Univision wants to corner the Hispanic AVOD market.
As part of that goal, it has acquired VIX, the largest Spanish-language ad-supported streamer that supplies VOD content to consumers in the U.S. and Latin America. The decision dovetails with the company’s decision to launch PrendeTV, also an AVOD geared to U.S. Hispanics, in Q1.
VIX includes a content library of 20,000 hours of free Spanish-language film and TV programming. Univision plans to integrate VIX into PrendeTV in the U.S. to enhance scale and reach. VIX is backed by Discovery Communications and Harbourvest Capital.
Two years ago, VIX bought Latino streaming company Pongalo. In 2020, its Pongalo NovelaClub and Moovimex channels gained distribution on the Roku Channel, Xumo, Redbox, Vizio and TiVo, reports Deadline.
PrendeTV expects to debut with 30+ channels and 10,000 hours of video-on-demand programming from various global content partners. Univision CEO Wade Davis said PrendeTV will be “unlike anything our audience has access to today and will completely change the landscape for video streaming in Spanish-language media in the United States.”
VIX is currently distributed by more than 30 mobile and connected TV platforms, such as Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV and Android TV.
“VIX is the next key step toward Univision’s goal of building the most comprehensive ad-supported streaming offering ever amassed for Latino audiences,” said Pierluigi Gazzolo, President of Univision and Chief Transformation Officer.
Univision’s media portfolio includes the Univision and UniMás broadcast networks, cable networks Galavisión and TUDN, a Spanish-language sports network.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.