Pay TV operator Movistar Plus is scaling up in Spanish originals. Atresmedia is strengthening its longstanding relationship with Netflix, while Mediterráneo Mediaset is placing a large emphasis on international sales.
“In a contracted economy and a very saturated market, we have to nurture the international side very carefully,” says Ghislain Barrois, CEO of Mediterráneo Mediaset España Group.
Atresmedia is extending the commercial life of its programming through deals with streaming platforms. Its latest Netflix deal brings Antena 3’s daily drama “Dreams of Freedom” to the platform, with Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo‘s “Veneno” also set to join the service. Since 2025, a Disney+ deal brings Spanish subscribers 300-plus hours annually from Atresmedia’s Atresplayer.
“Rather than a change, what we are doing is consolidating our content distribution strategy,” says José Antonio Antón, general director of Atresmedia.
The volume of content Netflix licensed in Spain rose from 2,420 hours in 2024 to 2,829 in 2025, including around 700 hours from RTVE and Atresmedia, up from 543 a year earlier, Ampere Analysis estimates.
“The increase in production costs makes it ever more difficult for a single operator to assume the financing of certain projects on its own,” says Rafael Bardem, RTVE’s deputy director of co-productions.
For 3Cat, those partnerships also shape projects from the development stage. “The earlier the principal editorial and financial partners come aboard, the easier it is to accommodate the conditions each considers essential or non-negotiable,” says Pío Vernis, 3Cat’s director of audiovisual business.
Charting Ferran Adrià’s culinary revolution at his restaurant El Bulli, drama “Gènesi” has Netflix aboard across multiple territories, with New Regency also handling international distribution outside Spain.
Over the next three years, Movistar Plus plans to increase its annual output of Spanish originals from eight to 16 series, alongside another 10 titles through co-production and rights acquisition agreements. Recent Movistar Plus co-productions include “Killing a Bear,” with Arte France.
Barrois is more cautious about international co-productions. “From an industrial and economic point of view, if you find someone with whom to share the bill, fantastic. But editorially it is more complicated,” he says. “We design our series with our audience and Spain in mind.”
Genre alone does not determine how well a series travels. “The principal factor is good stories which, regardless of whether they are more local or more global, allow viewers in any country” to engage with them and relate to them, says Aguilar.
Vernis also sees international appeal in the cultural roots of Max Original co-production “Pubertat,” set against Catalonia’s castells, or “human towers” that are built during festivals and celebrations.
