The market for Hispanic consumers in the U.S. is potentially $1.5 trillion, with a young, cord-cutting-friendly audience base. And online video providers are beginning to make efforts to reach them. Case in point is YipTV, which is launching a 50-channel over-the-top streaming service that aims to be a go-to provider for Hispanic and ultimately other multilingual groups searching for entertainment and sports programming from international TV networks.
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YipTV's mobile-focused service includes 50 linear channels. (Courtesy of YipTV) |
For a $14.99 subscription, viewers have access to several channels including beIN Sports, Mexico's Azteca, Spain's Antenna 3, Colombia's NTN24 news network and Argentina's TYC Sports. Russian news network RT News is also available at launch along with Latin America-focused Canal Sur.
YipTV CEO and co-founder Michael Tribolet said the service will add new channels about every two weeks.
YipTV is competing with a small but significant pool of linear OTT providers--in particular, Sling TV, which includes several Hispanic-focused channels in its package, and Yaveo, a DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV)-owned service that offers Hispanic OTT content for $7.99 a month.
The service is mobile-focused, much like other streaming services including Mitu and Pongalo, with an app available on both iOS and Android devices. But YipTV can be viewed on smart TVs, desktop computers and Apple TV (NASDAQ: AAPL), and is compatible with Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Chromecast device.
Matching multilingual viewers with the content they're looking for is part of YipTV's goals, Tribolet told FierceOnlineVideo. "These days nobody knows what shows are on what network. On YouTube it's there today, gone tomorrow." He added that many of the cord-nevers of the Hispanic community have been alienated and feel dissatisfied with the amount of content available to them. "What we've focused on is (this segment), and our partners are thirsty to get directly to those consumers."
Tribolet said that viewer feedback is important as the service starts up, and that YipTV will use social media as one bellwether of audience satisfaction. The company will also contact subscribers directly to get their opinion of the service.
What may set YipTV apart from other OTT entrants is the depth of experience its executive team has with new Internet technologies and startups in general. Tribolet and most of YipTV's executives were part of the team that built Vonage, which shook up the VoIP market a decade ago.
Tribolet said the shift from voice to video, from SIP to H.264, was a "natural migration" for the team. The company has filed for patents relating to its scalable cloud platform.
For more:
- see the release
Special Report: Hispanic audiences, and $1.5T in buying power, trend toward OTT
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