Two Latino-targeted streaming video services have made moves recently to increase their exposure on broader platforms.
Flama, Univision’s bicultural over-the-top (OTT) video network targeting 15-to-30 year-old Latinos, is now streaming five of its original Web series on Hulu, while Somos Next has launched a dedicated YouTube channel for its FlixLatino Spanish-language film service.
Miami-based Somos Next is making FlixLatino’s catalog of more than 400 Spanish-language films from across Iberoamérica available via its own YouTube channel while it also seeks distribution for the Internet-based service on other platforms, the company said. FlixLatino is distributed on DirecTV's Yaveo platform, and is negotiating with several other distributors.
Meanwhile, the five Flama offerings newly available on Hulu include new episodes of mini-series Saving Lives (premiering Thursdays) and all episodes of Flama original series Taking on America, Drop the Mic With Becky G, Chachi’s Dance to Uforia and The Bodega.
All Flama content is made by young Latinos in the network’s target demographic; in its first year it has premiered more than 20 original series.
“Flama’s creators live on social, mobile and digital just like its audience,” said Brian Bedol, founder and CEO of Bedrocket Media Ventures, which co-owns and operates Flama with Univision. The network has partnered “with some of the most influential next-generation talent,” he added, naming YouTube star Josh Leyva and Columbian singer J. Balvin as two.
Making Flama content available on Hulu extends its potential audience reach and increases online engagement. It also continues Univision’s existing relationship with Hulu. The network joined the OTT service in 2012 as the anchor net for its first Spanish-language offering.
“We are proud of our pioneering partnership with Hulu,” Flama GM Steven Benanav said. “This newest venture is a perfect partnership.”
Flama’s new six-episode Web series Saving Lives stars Leyva and fellow YouTube personality David Alvarez as two over-confident but innocent college bros holding down their old lifeguard shifts at the local beach. Between hitting on girls with limited success and picking fights with cool surfers, the two friends spend more time competing in whistle competitions than saving lives.
In related news, Flama has entered a content partnership with Condé Nast Entertainment’s OTT platform The Scene, which features original digital content from its stable of magazines, including Glamour, GQ, Vogue, Wired, Vanity Fair, Teen Vogue, Style.com, Self, Allure, Golf Digest, Bon Appétit, Epicurious, Brides, Details, W and The New Yorker.
Flama will deliver “more than 100 Flama original episodes to The Scene, with new content delivered weekly,” the company said. The partnership also creates opportunities for CNE and Flama to co-develop projects going forward. Programming specifics were not disclosed.
