Onza: From Spain to the Rest of the World
Onza Distribution is looking to expand its business and client base in the CEE region, relying on a rich catalog that could interest both traditional broadcasters and OTT players. Sales Manager Laura Fornello talked to Stanislav Kimchev ahead of the market about content, trends and growing the business from Latin America to Asia.
Laura Fornello, Sales Manager
Laura, Onza is one of the big Spanish content producers and distributors. Could you tell us a bit more about the company and its main activities?
Onza is both a production and a distribution company. The production branch has been growing a lot the past few years. We are working a lot with Amazon producing for them both fiction and docu series. We have a branch in Latin America, Onza Americas, that is currently developing a couple of series. As a distribution company, we try to have all kinds of content to please all types of clients.
Our telenovelas are exclusively from Portuguese channel TVI and we have Spanish productions like Crimes (true crime series) or Motel Valkirias (thriller). We have some fiction also coming from Movistar’s Latin America as well as formats and documentaries.
What are some of the titles that you are bringing to NATPE Budapest International?
We will be bringing our new true crime series Crimes, which has been the most successful true crime series in Spain ever. It has a great production value, we are receiving a lot of positive feedback and we expect to be closing some deals in the following weeks. The telenovelas Unlimited Love and Broken Bonds have gained a lot of popularity among our buyers, we closed some deals in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Which are your best-sellers in Central and Eastern Europe? Any deals, partnerships that you can mention?
For us, our most successful countries are Poland and the Baltics. We have close relationships in both regions and we’ve been successfully selling them telenovelas, fiction and documentaries.
What are the latest trends that you have observed on the CEE markets in terms of content and demand?
Of course, Turkish telenovelas are still trendy for Free TV, but buyers are starting to take some risks. They are betting on new formats both entertainment and fiction, and since 2020 it’s becoming quite popular to remake adaptations from other countries’ success.
You opened a new office in Miami. We often hear that the Latin American and CEE markets are quite similar. What similarities can you name? And what are some of the differences?
There are not many differences all over the world, we all want our audiences to respond well to the titles we are selling/broadcasting. When a title works, it works all over the world. We all saw the success with the telenovelas as they are travelling to both territories. It also happens with the entertainment formats, the primetime slot doesn’t have a lot of differences between Latin America and CEE. On the other side, the main difference could be that CEE broadcast shorter series/miniseries from 8 to 13 episodes, while in Latin America this is mainly a thing for the platforms.
Besides CEE, which are the strategically important markets for your company where you are looking to grow?
We have an established relationship with Latin American clients, so now our focus is in Asia. We will be attending MipChina and ATF at the end of the year. We have interesting documentary and fiction series that are travelling quite well, so it seems that it can be a good year for that territory.
The TV industry is returning to normality, with most of the key market events and conferences back with in-person meetings. How did the COVID pandemic affect your business?
Zoom calls have proven to be effective and fast, but in a business like this where the relationships are so important, we were begging for the in-person markets to come back. During the pandemic situation, it became way harder to gain new clients. It felt like buyers were mainly relying on the contacts they already had and, as it is logical, they weren’t willing to take risks on their acquisitions. It went well for us, in 2020 and the beginning of 2021 our bigger clients were mainly OTT platforms and we made great numbers. Now we can meet new clients and build closer relationships with the ones we already have.
What do you think has been the impact of the war in Ukraine on the TV business?
I was happily surprised to see how the main channels have been supporting Ukraine with whatever they could. TV has a great responsibility in informing and bringing to the world the reality. Information space has taken a part of the grids and some countries have started to buy Ukrainian content to support as much as they can.
Onza is both a production and a distribution company. The production branch has been growing a lot the past few years. We are working a lot with Amazon producing for them both fiction and docu series. We have a branch in Latin America, Onza Americas, that is currently developing a couple of series. As a distribution company, we try to have all kinds of content to please all types of clients.
Our telenovelas are exclusively from Portuguese channel TVI and we have Spanish productions like Crimes (true crime series) or Motel Valkirias (thriller). We have some fiction also coming from Movistar’s Latin America as well as formats and documentaries.
What are some of the titles that you are bringing to NATPE Budapest International?
We will be bringing our new true crime series Crimes, which has been the most successful true crime series in Spain ever. It has a great production value, we are receiving a lot of positive feedback and we expect to be closing some deals in the following weeks. The telenovelas Unlimited Love and Broken Bonds have gained a lot of popularity among our buyers, we closed some deals in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Which are your best-sellers in Central and Eastern Europe? Any deals, partnerships that you can mention?
For us, our most successful countries are Poland and the Baltics. We have close relationships in both regions and we’ve been successfully selling them telenovelas, fiction and documentaries.
What are the latest trends that you have observed on the CEE markets in terms of content and demand?
Of course, Turkish telenovelas are still trendy for Free TV, but buyers are starting to take some risks. They are betting on new formats both entertainment and fiction, and since 2020 it’s becoming quite popular to remake adaptations from other countries’ success.
You opened a new office in Miami. We often hear that the Latin American and CEE markets are quite similar. What similarities can you name? And what are some of the differences?
There are not many differences all over the world, we all want our audiences to respond well to the titles we are selling/broadcasting. When a title works, it works all over the world. We all saw the success with the telenovelas as they are travelling to both territories. It also happens with the entertainment formats, the primetime slot doesn’t have a lot of differences between Latin America and CEE. On the other side, the main difference could be that CEE broadcast shorter series/miniseries from 8 to 13 episodes, while in Latin America this is mainly a thing for the platforms.
Besides CEE, which are the strategically important markets for your company where you are looking to grow?
We have an established relationship with Latin American clients, so now our focus is in Asia. We will be attending MipChina and ATF at the end of the year. We have interesting documentary and fiction series that are travelling quite well, so it seems that it can be a good year for that territory.
The TV industry is returning to normality, with most of the key market events and conferences back with in-person meetings. How did the COVID pandemic affect your business?
Zoom calls have proven to be effective and fast, but in a business like this where the relationships are so important, we were begging for the in-person markets to come back. During the pandemic situation, it became way harder to gain new clients. It felt like buyers were mainly relying on the contacts they already had and, as it is logical, they weren’t willing to take risks on their acquisitions. It went well for us, in 2020 and the beginning of 2021 our bigger clients were mainly OTT platforms and we made great numbers. Now we can meet new clients and build closer relationships with the ones we already have.
What do you think has been the impact of the war in Ukraine on the TV business?
I was happily surprised to see how the main channels have been supporting Ukraine with whatever they could. TV has a great responsibility in informing and bringing to the world the reality. Information space has taken a part of the grids and some countries have started to buy Ukrainian content to support as much as they can.
