V I D E O a A G E JA N U A R Y 2 0 1 3 22 (Continued from Cover) Latin America TV Growth always contained a lot of TV movies and miniseries, which are both genres that have historically played well in the region.” Anything that works well in the U.S. tends to work well in Latin America, and, reported Richter, “One of the great things about the Latin American market is that it has a heavy Pay presence. Not only does this mean that it caters to a wide variety of niche programming, but also that, for strong shows with a good cast, it is possible to create up to three windows before going to FTA.” However, he cautioned that, “non-scripted tends to be a much more fragmented market, and what will work in one country will not necessarily work in another.” Aside from the right product, Richter credits “a close collaboration” with Miami-based Spiral — and, in particular, its managing director Zasha Robles — with helping Red Arrow connect with the territory. Similarly, Studio 100, a Belgium-based production and distribution company with its main sales office in Germany, uses Mexico’s Comarex as its LATAM representative. Patrick Elmendorff, Studio 100 Media’s managing director, said, “With numerous international and local channels, and a vast amount of households with great viewing capacity, Latin America has huge potential within the TV business. In addition, television technology and the infrastructure for TV channels have developed immensely over the years in Latin America, thus opening more opportunities for media.” To Jack Alfandary, the Miami, Florida-based SVP of FremantleMedia Latin America and U.S. Hispanic, “Latin America has always been important…and we certainly see growth opportunities. It’s a very vibrant market.” Alfandary explained that FremantleMedia Latin America has production bases in Mexico and Brazil, with local staff on the ground in those offices working on various productions in Mexico. “We also have teams in Miami working on Pan-Latin productions along with programming for the U.S. Hispanic market,” he added. FremantleMedia also produces in Colombia and Puerto Rico. In terms of programming trends, Alfandary said, “We continue to see a lot of interest in our big formats — clear brands that are proven ratings winners, particularly entertainment and game shows.” While FremantleMedia is the producer and distributor, FremantleMedia Enterprises distributes content across Latin America. “We have done consistent business throughout Latin America, particularly with the pan-regional channels, but also with free TV and digital outlets, as well as DVD in certain territories,” said Diana Zakis, VP of Sales, Latin America and Asia for U.K.-based Content Television. “Pay-TV penetration, Internet and mobile use are all growing in the region; the way we see it, the increase in these platforms and end users creates more opportunity for business,” Zakis added. “A recent study by comScore stated that Latin America’s online population grew faster than any other global region in 2011, rising 15 percent, and that online viewing grew by double digits in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. I predict this trend will continue, and that licensing to digital platforms will become an increasingly important part of our sales activity across Latin America,” she said. “Wehandledistribution toLatinAmerica in-house — I handle television and digital sales, while Melissa Wohl handles DVD. Melissa and I are based in Content’s Los Angeles office, close to our territories in the marketplace,” Zakis explained. Highlighting the importance of LATAM, another U.K.-based company, ITV Studios Global Entertainment, organized a “showcase” event in Mexico City for the first time last year. It attracted approximately 40 executives from what Flavio Medeiros, VP Sales, Latin America and U.S. Hispanic, called “Mexico’s capital and regional channels.” Describing the event as “a great success,” Medeiros said, “It is likely that we will repeat [it] in 2013, although no decision has yet been made as to whether next year’s event will be held in Mexico City again, or in Miami.” Medeiros added that, “drama, movies, entertainment, factual and formats all sell well in Latin America.” He also expected to, “announce shortly key format deals in both Brazil and Colombia.” From Istanbul, Can Okan, co-founder of ITV – Inter Medya, said, “Telenovelas, ‘Made in Turkey’ TV series, and Turkish feature films started to draw broad interest frommarkets such as Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. We are [now] aiming to gain [a] foothold in Asia, Western Europe, as well as the Americas, especially the birthplace of telenovelas: the Latin American market.” Okan explained that to penetrate LATAM, “We have an in-house sales team taking care of different regions and territories, which includes a native Spanish-speaking sales executive and a consultant assigned for sales in the South American market. We have been working on that market for almost a year and a half and are in the process of signing deals on scripted format sales. As for finished products, our sales team will finalize a few deals with some major Latin American broadcasters pretty shortly.” As far as trends are concerned, Okan said, “Dramas will be the key trend, as always, in South America and the new trend in dramas will be Turkish dramas and telenovelas.” “Latin America is a crucial part of Power’s global strategy and we’ve maintained an active presence in the region for a decade,” said Pepe Echegaray,Power’sseniorrepresentative, Latin America. He added, “Deals there represent a good percentage of [the company’s] overall global sales. Latin America’s economic potential is continually increasing, which is particularly important at a time when many economies, such as those in Europe, continue to stagnate. This is why investing in the best content for LATAM is a top priority for [us].” Like the other execs VideoAge spoke with, Echegaray noted that “it’s important to have someone on the ground in such an important region,” and he has “operated on Power’s behalf from [his] office in Miami” since he took over the company’s Latin American operations in 2007. Echegaray has found that the “major trend in LATAM is toward local production. Several nations have increased their local production and consequently increased their inventory for distribution. The acquisitions departments find themselves with [fewer] funds to acquire and fewer time slots to program product from other distributors.” He added that the Latin American market has shifted from primarily a telenovela-producing market to one that produces comedies, series and films that appeal to local and regional markets. Plus, “the expansion of the U.S. Hispanic market has opened up a content opportunity for those LATAM producing markets [that] see an increasing demand for their product and, consequently, profitability,” he said. But Echegaray also pointed out that when a country experiences “either political or economic changes or [a] crisis, the licensing panorama is directly impacted. This is especially evident in countries like Venezuela, Argentina and Colombia when there have beenmajor changes in leadership or where laws have been modified and the economy is affected. Governments establish local production laws and even quotas, limiting the licensing prospects, which in turn affects sales.” But he said, “when, on the other hand, the economies improve and there is political stability, you perceive an immediate positive change in the buying/licensing patterns.” Jan Salling, COO and Sales director for Nordic World, rated Latin America as “an important market for us to crack [but] we have not achieved this yet,” he said Salling tapped a number of reasons for Nordic’s relative lack of success “south of the border.” One key reason is the absence of a local partner. “Latin America is a long way from Scandinavia, so it is important for us to have someone there on the ground — someone who understands our catalog, and is passionate about it,” he said. In fact,Nordic did once actually have local representation, but canceled the agreement due to a lack of results. “Finding the right partner for Nordic in Latin America will be our main focus at NATPE,” he said. But he was clear that there are other challenges facing Nordic in Latin America. “For one thing, we are a boutique Scandinavian distributor and the simple truth is that a lot of our catalog just isn’t suitable for Latin American audiences.” Salling continued, “We are a relatively new company and have only been selling formats since MIP 2011. This means that a lot of our formats have not yet had the chance to build a track record of international success. It is very hard to attract attention in Latin America to a format that has only got a track record in Scandinavia and a few of the smaller European countries.” British company Optomen has enjoyed recent success in the region. Optomen’s director of Sales, Caroline Stephenson called Latin America, “a very important growth area for us.” She added: “The amount of business we do there is increasing rapidly due to the success of food-related programming in primetime factual entertainment slots on all channels.” The one European nation that, for selfevident reasons, has always had a major presence in Latin America, is Spain. The extent to which Spain stands out from the rest of Europe in the region is emphasized by Carme Puig, International department coordinator at Catalan Films and TV who, while welcoming the new digital platforms as “a plus” said that, “theatrical and television sales are still the main goals in distribution for Spanish companies.” Puig also described the most important challenge facing Spanish companies in Latin America as “co-production issues, especially in relation to tax-shelter supports, which are being developed in the majority of South American countries.” Diana Zakis, VP of Sales, Latin America and Asia for U.K.-based Content Television Power’s senior representative for Latin America, Pepe Echegaray
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