Users of Spanish-language media company SBS’s La Musica app can now enjoy an exclusive channel of video content.
In an effort to better engage with the millennial-heavy bilingual, bicultural Latino audience, LaMusica on Oct. 3 introduced a series of vertical video content offerings to what has primarily been a streaming music platform.
The new content is available with the latest version of the app, available from both Apple’s iTunes store and the Google Play store for Android-powered phones.
The LaMusica app now sports a new landing page and a video carousel that lets users preview the latest content, updated more than 10 times per day. The video offerings are “snackable” vignettes of 30 to 90 seconds in length. They include a countdown of the day’s music happenings, celebrity gossip, artist profiles, and game shows. There’s also a section dedicated to the trending videos with the most shares on LaMusica, and an archive of previously released vignettes.
“We’ve taken the mobile entertainment experience on LaMusica to a new level by creating a seamless audio and visual entertainment platform developed specifically for Hispanic millennial audiences,” Raul Alarcón Jr., SBS’s chairman and CEO, said. “Our app not only unlocks the power of SBS’s original content, it also provides advertisers and marketers with a dynamic platform to tap into this enormous — and growing — consumer group.”
Citing Yahoo data, Alarcón said mobile usage increased 53% among Hispanics from 2014 to 2015, and that 94% of Spanish-dominant Hispanics now rely on mobile devices to watch online video.
The new content allows advertisers to engage with Latino consumers via video content publishing, custom ad products, custom-branded music stations and geo-targeted push notifications, among other integration opportunities, he said.
Boost Mobile has signed on as launch sponsor for the new programming and will have its branding “organically woven” into the app’s two flagship series, Toma Nota and El Vacilón De La Mañana. The app will also feature a Boost Mobile-branded radio station, and geo-fencing technology to push location-based notifications to consumers near Boost’s retail locations. Boost Mobile will also be incorporated into LaMusica’s social media campaigns and on-air promotions on SBS-owned radio stations throughout the nation.
“Short-form, vertical video adoption has been growing exponentially, and we are eager to bring this experience to LaMusica,” SBS executive vice president of digital media Jesus Lara said. “The response to the app has been terrific and we are excited to introduce the new programming slate, which continues to reflect the deep-rooted relationship Latinos have with music and pop culture.”
Toma Nota is being pitched as LaMusica's flagship countdown show, while El Vacilón De La Mañana, El Show is a daily Web series starring the morning hosts from SBS station WSKQ-FM in New York. It will feature the day’s “Trending Topics” in entertainment, news, celebrity gossip and actualities, along with some of Vacilón’s most popular comedic segments. It stars DJ Aneudy, Jessica Pereira, El Shino Aguakate Francis Mendez, Natalia Girado and musical talent El Beko.
Other web-only programming includes El Cheez-Me, featuring pop culture gossip; Un Día Como Hoy, a “this day in history” feature tied to Latin pop culture; Botas y Sombrero, covering music news from the biggest regional Mexican recording artists; and a game show designed for smartphones, Minuto Loco.
Other shows include La Letra Dice, which deconstructs the true meaning of top songs; a selfie game called Photo Booth in which pop acts Nicky Jam, Chiquis Rivera and Daddy Yankee share their best camera poses; and Que Animal, a pets-and-celebrities feature.
