Established alternatives
Wuaki TV, Filmin and Movistar + offer different services for a growing market
So, how have online platforms reacted to the launch of Netflix?
Movistar+
Miguel Salvat, CEO of Movistar, at the Sitges festival presented an unbeatable offer of series: over 200 titles and more than 500 complete seasons. Movistar+ has almost four million subscribers in Spain, while over a million clients used the Yomvi service last month, which reaches three million downloads every week.
Wuaki.tv
“In order to get global you need to be local, and offer different content for each country,” said Jacinto Roca, from the Catalan company Wuaki.tv, which has 2.5 million subscribers, a staff of 160 employees and operates in 11 European countries. Roca and Josep Mitjà founded the company in 2008, convinced that “TV will be the next revolution on the Internet”. Their clients can see the offered content “when, how and where they want.” They combine subscription (6.99 euros/month) with rental (3.99 or 4.99 euros). Their catalogue includes 9,000 films (95% are new releases), HBO, Nickelodeon and other channels. In 2012, Wuaki.tv was acquired by the Japanese multinational Rakuten, and together they have 100 subscribers in the world.
Filmin
Joan Carlos Tous, Fimin's CEO, doesn't see Netflix as a “rival”. “Our offer is complementary, because we deal with alternative series, in original version, and we address a different audience.” Indeed, Filmin is focused more on independent films and cinema d'auteur. For instance, the company released Ciutat morta even before TV3 did.