Movistar online VOD offer raises the bar for Netflix


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Juan Fernandez Gonzalez

| 17 October 2015





A couple of days before Netflix's premiere in Spain, Telefónica's online, multiscreen and video-on-demand (VOD) platform Yomvi is flexing its muscles and claiming over one million users in the past month.


With more than 15,000 titles available on demand, Yomvi has, according to Movistar+'s figures, reached three million downloads per week, becoming Spain's most-used VOD service in a market preparing for the arrival of the American SVOD (subscription VOD) platform.

While Movistar+, as a traditional, linear pay-TV service, nears four million subs and a potential audience of 11 million, Yomvi has rapidly grown from the 600,000 users announced last July to one million in September.

Yomvi's users seem to be increasingly active, as they use the platform more, download more VOD content and watch live streaming, especially football, with some games supporting over 200,000 simultaneous viewers.

But what has drawn the largest number of subs to Yomvi are popular series. With over 500 full seasons, shows like Fargo, The Leftovers and The Affair; worldwide hits such as Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and House of Cards; and classics like The Sopranos and The Wire have become Yomvi's spearhead.

Movistar+'s move in publishing these figures now seems far from being casual, as Netflix will kick off on Tuesday (20 October), in a launch expected to drive important changes in Spain's VOD and over-the-top (OTT) market.