TerraTV by Terra Networks

THE BEST ONLINE TV SERVICE IN LATIN AMERICA

Terra is a leading Internet company and original online content producer, owning the broadest audience in the U.S. Hispanic market. Terra operates both as a Web portal and Internet service provider in the USA, Spain, and 16 Latin American countries. Terra has approximately 60 million unique visitors per month in Latin America, 10 million unique users per month on Terra TV, with an average of 66 million streams per month, and a collection of 250 thousand videos.  Most of its content is open to the general public.  Terra TV, built by LabOne Systems, uses Media-iBox software engines to capture, manage and broadcast thousands of hours of original and third party content to its users and subscribers.    

BUSINESS SITUATION

Terra Networks endeavored to be the prime destination for broadcast-quality online video in Latin America, offering Hollywood movies as well as television series produced by U.S. based broadcast and cable networks, most already popular on cable TV.  Terra wanted to make this content available and free to the general public through an advertising-supported model. The service would offer the top series and shows from local networks in each country, along with original news, sports, music and entertainment content produced by Terra and others, including live events.

The main goal was to get a large audience, first in Latin America then in Spain and the United States, then monetize that audience through several models of advertising and sponsorship. Freedom to evolve and try new models continuously and with agility was key for the initiative to succeed.

The only service similar in breadth of content was a U.S. company, Hulu, owned by the TV networks with syndication restricted to the United States. Terra made content distribution deals with the largest content producers in the world, and needed a platform capable of enforcing complex licensing rules, including protection against piracy and unauthorized use, multi-language distribution and territorial restrictions.

SOLUTION

Terra and LabOne, together with the prestigious digital advertising agency Razorfish, developed the latest incarnation of Terra TV using Media-iBox technology. The platform delivered on all of Terra’s needs and added exciting new features to all aspects of the service, offering one of the best experiences in digital media available. Terra TV is pioneering several features found in only a few of the most advanced online video services in the market today.

Advertising

LabOne buit Terra TV tightly integrated with Terra’s existing ad platforms, Checkm8 (“Checkmate”) and Google’s DoubleClick. Media-iBox technology allows for smart tagging of videos and their context of playback with a host of metadata, allowing for greater control and relevance of ads. Besides traditional ad formats such as banners and pre- and post-rolls, the platform also offers special formats such as Web ads synchronized with video ads, overlay ads and several sponsorship placement options.

Playback Experience

Multi-segment videos offer the greatest combination of user experience and advertising opportunity. The best content at Terra TV is long-format series episodes, and those videos are served as multiple segments along a single timeline. Commercial-like interstitials appear between segments, offering monetization opportunities for Terra, as well as a less-stressing viewing experience, with the same story breaks and cliffhangers intended by the series’ creators. Direct, instant seek offers viewers the same freedom as Tivo on TV, allowing users to jump to any part of a video and have it immediately played back, without any of the delays associated with online video.