Skip to content
1981
European-Based VoDs: Models, Alternatives and Predictions
  • ISSN: 2516-3523
  • E-ISSN: 2516-3531

Abstract

This article situates the Spanish SVoD service Filmin within the global and national contemporary streaming panorama. It critically analyses Filmin’s four main self-proclaimed strategies for standing out in the highly competitive Spanish SVoD market – a curated catalogue, the platform’s European identity, engagement with classical films and collaborations with film festivals. The success of these strategies is evident in Filmin’s substantial profit of 1.5 million euros in 2020. This article focuses on an in-depth examination of these programming strategies, key collaborations and insights from an interview with Filmin’s co-founder and current CEO, Juan Carlos Tous, to explore how this SVoD service has successfully developed a middlebrow curatorial strategy, reaching a unique position in the Spanish market and distinguishing it from the rest of its competitors.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Proyecto financiado por la Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Award PID2022-140102NB-I00)
© 2024 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jdmp_00149_1
2024-08-20
2026-04-13

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aguiar, L. and Waldfogel, J. (2018), ‘Netflix: Global hegemon or facilitator of frictionless digital trade?’, Journal of Cultural Economics, 42:3, pp. 419–45.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Albornoz, L. A., García Leiva, M. T. and Gallo, P. (2023), Disponibilidad y prominencia de obra española en servicios audiovisuales por suscripción: Edición 2023, Madrid: Grupo de investigación Diversidad Audiovisual, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, pp. 1–33.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Altantida Film Fest (n.d.), ‘Historia’, https://atlantidafilmfest.com/es/history. Accessed 10 June 2023.
  4. Aranzubia, A. and Gallego, J. I. (2021), ‘El cine español en el catálogo de Netflix: una aproximación desde la perspectiva de la diversidad’, Comunicación y Sociedad, 18, pp. 1–21.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Arnold, S. (2016), ‘Netflix and the myth of choice/participation/autonomy’, in K. McDonald and D. Smith-Rowsey (eds), The Netflix Effect: Technology and Entertainment in the 21st Century, New York and London: Bloomsbury, pp. 49–62.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Baecque, A. de and Frémaux, T. (1995), ‘La cinéphilie ou l’invention d’une culture’, Vingtième Siècle: Revue d’histoire, 46, pp. 133–42.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Baschiera, S. and Fisher, A. (2022), ‘Introduction’, in S. Baschiera and A. Fisher (eds), World Cinema On Demand: Global Film Cultures in the Era of Online Distribution, New York: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 1–12.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Beer, D. (2013), Popular Culture and New Media: The Politics of Circulation, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Bourdieu, P. (1984), Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgements of Taste, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Bucher, T. (2018), If…Then: Algorithmic Power and Politics, New York: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Clares-Gavilán, J. and Medina-Cambrón, A. (2018), ‘Desarrollo y asentamiento del video bajo demanda (VOD) en España: el caso de Filmin’, El profesional de la información, 27:4, pp. 909–20.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Creative Europe (n.d.), ‘Projects’, https://culture.ec.europa.eu/creative-europe/projects/search/?page=1&sort=&domain=ce2021&view=list&map=false&level2=media__31052594&coordinatorCountry=spain__ES&keyword=VOD+platforms. Accessed 11 January 2024.
  13. Criminal Justice Act (2003), § 44.3.2, p. 9, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/44/contents/ enacted. Accessed 18 July 2013.
  14. Doyle, G. (2017), ‘Digitization and changing windowing strategies in the television industry’, Television & New Media, 17:7, pp. 629–45.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. European Audiovisual Observatory (2022), Audiovisual Fiction Production in Europe: 2022 Figures, Strasbourg: European Audiovisual Observatory.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. European Parliament (2018), ‘Directive (EU) 2018/1808 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 November 2018 amending Directive 2010/13/EU on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the provision of audiovisual media services (Audiovisual Media Services Directive) in view of changing market realities’, Official Journal of the European Union, L303/69, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2018/1808/oj. Accessed 3 July 2024.
  17. Faulkner, S. (2016), ‘Introduction: Approaching the middlebrow – Audience, text, institution’, in S. Faulkner (ed.), Middlebrow Cinema, London: Routledge, pp. 1–13.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Fernández-Manzano, E. P., Neira, E. and Clares-Gavilán, J. (2016), ‘Data management in audiovisual business: Netflix as a case study’, Profesional de la información, 25:4, pp. 568–76.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Filmin (n.d.), ‘Sobre Filmin’, https://prensa.filmin.es/sobre-filmin. Accessed 10 June 2023.
  20. Finn, E. (2019), ‘The black box of the present: Time in the age of algorithms’, Social Research: An International Quarterly, 86:2, pp. 557–79.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. García Leiva, M. T. and Albornoz, L. A. (2020), ‘VoD service providers and regulation in the European Union: An audiovisual diversity approach’, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 27:3, pp. 267–81, https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2020.1769614.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. García Santamaría, J. V. (2018), El cine español en la era digital: transformaciones profundas, actuaciones escasas, in E. Bustamante (ed.), Informe sobre el estado de la cultura en España 2018: España y el espacio cultural iberoamericano, Madrid: Fundación Alternativa, pp. 109–20.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. García Santamaría, J. V. and López Villanueva, J. (2019), ‘Las televisiones en la producción de cine español’, in C. F. Heredero (ed.), Industria del cine y el audiovisual en España: Estado de la cuestión (2015-2018), Málaga: Festival de Málaga, pp. 219–55.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Grece, C. (2022), Film and TV Content in VoD Catalogues: 2022 Edition, European Audiovisual Observatory, https://www.obs.coe.int/en/web/observatoire/home/-/asset_publisher/wy5m8bRgOygg/content/32-of-all-works-found-in-vod-catalogues-are-of-european-origin-and-21-are-of-eu27-origin. Accessed 11 January 2024.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Hagener, M. (2017), ‘Cinephilia and film culture in the age of digital networks’, in M. Hagener, V. Hediger and A. Strohmaier (eds), The State of Postcinema: Tracing the Moving Image in the Age of Digital Dissemination, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 181–94.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Herrero Subías, M., Medina Laverón, M. and Urguellés Molina, A. M. (2018), ‘Online recommendation systems in the Spanish audiovisual market: Comparative analysis between Atresmedia, Movistar+ and Netflix’, UCJC Business and Society Review, 60, pp. 54–89.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Hesmondhalgh, V. and Lotz, A. D. (2020), ‘Video screen interfaces as new sites of media circulation power’, International Journal of Communication, 14, pp. 386–409.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Hessler, J. (2018), ‘Quality you can’t touch: MUBI social, platform politics, and the online distribution of art cinema’, The Velvet Light Trap, 82, pp. 3–17.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Jenner, M. (2018), Netflix and the Re-invention of Television, London: Palgrave MacMillan.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Johnson, C. (2019), Online TV, London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Law 13/2022, of July 7, General Law on Audiovisual Communication (2022), Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE), 163, https://www.boe.es/eli/es/l/2022/07/07/13/con. Accessed 3 July 2024.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Lobato, R. (2019), Netflix Nations: The Geography of Digital Distribution, New York: New York University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Lotz, A. (2017), Portals: A Treatise on Internet-Distributed Television, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Lumiere VoD (n.d.), https://lumierevod.obs.coe.int/search_results. Accessed 11 January 2024.
  35. Martin Valbuena, C. (2022), ‘Filmin, 15 años de una idea en la que pocos creían’, The New Barcelona Post, 21 November, https://www.thenewbarcelonapost.com/historia-de-filmin-15-anos-de-una-idea-en-la-que-pocos-creian/. Accessed 15 July 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Matrix, S. (2014), ‘The Netflix effect: Teens, binge watching, and on-demand digital media trends’, Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures, 6:1, pp. 119–38.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. McKelvey, F. and Hunt, R. (2019), ‘Discoverability: Toward a definition of content discovery through platforms’, Social Media + Society, 5:1, pp. 119–38.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. MCUD (2022), Encuesta de hábitos y prácticas culturales 2021–2022, Madrid: MCUD.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Meir, C. (forthcoming 2024), Producers and Industrial Change: Morena Films and Spanish Cinema in the Streaming Era, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Meir, C. and Rodríguez Ortega, V. (2023), ‘Plataformas y el Auge de la Producción en España y América Latina: Recorriendo la Fiebre del Oro’, Plataforma Audiovisual Iberoamericano 2023, Madrid: Egeda and FIPCA, pp. 9–26.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Morris, J. W. (2015), ‘Curation by ode: Infomediaries and the data mining of taste’, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 18:4–5, pp. 446–63.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Napoli, P. M. (2014), ‘Automated media: An institutional theory perspective on algorithmic media production and consumption’, Communication Theory, 24:3, pp. 340–60.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Ponga, P. (2016), ‘Movistar Plus, la tele cinematográfica?’, Fotogramas & DVD: La primera revista de cine, May, p. 130.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Rodríguez Ortega, V. (2021), ‘“We pay to buy ourselves”: Netflix, spectators & streaming’, Journal of Communication Inquiry, 47:2, pp. 126–44.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Rodríguez Ortega, V. and Fernández-Meneses, J. (2023), online interview with J. C. Tous, 10 October.
  46. Rodríguez Ortega, V. and Romero Santos, R. (2023), Spanish Horror Film and Television in the 21st Century, London: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Smits, R. and Nikdel, E. W. (2019), ‘Beyond Netflix and Amazon: MUBI and the curation of on-demand film’, Studies in European Cinema, 16:1, pp. 22–37, https://doi.org/10.1080/17411548.2018.1554775.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Striphas, T. (2015), ‘Algorithmic culture’, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 18:4–5, pp. 395–412.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Telefonica (2023), ‘Movistar relaunches Movistar Plus+ and includes a new streaming TV service’, 21 July, https://www.telefonica.com/en/communication-room/press-room/movistar-relaunches-movistar-plus-and-includes-a-new-streaming-tv-service/. Accessed 10 September 2023.
  50. Terán Haughey, M. (2023), ‘España ha hablado: ni Netflix, ni Amazon Prime, esta es la plataforma de streaming favorita’, elEconomista.es, 14 November, https://www.eleconomista.es/tecnologia/noticias/12505542/10/23/espana-ha-hablado-ni-netflix-ni-amazon-prime-esta-es-la-plataforma-de-streaming-favorita.html. Accessed 5 December 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Valck, M. de (2007), Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Canophilia, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/jdmp_00149_1
Loading
Curating the middlebrow: Filmin’s strategies for distinction in the Spanish SVoD market
Journal of Digital Media & Policy 15, 259 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp_00149_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jdmp_00149_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jdmp_00149_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): boutique SVoD platforms; contemporary Spanish cinema; curating strategies; European screen industry; global SVoD platforms; Spanish audio-visual market; streaming platforms

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test