SAN JOSE, Calif.—Roku, Inc. has launched Espacio Latino, a new destination for U.S. Hispanic audiences, offering a wide collection of programming geared at Spanish speakers on The Roku Channel, which is free for users.
The launch is notable because Hispanic viewers have long been avid users of streaming media and their streaming video usage over-indexes the general population. While companies like Univision, Telemundo and Roku have recently been ramping up their streaming offerings for Hispanics, streaming media companies have faced persistent complaints about lack of content targeting to Hispanics.
In launching the service, Roku noted that the user appetite for free Spanish language content on The Roku Channel is strong; nearly 70% of Spanish language viewing households watching The Roku Channel do not have pay TV and they used The Roku Channel 3+ days per week in March of 2022..
At launch, Espacio Latino will feature thousands of hours of free movies and TV shows in Spanish, some of which are original and exclusive to Espacio Latino, plus popular English titles dubbed and sub-titled in Spanish.
Espacio Latino will include over 50 Spanish language Live TV channels, of which more than 25 are brand new to The Roku Channel. Espacio Latino audiences will also have the ability to add Spanish language Premium Subscriptions to access and enjoy all their favorite content in one place, Roku said.
Additionally, Roku Original titles will be available on Espacio Latino, including the recently released series Mamas, narrated in Spanish by Zoë Saldaña. An all-new, Spanish Language Roku Original, "Natural Born Narco", will debut on July 8.
Espacio Latino aggregates a variety of popular Spanish language content from such content creators as NBCUniversal Telemundo, Hemisphere Media Group, Cisneros Media, Canela.TV, The Weather Channel en Español, Lionsgate, Cinedigm, A+E Networks, BBC Studios, Sony Pictures Television, Film Movement, Pantaya, EstrellaTV, TelevisaUnivision, beIN SPORTS and more.
Ashley Hovey, head of The Roku Channel, AVOD explained that the “launch of Espacio Latino marks an exciting step forward in our efforts to create a unified Spanish language experience for millions of streamers to enjoy on The Roku Channel. Our team worked diligently with some of the most renowned content providers in the Spanish language space to create a robust lineup of top tier telenovelas, sports, news, movies, TV series and more for audiences to enjoy for free. We’re ecstatic to introduce Espacio Latino and can’t wait to continue creating a strong Spanish language entertainment experience on The Roku Channel.”
