Gestmusic, between the linear and the platforms, with Tint Rubira

Tinet Rubira, director of Gestmusic (Banijay iberia), transfers the current challenges of the producer, who continues to carry out first level to traditional television while taking his first steps on the platforms and is committed to offering his technological developments to the Broadcast industry.

Operation triumph, your face sounds to me, look who dances, now I fall! Boom, you are worth, catch a million, Martian chronicles o ¡There you! They are just a few examples of audiovisual heritage what Gestmusic has contributed to Spanish Television. Adalides of the Great set entertainment, in which all audiovisual elements They turn to achieve a shocking staging without giving up fun, Gestmusic Skill your know-how between talent shows, contests, musical programs, talk shows, fictions or great events.

Founded in 1985, the future of the producer seems insured. It will, however, not only by the hand of the Linear television, the one that has accompanied and entertaining an eager hearing of laughs, distractions and moments loaded with emotion. Las Platforms, whose nature is increasingly close to the small screen, multiply the opportunities of the production industry, and more at a crucial moment in which the fiction begins to leave space for entertainment.

In this interview, Tinet Rubira addresses this new context of production, as well as other themes that mark the day to day of Gestmusic: a commitment determined by production resources, his defense of the intellectual property, the reality of world export of formats, the battle for the spectator care, the growing importance of Direct on linear television or the tendencies that mark the agenda of those bodies in body and soul to the CONTENTS.

THE WORLD OF THE GREAT ETTENDANCE OF DISCÓ

Which ones consider that they are still the identity signs that mark the path and decisions of Gestmusic?

Gestmusic It is a producer that is a reference in Spain in the Great entertainment of set. We have made a hole, a name and a brand, especially in musical programs and competitions. This does not mean that we do not do everything, since we focus on any type of entertainment, support or platforms. Our goal is always to have the best entertainment formats at all times.

What resources does Gesmusic have to meet the needs of the Spanish audiovisual industry?

In Barcelona we have three plates. A study in which we do all the competitions, in which we now have the decoration of Catch one million and also our virtual set; other facilities in which we are making a fiction for TV3, and then we have the great set of Midapark, which is where we do the Your face sounds to me. When a large format enters, we go to Audiovisual Park of Catalonia, that is in Terrassa and it is from where we have done the last three editions of OT.

Our strategy involves having set always available, since we usually order the projects quite quickly. We are a producer with A lot of muscle And we have an internal structure that allows us that the preproduction and production process of the programs is relatively short.

Gestmusic has managed to sell its formats all over the world. How are you able to create programs that cross the identity of the environment for which it has been created?

The most important thing to keep in mind is that for something it works internationally Success in your local market. It is almost impossible to succeed worldwide on television. Everything works backwards: you have to know your market, spectators and customers, which are the chains, to make products designed for it. If you work, you will call The attention of the people around, which is what makes the formats expand. Thinking that you can create a worldwide format is a fallacy.

The think that you can create a format of World reach It's a fallacy.

On the other hand, the quality standard of the products we make of entertainment is quite high. You can watch any Gestmusic program that will be to compete on any European television, although we do not have the same budgets. We have always wanted our formats to have a seal at the visual level by above average. And this helps us when our ideas circulate through international markets, since people do not have to imagine how production would be, but already see all its possibilities. This has happened to us with formats such as Operation Triunfo, you are worth or Your face sounds to me, which is the entertainment format that has been sold most in the history of Spain: forty countries.

The unstoppable arrival of the platforms

He has previously mentioned among his clients to the platforms. In fact, Gestmusic has just released an entertainment format called Traits Spain para HBO Max…

Exact. One of the first big things we have done has been to adapt the international format Traitors For HBO Max, which is being a public and critical success. It's a reality, and Game show and is providing fresh air to this type of formats. There is a kind of consensus: you follow the impact it has had Traitors in networks and realize that 99% of opinions are positive, something that normally does not happen on television.

Gestmusic started as a classic producer of television products, but at the moment we produce content for any type of channel. Notice that a couple of years ago, in the middle of the pandemic, we did Top Gamers Academy, The first talent of gamers whose main diffusion channels were Twitch and YouTube Via streaming. We want our contents to circulate: we don't care where, but that they do it and that people consume them.

Entertainment in linear television is more and more frequently defined with social consumption and the fomo that directs implies. How does this concept of entertainment adapt to video platforms on demand?

The future of linear television goes through the live television. It remains the reference for a great event or for the present, which makes sense that a very high percentage of linear television programming is live and have that magazine format. In addition, linear television remains interesting, since with it you can become the conversation center, whenever you do something that attracts the attention of the public and gets it to be commented at the same time. That congregation capacity in the video on demand It is more difficult, but notice that there are already strategies on the platforms to perform the premieres on a given day or dose the chapters to be converse on them when considered more appropriate.

A time will come that will be very difficult to distinguish If a content is for a platform or one Linear television; largely, they will be interchangeable.

Little by little corrections are being made, since this is still a New paradigm in which everyone adapts to a new situation. The linear are discovering that what best serves to loyalty is the Great live entertainment, and, at the same time, the platforms maybe they are supersaturated with fiction and will begin to explore fields closest to linear television, such as the live broadcast of large events, as they are doing platforms with sports broadcasts.

Surely, after the great explosion of fiction, the platforms will get more momentum in the entertainment. Everyone is resitting and perhaps in five or six years the panorama will be completely different. Everything has been very new and There has been no time to analyze it or optimize it. He is still looking for the way.

Linear and platforms: two worlds, same direction

What formulas do you think they could integrate the platforms of the successful formats offered by linear televisions?

The platforms began oriented towards fiction and each platform had a specific fiction profile. Suddenly, the great successes of many of the platforms are the Documentaries based on personalities. These names manage to get the attention of your audience, it is cheaper than making a fiction and less risky. In the last year and a half, beyond fiction, which is still reigning, who cuts the cod are the true crimes, the documentaries that analyze a recent historical fact, the personalities And then there are also platforms that have opened the melon of the realities.

This is why I commented that everyone is looking for their place and is replacement. A time will come that will be very difficult to distinguish if a content is for a platform or linear television; largely, they will be interchangeable.

The return of Operation Triumph After several years of hiatus is on the Gestmusic table. The experience of Traitors In HBO Max it makes you think that a platform could be a valid distribution route for this format?

The great requirement for OT It is the straight. We love live entertainment and this program is like a football game: you can't see it if you already know the result. A great show like OT In which you are pending the gala, since it is the high point of the week, it is important that it occurs live, as well as that people can vote live through the application and comment what happens in real time.

The Platforms The batteries have been put and they are all preparing their Technical structure to offer direct.

Apart, Operation Triumph Beyond being a great talent show, renew the whole star system of this country. It is almost like a marketing panel: you expose 16 artists and the public decides at the end of who falls in love. In this way, you know that the winner, the finalist or the first five are artists who have earned the heart of a country, which already has the marketing campaign and the quality made. And I think it is important that all this happens live. So, you ask me what requirement I would put so that someone can do OT, this would be that we can do it live. It makes no sense that it is packaged.

Therefore, if there is any platform in Spain on demand on demand that would be offered to offer OT with a solid live, would that option value?

Clear. In addition, the platforms have put the batteries and they are all preparing their Technical structure to be able to offer direct. Netflix has already started with a show of Chris Rock, there are many platforms that have made concerts And many others are doing deports. That is the first step. With all this I do not want to detract from the linear, which are already ready for any project of this type. Therefore, the only requirement I would put is that it can be made live. If that possibility does not exist, we better or speak, because neither I imagine it nor do I think it will not be what the public is expected.

It is striking how, at the same time, linear television and platforms are making opposite tours.

Maybe, from here to three years, these Barriers do not exist. All linear have created their PlayersThey are buying fiction and entertainment, and offer their subscribers a fairly exclusive content. There are those who may think that the platforms are going to step on land to the linear, but these, who less, are ready. This is a tiny sea and we are all fishing in the same wipes.

The idea, the engine of everything

Gestmusic has always stood out for maintaining the IP of its formats. Is this conviction of preserving control of the formats conditioning your daily work, in a context in which platforms and televisions seek to have control and authorship of these programs?

It is always something we have fought. In the end, the television market is a ideas market. If you give up them, give up your business. This does not mean that you cannot share the authorship or seek formulas in which everyone is comfortable. But you have to keep in mind that you go to any television or content market, and basically the business is done with ideas. It is the engine of everything, so you cannot give up it.

This makes a Lightly fierce To maintain the IP of everything, since it is the heart of our business. Without content, there is neither technology, nor set or anything. The nerve center is the content, and that content must be protect it.

In recent years, the creation of originals has proliferated, how does Gestmusic addresses these formulas or mixed models, in which intellectual property is shared?

You have to distinguish who has the idea and who risk your money so that this idea occurs. Then we are talking about sharing, seeing with what part of the repair we recognize the merits of each party. What cannot be is a "all for me", both on the one hand and on the other.

In the case of Gestmusic, which we are part of a large group as Banijay, it could be said that we have one more force of force, since we have more negotiation tools And we have a Weight in the industry. The annoyed thing is when you are a tiny company, you want your idea to see the light and maybe the conditions are draconian. Being part of a group makes things easier; A tad, not much.

A transverse technological approach

Addressing your technological approach, how do you prefer to address Gestmusic the technical resources to give life to your formats? Do you like to do everything in house, Is it appreciated to rely on the television or platform team?

It depends on each moment. Right now we are doing a production for Atresmedia called 1% that is recorded in San Sebastián de los Reyes. The set and technical team is from Antena 3 and they have made it luxury, although we also have an important technical part that has worked side by side with the technical leaders and the entire antenna 3 team.

We like this type of collaborations and we have been doing them for a long time. We are a producer that we have the ability to do in house all of the Production chain: Preproduction, content, graphics, recording, sets, postproduction. We just have to broadcast!

You could even say that they have done that, since they have several streaming experiences and social networks ...

That is true (laughs). Like now we are with 1%, all the galas we made of Operation Triumph They were made with technical equipment and mobile unit of TVE. And there is no problem! It depends on each moment and project. On the other hand, there are projects that deliver key to hand and the chains do not intervene in the process.

We have one peculiar way of working. We are very meticulous, we really like the whole technological part, we always go one step forward and, when we find some partner That goes to the same pace as us and gives us solutions that are up to it, we are delighted. In that sense, we do not need to do everything alone. We are quite good, but we are not the best of all. In addition, we like to share, because when you do it, you discover other ways of working and advance faster.

Gestmusic, future Broadcast solution supplier?

In this line of technological impulse, they have recently emphasized their new virtual set or technological developments such as the Virtual Public System (VAS). How important is in Gestmusic the R&D and the development of Broadcast technologies?

It has a lot, since it places us a step further than the rest of the competition. It's a added value. For example, when we did all the Digital Content Dissemination Strategy of Operation Triumph In 2017, we got into a world that nobody had traveled. We deepen it and it did very well. Today is a case study that has been studied in all business schools.

Now, we have launched ourselves to death with the Virtual set. We have a small group of very young people who during this last year have been developing all kinds of animations, working with disguise, squeezing the technology of virtual reality and now we can apply everything on the screen. In addition, we have made a video game for Roblox Related to the fiction we are doing for TV3, called Beta.

The VAS (Virtual audience system) is a tool What are we going to market and share with the rest of the industry.

All this has allowed us to know new ways to Apply technology to entertainment. The same happened to us, the Virtual Audience System, which was the system that we invented from Zoom technology to have virtual audience on the set of OT During pandemia. We have reached a point of development of that project that we have even received funds Next Generation so that the system can work directly from an application in the cloud. We are half development, and we will try that at the end of summer we have been able to achieve our goals.

Do you think Gestmusic could be a provider of technologies solutions for the content industry in the future, taking as an example the development of the VAS?

Is where we are going. We worked with the architecture of Zoom, but the problem we had is that, every time the software was updated, that harmed us. In addition, Zoom was created so that there were a lot of connected people making videoconferences, while we do not love so many people, but other keys as little latency and a very good video and audio quality. Therefore, we are looking for a solution for the viewer to have the feeling that it is inside the set having an immersive experience.

This will be a tool that we are going to market and share with the rest of the industry. Is the ultimate goal of Gestmusic to devote yourself to technology? No, but since we have entered this land and we are going well, we are going to continue with it.

It happens similar to our virtual screen, which was visited by the director of the ISE and acknowledged that it was one of the largest in Europe. We do not have so much internal production to use the screen, but we are going to offer it to the rest of the producers. This is very good for us, because thanks to this we are going to experiment New entertainment formulas With this type of screen.

Opportunities in a battle for relevance

What tendencies glimpse in the short term within the entertainment field, either for television or platforms?

On the one hand, there is that trend of recover historical formats successful, since people have good memories of them. Then, within the world of linear television, obviously everything goes to the live programming That connects you with the present and gives you the feeling that if you are not seeing it you are missing something. (…) Another line that is working very well are Contests. The contests make chain brand. You know what contest is in each chain, as well as fiction it costs more.

The Television-Event, that format that you have the need to see it because, if you do not, you cannot comment with your group of friends or virtual community, through Twitter or social networks. It is something that will spend a day and nothing more. This year we have made the gala of the Gaudí Awards and the gala of the Goya Awards. They are events that you want to see because you want to know who wins the prize, what dresses are we put on, or if they will make jokes or chascarrillos. The musical performances of the galas are also very important, since you will not see them somewhere else. He is not an artist making his promotion, but knows that they are unique and special interpretations.

We cannot guarantee success, but, as we work, We try to minimize Failure with a Creativity and Professional Force that they will push each idea.

The creation of this type of content congrega To the people. I remember when the late nights And the next morning the topic of conversation was what had happened in the Mississippi. Or for example, when I was much smaller, all of my class saw the A, two, three ... And we commented on Monday in class. In the end, you like to be part of the group and have a conversation issue. Television, for many years, has been the great catalyst for conversations. Now there are streaming platforms, video games, cinema, ebooks, twitter or tiktok, which is almost a drug and you can throw a lot of time watching videos without realizing it. Before we had it easier, since We competed with less sources of entertainment.

What are the ways to get entertainment formats such as those made by Gestmusic to come in this dispute and get that desired relevance among so many options?

We give certain guarantees. We cannot guarantee success, but, as we work, We try to minimize Failure with a Creativity and Professional Force They will push every idea. In addition, we are a very aware company that, if you do not advertise what you do, if you do not explain or do not have a good prescriber that tells the spectators that you are doing something that is worth it, you can see, you can lose in that sea of content.

It is what happened to us with the Operation Triumph From 2017. We returned to Spanish Television, we were going to Prime Time of linear television and we realized that young people were no longer on television and less in 1. that led us to perform all digital development with the aim of recovering people. We study the potential public and discover that these were on YouTube and social networks, and there we were. Right now we not only have the obligation to create an attractive content that is to la end, but we also have to prepare a Digital Communication Strategy And of marketing so that the people who direct the content find out what you are doing and that they may like it.

An interview with Sergio Julián Gómez