Isabel Rafferty Canela Media NewFront
Isabel Rafferty, Chief Executive Officer of Canela Media, led the presentation of Canela.TV’s NewFront announcing the launch of Canela Kids -a new AVOD in Spanish for children from 2 to 12- that will be available from August 16. She also reported that the company is preparing around 300 new hours of original scripted and non-scripted production. “Being authentic is our secret sauce.”
Rafferty, who is a recognized entrepreneurial Latina executive, opened her presentation with a short video showing herself next to the Fearless Girl statue on Wall Street. “At Canela, we seek to enhance our compelling narrative through a distinctively Hispanic lens, and this audience is the main reason for our existence. Our approach to brand partnerships, as well as our work on original content, must be authentic, disruptive, and empowering for our audience, creators, and marketing partners,” she pointed out.
In addition to its NewFront, Canela held its first upfront-CincoDeFront– event on the same day in New York at the Paradise Club in The Times Square EDITION.
The session also included: Jerry Leo, Chief Content Officer of Canela.TV; Mario Torres, VP of Canela Music; Shara Ogg, VP of Marketing at Canela Media; Andrés Rincón, Senior VP of Sales; Matt Montemayor, Senior VP of Sales, West and Central Region; Maggie Salas-Amaro, director of Canela Kids; and Shampa Banerjee, former Executive VP of ViacomCBS and Chief Product Officer of Pluto TV, who was appointed Chief Product & Technology Officer of Canela earlier this month and who led the launch of Silicon Valley-based Canela Media Innovation Labs.
Leo mentioned among the original productions the drama series Between borders, produced by Julián Núñez, winner of the Canela Media Film Festival for aspirants’ Hispanic filmmakers; and the reality show Abuela knows best.
Torres of Canela Music announced that they are multiplying by 10 the number of originals in its lineup over the next year. Projects in development include Beats and Bits; the short documentary series Between stages (produced in collaboration with Luieville and Company), Caribe Wonderland, Con Sazón, Desde la Raíz, Rising Notes, Top 10 Sexiest Videos and United by The Rhythm. Among the recently launched series are El Carrete, El Couch de Emma, The Rockstar Show with Nicky Jam and Tijuana Rocks.
Salas Amaro of Canela Kids reported about their offer of more than 1,500 hours of content, including Cocomelon, Blippi wonders, T-Rex Ranch, Lellobee Farm and others, as well as the classics Barney, Angelina Ballerina, Raggs, Space Racers, Garfield, among others. An original series produced by Upstairs Miami, is scheduled to premiere during Hispanic Heritage Month.
There will be channels for all ages with exclusive, curated, and educational areas divided into two age groups: 1 to 5 years old and 6 to 12 years old. In addition, all content will be 100% in Spanish.
Canela Media closes oversubscribed US$32 million Series A funding
Canela Media: A new era of media driven by Latino youth is coming
