In a significant play for audience growth at Telefonica’s Movistar+, Domingo Corral has been promoted to the position of director of fiction and entertainment at the company, the biggest Spanish pay TV/SVOD service.
The move, which in some ways echoes the larger oversight of ITV Studios’ Ruth Berry, marks further recognition for the former director of original fiction who has spearheaded Movistar+’s notably successful drive into scripted production, begun with its first releases in 2017.
Playing off Corral’s innate flair at forge talent relationships his passion for premium entertainment and willingness to explore flexible market models, Movistar+ has created some of the most lauded and prized series in Spain, such as Canneseries double winner “A Perfect Life,” Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “Riot Police” and “Offworld,” chosen by PvNew as one of its best international TV shows of 2022.
Most recently, Alberto Rodriguez “Prison 1977” has bowed on Movistar+ to become its most watched movie of any nationality on the service since the pre-pandemic Spring 2020. Last week, “The Left-Handed Son,” the directorial debit of renowned screenwriter Rafael Cobos (“Marshland,” “The Plague”), won best short format series at Canneseries.
The broader oversight which now covers not just production but also acquisition will permit Corral to bring his talents to bear in not only production but also acquisition, playing off key company and talent relationships. A recent case has been Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts,” which was not produced by Movistar+ but was acquired and released in its early PPV window, positioned on the service’s grid as a star, brand-forging offering.
In further moves, Enric Rojas, a former innovative CEO of Kosmos Tennis, and an executive with long experience in sports rights, partnerships and formats development, has been appointed director of sports at Movistar+, Spain’s premier live sports operator.
Longtime Movistar+ exec Purificación García has been named to the newly-created position of chief marketing officer, with the mandate of developing an audience-relevant programming offer which sets Movistar+ apart, creating event programming –a role she already played very effectively at Movistar+ in a de facto capacity, in her enthusiasm, for example, for chat show “La Resistencia,” now a Movistar+ entertainment mainstay.
The appointments form part of a simplification of decision making at Movistar+, still led by CEO Cristina Burzako, into five business areas.
They come as Movistar+ is looking to consolidate as a premium pay TV full entertainment service, with an ever larger sense of curation, something which Corral and García have pursued over the last years, turning Telefonica into the European telco with the biggest original series production output and already Spain’s biggest content investor.
Rapidity of decision is also paramount in a post-pandemic world where companies do not always know what emergency – or opportunity – will hit them next.
