VideoAge spoke with Dufour and Yuko Oki, the company’s new CMO, about Rakuten TV’s current streaming offerings, its content acquisition strategy, its original programming, and what’s on the horizon.
VideoAge*: Can you tell us about Rakuten TV’s overall streaming offerings?*
Cédric Dufour: The streaming offering is huge and for every taste. There are premium movies, including the best new releases and blockbusters directly from Hollywood and Europe in its TVoD section. There’s also free content in its AVoD section, including movies, original content, and linear channels (owned and third-party served). In its SVoD section, Rakuten TV includes Starzplay, a premium subscription service, available in Spain, as well as Italy, France, the U.K., Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
VA: What is the company’s approach to content acquisitions?
Yuko Oki: We will continue investing in new releases as we have registered, especially in the first months of lockdown, terrific positive results on our revenues. The pandemic restrained premieres in theaters and had a direct impact on the platform’s catalog of new releases, but the last quarter of 2021 showed positive results again, so we are confident for the trend of 2022. We are optimistic about consumption on our platform and we are working to improve the quality of our catalog (both TVoD and AVoD) and the usability of our platform.
AVoD will be a major pillar for us, with the launch of more linear channels. Also, we will continue to invest in the production of original content under our brand “Rakuten Stories.”
https://www.videoageinternational.net/2022/03/07/...-expansion-plans/ |