Brazil’s Globo Set to Launch Streamer Globoplay in the U.S.(EXCLUSIVE)
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MADRID — Brazilian TV giant Globo, the biggest media company in Latin America, will join the ranks of international streaming platforms on Jan. 19, launching its over-the-top Globoplay service in the U.S’s booming subscription video streaming market.
Priced at $13.99 a month, Globoplay’s launch marks the first move in international expansion for the OTT service, and rolls off the creation of a burgeoning line in original production at Globoplay, one of the fastest growing domestic production powerhouses in Latin America:
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A fremium SVOD service in Brazil which bowed in 2015, and now boasts 22 million unique visitors a month, making it the biggest Brazilian streaming service by a large head, Globoplay released eight original productions in 2019, often international length series.
That figure will rise to 16 in 2020, between titles produced at Estúdios Globo and co-productions with Brazil’s independent sector, Raphael Corrêa Netto, Globo director of international businesses, told Variety.
Recent Globoplay Originals, all pushing gender issues, which will be made available in the U.S. from Sunday, take in chic Amazon-set eco thriller “Aruanas,” where three women battle the machinations of a mining company; “Harassment,” the expose of sexual crimes of a respect – and connected -gynecologist by a group of women victims, made with “City of God’s” o2 Filmes; and“Iron Island,” an oil-rig drama-thriller mixing heavy VFX, sexual politics and steamy romance.
Two Globo 2020 Natpe: Miami highlights also make the U.S. offer: “Second Call,” a night school-set second-chance drama produced by Globo and o2 Filmes : and an agile dramatic-comedy, “A Life Worth Living,” another telenovela, turning on a dreamy seamstress and mother of three’s passion for literature and a publisher’s son, which is punching one of the best performances of any access primetime Globo title in the last eight years.
With library classics – such as “Brazil Avenue,” Globo’s most exported novela ever – newscast Jornal Nacional, Globo movies, and shows rom Globo kids channel Gloob, such as “Detectives de Prédio Azul,” Globoplay will offer in all over 500 titles in its launch. It will be available for download via App Store, Google Play, and on TV through Android TV, Apple TV 4K or Chromecast.
Globo bowed an international pay TV channel, TV Globo Internacional, in the U.S in 1999.
“We have a relationship dating back over 20 years with the audience that watches our channel in the United States, which is also the country with the largest community of expatriate Brazilians, over 1.4 million in the U.S, according to statistics from the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Corrêa Netto said.
“We want to be closer to this audience, providing a more comprehensive content offer with more consumer freedom,” he added observing that Globo envisages launching Globoplay in territories where it already has channels. With TV Globo Internacional reaching the five continents, that gives ample room for expansion.
To mark Globoplay’s launch in the U.S., it will celebrate an event in Miami on Feb. 5, directed by Raoni Carneiro, m.c.-ed by Globo Noticia Americas host Mila Burns and actor Lázaro Ramos, and featuring Thiaguinho, whose latest tour, “Tardezinha,” will be the subject of an original Globoplay documentary series.
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