevisaUnivision.

Faced with so many offers, it is best to reflect.

“Although the confinement and social distancing caused by the pandemic crisis triggered a boost in hiring for

platforms in Mexico, in this second chapter it will be the competitiveness and aggressiveness of rates, together with the launch promotions and packaging of offers that detonate the market”, says Radamés Camargo, manager of content analysis at The CIU.

Soap operas, movies and soccer: ViX's big bet

Its content offer seems new, but it has a familiar face.

The first great letter with which they seek to attract Spanish-speaking users are soap operas.

The classic Mexican soap operas such as

,

or

are the aces up the sleeve behind ViX, in addition to the protagonists of these dramas, such as Thalía, Angelique Boyer, Sebastián Rulli or Gabriel Soto, among the great catalog of stars of these TV stations.

Within the platform there will be channels with exclusive content for users.

One, for example, will be dedicated to productions made by and starring Eugenio Derbez, one of Televisa's star comedians and who has also extensively ventured into productions in the United States.

Another is produced by the Mexican actress Salma Hayek, who has proudly shown her Latin roots in the presentation of this project.

Videocine, one of Televisa's subsidiaries dedicated to film content, is betting on new faces, such as Yalitza Aparicio with a new production called Presencias, which will only be available on the Vix+ platform.

“We directly skip the theaters and bring it directly to your home,” the executives mentioned in the presentation.

Soccer is another of the great bets of the contents of this new platform.

The transmission of exclusive Liga MX matches, as well as programs dedicated to the Qatar 2022 World Cup by established commentators such as Enrique

Bermúdez and his peculiar narrations, in addition to the presence of Mexican sports personalities such as Oswaldo Sánchez, are other bets on the sports broadcast market in Mexico.

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