LOS ANGELES—Estrella Media has announced that it will use the FreeWheel ad tech platform to expand its connected TV (CTV) advertising business.
As part of the deal, FreeWheel will power Estrella’s revenue strategy for direct and programmatic monetization, including all CTV and OTT inventory, on EstrellaTV, Estrella News, Cine EstrellaTV, Estrella Games and the EstrellaTV App, the companies explained.
Estrella drove over 1.33 billion streaming minutes of its original content in November with a third of it on CTV.
The companies also noted the rapid growth of Hispanic audiences on streaming media. According to Nielsen research, Hispanic households over-index on CTV consumption compared to the average U.S. household and, according to Horowitz Research, seven in 10 Hispanic TV content viewers watch Spanish-language programming, up 11% from last year.
Furthermore, the share of Hispanic TV content viewers who rely only on streaming has continued its upward trajectory: 38% of Hispanic only subscribe to streaming services and not to an MVPD.
"Our passionate audience is watching more CTV than ever before,” said René Santaella, chief digital and streaming officer at Estrella. "We need to make sure they get an excellent free ad-supported experience surrounding the content they love. FreeWheel is helping our ad sales operation achieve better ROI on CTV so everyone wins.”
"As audiences fragment across screens, programmers and advertisers need solutions that can help them find and scale this viewership across CTV," said Katy Loria, chief revenue officer at FreeWheel. "Estrella is seeing significant growth with the important US Hispanic market across its CTV audiences. We're thrilled to be a key partner to help the company drive and monetize this business.”
