June 7, 2024

The Spanish Scripted Industry Boom

The Spanish TV and film industry has been enjoying global success over the recent years. Observation of the trends and efforts of producers and filmmakers suggest that the success will not slow down anytime soon. By Ching Wai.

Spain - From character-driven dramas to high-quality creators and producers, Spain’s scripted industry has been expanding and evolving with demand. Spanish originals as well as co-productions have received international acclaim. Local titles have achieved the top rank on Netflix’s global non-English Top 10 charts for 13 weeks, only falling behind South Korea. With more than 600 million Spanish speakers globally and consistent results seen from Spanish productions, it is no wonder the scripted content market has been booming for Spain.

Internationally acclaimed Spanish drama series include The Red Band Society, Grand Hotel, Velvet, and Locked Up. Alex Pina’s blockbuster series Money Heist was acquired and re-cut by Netflix in 2017, and later renewed in 2018. All three seasons of Mediaset and Alea Media series Wrong Side of the Tracks topped Netflix charts in March, garnering an impressive view time of 41.6 million hours. The streaming platform also saw the debut of The Mediapro Studio’s thriller series Iron Reign in its top 10 chart in 72 countries.

On streamer Amazon Prime Video, Dopamine-Focus’ series Red Queen debuted at number one in more than 20 countries, including Spain. An average 80% of the views of the most watched Spanish titles on Prime, My Fault, Awareness and Los Farad, are international. My Fault is Prime’s biggest non-English title and ranks among the top ten most watched titles across 190 countries. Evidently, Spanish originals and co-productions are highly sought after by both local and international audiences.

Marta Ezpeleta, The Mediapro Studio’s head of distribution, co-production & international Offices, stressed the merits of Spanish fiction, “the creative talent, the quality of the production, the excellence of the cast and the strength of the locations [lensing took place largely outside the Port of Barcelona]. The international success of Spanish or Spanish-language series hasn’t stopped growing.”

Global streamers like Amazon Prime continue to support and spearhead Spanish productions - Prime already plans for 10 to 12 productions this year. With a 53% penetration rate and 19.7 million Spaniards reached, Prime overtook Netflix to become Spain’s top VOD platform in 2023.

There is also a rising trend of co-productions, with multi-alliances that incentivise windowing and IP co-ownership. Examples are RTVE team partnering with Disney+ for The Other Life produced by Mediawan’s The Good Mood; and Brutal Media partnering Sony Pictures Television to produce La Academia, which premiered on Prime Video and 3Cat. Recently, Latin America has been partnering with Spain to produce more programmes, like the 2024 action series Zorro.

Atresmedia TV’s head of acquisitions and sales José Antonio Salso said, “[Young adults are] an audience very accustomed to consumption on social networks and digital platforms. Our strategy goes hand in hand, offering our content on these same platforms. And this option is also available for our international clients who want to connect with this digital native audience.”

Observations of the trends and efforts of producers and filmmakers suggest that this boom that the Spanish scripted industry is experiencing is no mere coincidence. As filmmakers and investors continue to capitalise wisely, performance of the Spanish film market may well exceed expectations.

To never miss a story — sign up for Viral Weekly free newsletter to stay up-to-date with compelling TV and Film news and views.

Back to Listing

---