RCM 2017: go outside, grow inside

During the three days, RCM has showed the both heads of the coin. By one hand, the consolidation of the Brazilian market as an industry, with an exceptional growth of content produced and new independent players thanks to a business model created by the Ancine after the Law SeAC. And, by the other hand, that there is still much more to do, especially in the international field.

Regarding the second point, some producers believe that the issues are mainly three. ‘First one, Portuguese-language; secondly, most of the producers think that the Brazilian market is just enough to cover the production costs and not in the value of IP, and third one, most of the contents are coproduced with Pay TV channels that owns the rights once the product is finished’, summarized one to Prensario.

But the key rests in a global trend: “coproductions”. Alejandro Toro, coproduction director at Caracol (Colombia), explained: ‘The decrease in the advertising pie caused by new platforms, along with the growth of the demand of high end products, obeyed us to bet in new business models. A few years ago, 90% of our programming was produced in house, now we search new independent content to have more diversity’. And added Mercedes Reincke, head of Content at Telefe (Argentina): ‘We are in a codevelopment era and we have to go to the world to find new ideas and alliances’.

Others buyers like Marlon Garcia, president of TVX (El Salvador), assist searching for strategic and small partners to coproduce any kind of formats, while Liliam Bernal, acquisition manager at Señal Colombia, is focused especially in kids content, which represents 52% of its programming, and also coproductions. ‘Between 2011 and 2016 we invested 11.1 million in 119 projects, which 84% where series’, she stands. And Gilles Galud, director of Studio+, short contents (10x10’) for its new mobile platform, which already has 25 original short premium series (2 of them in Brazil) and it’s producing other 40.

Among the news announced, HBO Latin America confirmed the production of 14 new original shows in Brazil: 7 non-fiction series, 2 documentaries, 4 fiction series, and its first Brazilian late-night talk show. ‘HBO already produces more original local content than any other premium subscription entertainment service in the region and we have never had a portfolio of exclusive productions with the volume and breadth of what we are presenting’, said Roberto Rios, CVP of original productions.

Also, Discovery Networks Brasil highlighted the release of 204 hours of local content, including coproductions with free TV channels and independent producers, and APAC (Argentina) and Santacine (Brazil) signed a cooperation deal to promote the projects from Cordoba, Argentina, and Santa Catarina, Brazil. Lastly, the Brazilian films platform VideoCamp and Coca-Cola signed a deal to launch Edicto VideoCamp, which will provide R$1 million to local producers; Academia de Filmes, audiovisual production company launched a new platform to receive audiovisual projects, and the SPCine created an app that helps to find locations.