Tag: Latin America

Henrique Braun gets promoted to EVP & COO at The Coca-Cola Co

MUMBAI: Come the new year and Henrique Braun will be carrying a new designation at The Coca-Cola Co. Last week, he was named executive vice-president & chief operating officer. In his expanded role, Braun will be responsible for all of the company’s operating units worldwide. He will report to chairman & CEO James Quincey.

Braun currently serves as EVP & president, international development, overseeing the company’s operating units for Latin America; Japan & South Korea; Asean & south Pacific; Greater China and Mongolia; Africa; India & southwest Asia; and Eurasia and Middle East.

As COO, Braun will add oversight of the north America and Europe operating units.

“Henrique has built an impressive track record of driving our growth strategy along with numerous operational accomplishments, all while keeping the consumer as the center of decisions,” Quincey said. “He has proven to be a trusted, strategic leader with a reputation for developing talent and delivering results.”

Prior to his current role, Braun served as president of the Latin America operating unit from 2020 to 2022 and as president of the Brazil business unit from 2016 to 2020. From 2013 to 2016, he was president of the company’s Greater China & Korea business unit.

Braun, 56, joined The Coca-Cola Co in 1996 in Atlanta and progressed through roles of increasing responsibilities in north America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Those positions included supply chain, new business development, marketing, innovation, general management and bottling operations. Braun has served in regional, business unit and corporate functions.

“I am energised and honored to take on this broader role and look forward to partnering with James, our executive leadership team, bottling partners and associates to deliver on our total beverage strategy and drive growth across the company and our system worldwide,” Braun said.

The following leaders will report to Braun:
Selman Careaga, president, ASEAN & South Pacific operating unit;
Nikos Koumettis, president, Europe operating unit;
Gilles Leclerc, president, Greater China and Mongolia operating unit;
Jennifer Mann, EVP and president, North America operating unit;
Luisa Ortega, president, Africa operating unit;
Murat Ozgel, president, Japan & South Korea operating unit;
Bruno Pietracci, president, Latin America operating unit;
Sanket Ray, president, India & Southwest Asia operating unit;
Sedef Salingan Sahin, president, Eurasia and Middle East operating unit.

Braun holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering from the University Federal of Rio de Janeiro, a master’s of science degree from Michigan State University and an MBA from Georgia State University.

December 16, 2024
Zee Mundo lauched as a Fast service in Latin America

MUMBAI: Prerparense, chicos. Aqui vamos!

In English that translates into “get ready boys. Here we come!” That’s exactly the mood at Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The entertainment television network has moved into the Latin American market for the second time with the launch of Zee Mundo. A free advertising supported channel (Fast), it is the second such channel that the Punit Goenka-led company has introduced in the region – the first being Zee BollyWorld.

Zee Mundo carries a mix of Spanish-dubbed Indian content ranging from popular Indian films to series. The Fast service is available on LG Electronics north America, Xiaomi Technology, Freebie TV and Wisp TV. The distribution of the channel was facilitated by Amagi.

Making this announcement on Linkedin, Zee EVP head of partnerships Akhilesh Gupta said that the launch will only help strengthen the network’s presence in the Latam region and that team couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come.

Zee Mundo – which was launched in 2016 as a pay TV service – was earlier available off Dish Latino, Sky and several cable networks in Latin America as a linear subscription service at a price of $4.99 per month.

October 27, 2024
Madhav Sheth elevated to lead realme brand expansion in Latin America

Mumbai: Chinese smartphone brand realme has elevated its vice president (VP) and India and Europe CEO Madhav Sheth to spearhead the company’s business operations in the Latin America region.

Under the new designation of realme VP and India, Europe and Latin America CEO, Sheth will lead the product, marketing, brand-building, and sales functions in these regions, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

In Mexico and Brazil, realme will prioritise product development, which is always a top priority for the company and will aim towards building a strong local workforce in the Latin American region. In addition, realme will optimise its market and channel strategies in Mexico and Brazil.

“Under Sheth’s stewardship, realme has ascended to the top five vendors in Europe in Q2 2021 as per Strategy Analytics, and the company plans to do the same in Mexico and Brazil next year,” the brand said.

According to a report by Counterpoint Research, realme now ranks among the top six smartphone brands globally. It is the fastest brand ever to reach 100 million shipments in the history of the global smartphone market, as per Strategy Analytics. The brand ranks among the top five smartphone makers in 18 markets in Q2 2021, as per Canalys.

“The foray into a new and promising market reflects realme’s vision to bring trendsetting technology and leapfrogging performance to the consumers in the region, enabling it to achieve its ambition of gaining dual 100 million users by 2023 and build its way to a leading tech brand,” realme said.

September 23, 2021
Netflix launches improved parental controls for families

MUMBAI: Netflix, based on feedback from its members, has launched new, improved controls on its service to help parents, guardians and elders make the right viewing decisions for their families.

Parents can now:

● PIN protect individual profiles to prevent kids from using them;

● Tailor their kids’ Netflix experience by filtering out titles that are not appropriate for their age;

● Remove individual series or films by title. When this filter is used, the blocked title(s) won’t show up anywhere in that profile;

● Easily review each profile’s setting using the “Profile and Parental Controls” hub within account settings;

● See what their kids have been watching within the profile created for them; and

● Turn off auto play of episodes in kids profiles.

These controls can be added to the Netflix profile by going to account settings on a laptop or a mobile browser.

“Choice and control have always been important for our members, especially parents. We hope that these improved controls will help parents make the right choices for their families,” said Netflix kids product manager Michelle Parsons.

Recognising that every family is different and to give them more viewing choices, Netflix is investing in a wide variety of kids and family films and TV shows from all over the world, including award-winning animated films like Klaus, interactive shows like Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal and kids’ series such as Boss Baby. The Indian kids series Mighty Little Bheem is the most-watched preschool series on Netflix globally, and the second-most watched kids’ series for Netflix worldwide.

Since its launch in April 2019, Mighty Little Bheem has been watched by over 27 million households worldwide, including in Latin America, Australia and New Zealand. Netflix has also announced Ghee Happy, an animated show about Hindu deities who, as children, attend a special daycare and discover their own powers.

April 8, 2020
Zee Mundo aims to quench thirst for Bollywood in Hispanic areas

MUMBAI: The Hispanic population has always been associated with entertainment and merrymaking. Much of the Spanish-speaking areas are also big television addicts. Given that Spanish is the second most widely spoken languages of the world, there is also a bustling TV market that caters to the vast Spanish regions.

That doesn’t deter them from experimenting with newer content. Hispanics have also been bitten by the Bollywood bug due to its affinity for fun and frolic in several of its movies. Catering to this demand is Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) channel Zee Mundo. Launched in September 2016 for the Hispanic market in the US and then for the Latin American market in 2017, it is the first pay-TV channel that shows Bollywood entirely dubbed in Spanish with over 200 movies on display and two series.

It recently underwent a revamp of its website to include a video-on-demand (VOD) catalogue.

Hispanics are among the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the US and are the country’s youngest demographic, with a median age nearly a decade younger than the population at large. There are 11 million Hispanic pay subscribers in the US.

The popularity of the platform is covering 12 countries. ZEEL content business evangelist & president strategy – international business Rajeev Kheror says, “Zee Mundo has 3 million subscribers in the Americas including Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Peru, Chile and US Hispanic. It will be launching in Argentina soon. The Facebook fan following is more than 400k with a total reach of 7MM. Furthermore, the launch of its website carrying exclusive content has doubled its page views three months after it launched.”

Adding to this, ZEEL head of business, US Hispanic & Latin America Javier Lopez Casella says, “The website zeemundo.com is the first to exhibit movies in streaming. We have 3MM subs in 12 countries, launching soon in Colombia, Chile and Argentina. Within 3 months of the launch, we have 300k page viewers.”

ZEE Mundo has access to the entire library of Zee movies and series and plans to premiere two top recent Bollywood movie hits per month exclusively dubbed in Spanish and in HD. To add on, Kheror says that it has launched a new property named Zee Mundo Specials including breathtaking Bollywood show business, red carpet, facts of celebrity life, award events and concerts.

“Zee Mundo has 100 per cent of rights for all digital platforms: catch up, VOD, OTT and TV everywhere. It is unique in the market, second window of Bollywood and has content that has never seen in Spanish in Pay,” added Casella.

Both romance and action movies are the most watched as well as the internationally awarded epic stories like Jodha Akbar. However, the most interesting fact is that Spaniards are in love with Shah Rukh Khan. “Shah Rukh Khan leads the list of talent favoured by all Spanish-speaking Americas followed by top talents such as Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone, Ashkay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor,” shares Kheror.

The expansion for Mundo in the Americas consists of spreading awareness among the consumers to know about the latest of Bollywood content and celebrities through local media in key markets, movie bloggers and influencers. Kheror adds that they will be generating engagement involving the consumer (Bollywood dance contest, become a Bollywood movie critic), educating the consumer of similarities between the Bollywood culture and Latin Americas through ZEEMILITUDES (Zeemilarities in English) campaign, by launching ‘positive acceptance campaign’ of the Spanish word Si (yes) = Zee, by promoting and showcasing celebrity and off-air content via zeemundo.com, partnering with local sites to generate brand and channel awareness and by participating in Bollywood-driven (for example dance and movie showings) and Indian influenced (Holi, the festival of colors) programmes.”

In the content bouquet of Zee Mundo, movies and shows of different genres like romance, drama, action, comedy, suspense, thriller and more are available. Surprisingly, Zee Mundo has a classic collection of both old and new Bollywood movies including Badlapur, NH10, Don, Shamitabh, Chennai Express, Laksh, Khoobsurat, Naach, Main Prem ki Deewani Hoon, Vivah, Mausam and many more.

Last year, a notable exception was the Spanish-language Netflix series Narcos that went raging through the world. Many critics and fans appear to have embraced the Spanish stars speaking in their own language instead of English.

Also Read:

Regional OTT content more than just catch-up TV

2017: The year OTTs went regional in India

Zeel numbers up on higher ad revenue in third quarter

February 6, 2018
Discovery acquires ‘Untold Stories’ & ‘Cleveland Hustles’ from GRB

MUMBAI: GRB Entertainment has announced sale to Discovery of their Latin America and US Hispanic channels. Both picked up several seasons of long-running GRB-produced medical show Untold Stories of the E.R. and Discovery Latin America acquired the new LeBron James series, Cleveland Hustles.

Untold Stories of the E.R. breaks open the secret world of hospital Emergency Rooms. These are real doctors and the real cases that changed their lives! Witness the most amazing, bizarre, and emotionally explosive stories ever told about the clash of life and death in the Emergency Room.

Cleveland Hustles follows NBA superstar LeBron James and longtime friend and business partner Maverick Carter as they give four aspiring local entrepreneurs the chance to realize their business dreams while also helping to revitalize neighborhoods in their hometown of Cleveland.

“GRB appreciates the strength of the Latin American and Hispanic markets and we are pleased to place two of our top shows in these territories with Discovery. Untold Stories of the E.R. has been one of our top selling programs around the world for many years and the brand new Cleveland Hustles is already proving to be a very hot property. We look forward to announcing further deals for Latin America and beyond from this year’s NATPE,” said GRB SVP international distribution Michael Lolato.

January 17, 2017
Discovery acquires ‘Untold Stories’ & ‘Cleveland Hustles’ from GRB

MUMBAI: GRB Entertainment has announced sale to Discovery of their Latin America and US Hispanic channels. Both picked up several seasons of long-running GRB-produced medical show Untold Stories of the E.R. and Discovery Latin America acquired the new LeBron James series, Cleveland Hustles.

Untold Stories of the E.R. breaks open the secret world of hospital Emergency Rooms. These are real doctors and the real cases that changed their lives! Witness the most amazing, bizarre, and emotionally explosive stories ever told about the clash of life and death in the Emergency Room.

Cleveland Hustles follows NBA superstar LeBron James and longtime friend and business partner Maverick Carter as they give four aspiring local entrepreneurs the chance to realize their business dreams while also helping to revitalize neighborhoods in their hometown of Cleveland.

“GRB appreciates the strength of the Latin American and Hispanic markets and we are pleased to place two of our top shows in these territories with Discovery. Untold Stories of the E.R. has been one of our top selling programs around the world for many years and the brand new Cleveland Hustles is already proving to be a very hot property. We look forward to announcing further deals for Latin America and beyond from this year’s NATPE,” said GRB SVP international distribution Michael Lolato.

January 17, 2017
FremantleMedia & Telefe to co-develop entertainment formats for Latin America

MUMBAI: In a bid to grow its business in emerging markets, including Latin America, FremantleMedia has inked a two year co-development partnership with Argentina’s television network, Telefe to create and develop entertainment/non-scripted formats for the Argentinian and wider-Latin American market.

Based in Buenos Aires, the development team will comprise staff from both companies, with Telefe drawing on FremantleMedia’s creative strength to co-develop original entertainment IP. Telefe will have exclusive rights on all new shows to broadcast on its Argentinian network in Argentina and across Latin America, reaching millions of viewers. FremantleMedia has worldwide rights to the shows created through the deal, which will be sold through its international distribution network, FMI and its global network of production companies.

FremantleMedia Latin America CEO Adrián Santucho said, “Today’s agreement is an important and exciting step forward in FremantleMedia’s plans to grow its business in Latin America as we develop and produce shows for the Argentinian market. As the country’s most popular television network, we couldn’t have asked for a better partner. We’re really looking forward to working with Tomás and his team over the next two years to create shows that will appeal to audiences in Argentina and around the world.”

Telefe head of entertainment Tomás Yankelevich added, “FremantleMedia is a world-renowned producer of entertainment shows, loved by audiences all over the globe. We embark on this exciting challenge with great enthusiasm. Telefe has been producing entertainment shows with vast success for decades in Argentina. Now, with the expansion of our content development team, and working together with Fremantle, we know it is a big step forward to generate new formats, not only for our screen but also for the rest of the world.”

The deal with Telefe is the latest of a number of creative partnerships undertaken by FremantleMedia recently in order to co-develop new formats. In April 2015, the company set up a joint venture with Shanghai Media Group’s BesTV and China Media Capital to create formats for China, and announced in September that it was teaming up with newly-formed Danish production company, Skylark, to develop entertainment formats via a creative hub, based in Copenhagen.

January 20, 2016
FremantleMedia & Telefe to co-develop entertainment formats for Latin America

MUMBAI: In a bid to grow its business in emerging markets, including Latin America, FremantleMedia has inked a two year co-development partnership with Argentina’s television network, Telefe to create and develop entertainment/non-scripted formats for the Argentinian and wider-Latin American market.

Based in Buenos Aires, the development team will comprise staff from both companies, with Telefe drawing on FremantleMedia’s creative strength to co-develop original entertainment IP. Telefe will have exclusive rights on all new shows to broadcast on its Argentinian network in Argentina and across Latin America, reaching millions of viewers. FremantleMedia has worldwide rights to the shows created through the deal, which will be sold through its international distribution network, FMI and its global network of production companies.

FremantleMedia Latin America CEO Adrián Santucho said, “Today’s agreement is an important and exciting step forward in FremantleMedia’s plans to grow its business in Latin America as we develop and produce shows for the Argentinian market. As the country’s most popular television network, we couldn’t have asked for a better partner. We’re really looking forward to working with Tomás and his team over the next two years to create shows that will appeal to audiences in Argentina and around the world.”

Telefe head of entertainment Tomás Yankelevich added, “FremantleMedia is a world-renowned producer of entertainment shows, loved by audiences all over the globe. We embark on this exciting challenge with great enthusiasm. Telefe has been producing entertainment shows with vast success for decades in Argentina. Now, with the expansion of our content development team, and working together with Fremantle, we know it is a big step forward to generate new formats, not only for our screen but also for the rest of the world.”

The deal with Telefe is the latest of a number of creative partnerships undertaken by FremantleMedia recently in order to co-develop new formats. In April 2015, the company set up a joint venture with Shanghai Media Group’s BesTV and China Media Capital to create formats for China, and announced in September that it was teaming up with newly-formed Danish production company, Skylark, to develop entertainment formats via a creative hub, based in Copenhagen.

January 20, 2016
StudioCanal sells ‘Spotless’ drama to Directv Latin America

MUMBAI: Spotless, the dark, irreverent and edgy one-hour drama series, has been acquired by Directv Latin America. The sale was handled by StudioCanal.

Spotless stars César-Award winning Marc-André Grondin, Denis Ménochet, Miranda Raison and Brendan Coyle. Produced by Tandem Productions, Spotless, a Canal+ Création Original, comprises 10 season one episodes and is co-created by BAFTA Award-winner Ed McCardie (Shameless) and Academy Award-winner Corinne Marrinan. Worldwide distribution is by StudioCanal.

“On Directv, our exclusive entertainment channel, has become a top performing channel among our subscribers by showcasing the very best in international premium series,” said Directv general manager Willard Tressel. “Spotless nicely fits our channel vision with a winning combination of a great cast, smart writing and stylish direction.”

“Latin American audiences will be enthralled by Spotless with its complex storyline, high drama and multi-layered characters. Provocative, flirtatious and enticing, this is an exceptional quality series extolled by the media during its recent run on NBCUniversal’s Esquire Network in the US market,” added StudioCanal executive vice president – sales and marketing Katrina Neylon.

January 18, 2016