U.S.-Based Castalia Communications Launches New Streaming Service Europa+ In Latin America

Atlanta-based Castalia Communications and Mexico City-based investment fund, Innokap have launched Europa+ (Europa Más), a new streaming service in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The ad-free digital video subscription service offers European programming – from German series to French dramas to Italian crime fiction, and British reality – from content producers like BBC Studios, Studio Canal, TF1, ZDF, NordicWorld, Studio 100, Spiegel and Mediaset. The series will stream in their original language. Some content has been dubbed into other languages, including English. The majority of the programs are subtitled in Spanish and English. 

According to Castalia, the service is “designed for Latin Americans of European descent and the large community of those passionate about European culture.”

The service arrives to a crowded marketplace, where global original content producer Netflix
NFLX
reigns supreme, and other U.S. services like Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple+ have gained considerable ground in the region. That’s not counting other Latin American streaming services, such as Claro Video, Movistar Play and the widespread cable penetration that include multiple channels from Europe.

“Europa+ is about adding something extra. While many consumers already watch a lot of on-demand content via many competitor services, Europa+ adds something different to their entertainment offering,” says Europa+ COO and Managing Director Rubén Mendiola, who was previously president of cable network NBC Universo (formerly mun2).

Without a doubt, this is a very niche streaming service. How viable is it and just how big is their target audience? 

“Based on available data, we estimate the size of the European expat community across the Latin American and Caribbean region to be well above one million,” responds Mendiola. “Additionally, there is a large audience of people of European descent and lovers of European programming. We recognize the broad appeal of this high-quality programming and we are actively adding Spanish subtitles to nearly all the shows on the platform so that it can be enjoyed by everyone.”

Europa+ is available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices and all shows are available for download for later viewing on portable devices. 

Castalia is the co-owner of Mexicanal, a pay TV channel targeting Mexicans in the United States.