German Palomares de Canela Media
Eight months after being launched in Mexico, Canela TV already exceeds 7 million active users; growth that has become a milestone in that market, since it has occurred organically.
“There are platforms that have been in the country for years with a modest user base. Our offer comes at a crucial time. We are all witnesses to the slowdown that free-to-air TV and pay-TV have had continuously year after year, both in terms of viewers and subscribers, and how users are increasingly approaching the consumption of content on the Internet to spend their free time. The great acceptance that we have had in Mexico by users shows the relevance of the Canela model and its offer in the OTT territory”, said Germán Palomares Salinas, director of Canela.TV and VP of Sales for Mexico and Latin America.
Canela.TV is a recent player but already established in the territory. “The challenge, as in any business, is to maintain the trend and make it grow. We like to see ourselves as allies of our advertisers and our users. On the one hand, for the public, we offer on-demand content available on any device and we deliver commercial messages tailored to their likes and interests. In this way, we also streamline the budgets of our commercial partners, who see in us a direct way of impacting their potential consumers” he said.
To continue growing, Canela.TV aspires to leverage the “great momentum” that the Mexican market is experiencing, where it is expected that 2022 will be the year of consolidation of free streaming platforms. “We believe that the consolidation of the sector will be in 2022, because of the upcoming launches of new platforms and the revamp of some others” he indicated.
To leverage this momentum, Canela TV relies on the advantages offered by the service, such as immediacy and the option the users have to watch what they missed on linear TV for their time.
“We see subscription fatigue in Mexico, where many people are combining pay-TV services with free streaming services. We want to be this alternative, welcoming any type of user who is looking to be entertained, looking for different content and that, at the same time, serves to democratize access to content. We want users to take advantage of our offer and that, every time they watch Canela TV, they find something that is relevant to them”, he highlighted.
When it launched in Mexico eight months ago, the users spent on the platform an average of 35 to 40 minutes. Now it’s 70 minutes, he said.
Currently, the advertisers joining Canela TV do so 70% through direct sales and 30% through programming. “Programmatic is very important in this business because a lot of advertisers want to measure on their own terms the efficiency of their advertising on video platforms. We will continue to offer more innovative products for advertisers. We have interactive advertising pieces that consolidate us commercially and deliver metrics that never have been delivered before on TV,” he said.
He also highlighted the importance of integrated marketing strategies: “We are lucky to have business partners who dare to do crazy things with us. We are about to release original content for all of Mexico and the US from one of the largest food companies in Mexico, which has a strong presence on the other side of the border. Together, we designed an original content plan supported on point of sale and cross-promoting not only between platforms but also between countries.”
To conclude, he said that the brand’s strategies that rely on streaming and are related to content have a special flavor, “they allow us to visualize more robust, integrated plans with an important value for the final consumer, who is the one who we care the most.”
