For all its inconveniences, the pandemic has also opened doors of opportunities for entertainment industry players brave enough to take the plunge.
Take, for example, VIVA Communications, Inc.—known formerly as VIVA Entertainment— and its foray into streaming services via Vivamax in 2021 amid the COVID-19 situation.
It was a bold move out of necessity to adapt to changing times and viewers' preferences in the Internet era.
Today, Vivamax boasts almost six million subscribers who consume the platform’s roster of original and classic titles from VIVA’s extensive catalog.
Buoyed by this success, the company rolled out its latest streaming platform dubbed Viva Prime to cater to a wider audience that includes children and families.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VIVAMAX AND VIVA PRIME
CONTENT
Valerie del Rosario, senior vice president for Content Creation and Development of TV Production and Creative Research, described Vivamax as “more risque” and “edgier,” whereas Viva Prime is “mas accessible” and “pang-lahat.”
SUBSCRIPTION FEE
For PHP49 a day, viewers can watch on Viva Prime new and classic local titles, documentaries, live streams, concerts, series, and Korean, Asian, and Hollywood hit movies.
Those wanting an ad-free viewing experience can subscribe for PHP99 a month.
Viva Prime is accessible through the Vivamax app.
Meanwhile, Vivamax's one-month plan is PHP149.
HOW VIVAMAX CAME ABOUT
Launching Viva Prime is yet another proof that streaming is now the way to go for content producers, big and small.
At the intimate lunch hosted by VIVA on January 30, 2023, at the Greyhound Cafe in The Podium, Vincent del Rosario, COO and president of VIVA Films, recalled how recent events led them to take the online streaming route.
While Vivamax was on their radar pre-pandemic, it kept getting put off until they were led to launch the platform out of necessity.
"Meron kaming labing-pitong pelikula, hindi namin alam kung paanong gagawin. At the time, siyempre, hindi namin alam kung mag-o-open pa ang cinema, e," Vincent recounted.
"Hindi inaasahan ito, e. Nasa ano ito, parang nasa incubation to pagkakaroon ng streaming platform.
"I think two years inaral namin. The numbers weren’t healthy pa, park muna natin.
"Then nung pandemic [around] two, three months, naisip ni boss, sabi ni dad [VIVA founder Vic del Rosario Jr.], 'Anong gagawin natin sa mga pelikulang ito?'
"'Malabo na itong maipalabas,' sabi niya. 'Kausapin niyo na yung grupo, magbuo na tayo ng team.'"
It was new territory even for a company with years of solid experience in media and entertainment.
Vincent said, "Wala kaming empleyado pa. We have people, but they were either nasa films, nasa music, nasa art, and then ni-launch namin [Vivamax] without any expectations."
What VIVA lacked in knowledge on the technological aspects needed to run a streaming platform, it more than made up with its vast collection of content spanning decades.
That was more than enough to jumpstart VIVA's latest venture.
"Sabi namin, may library tayo, 3,000 hours of content, lagay muna natin diyan para kahit papaano may reason to subscribe. And then gawa tayo ng pelikula o tapusin natin yung mga pelikula, lagay natin isa-isa.
"Siyempre nagsimula kami parang 100 [titles] ganun, unti-unti lang.
"So it was born out of the situation."
Needless to say, Vivamax helped VIVA weather out the uncertainty brought by the global pandemic.
Vincent explained the logic behind the decision to introduce another platform that differentiates itself from its more daring and controversial sister streaming site.
"Yung streaming na negosyo, itong ginagawa namin, yung Viva Prime, Vivamax, parang naiihalintulad namin sa negosyo ng cable na kung saan ang individual channels are themed," he said.
"May tema siya. So manood ka ng ESPN, it’s all sports. Manood ka ng CNN, it’s all news. Then manood ka ng HBO, all movies, genre based.
"So Vivamax, Viva Prime, and meron pa later on na i-introduce na apps, is all being done to mirror yung nangyari sa cable."
WHY OFFER VIVA PRIME?
Like any upstart, Vivamax went through growing pains before finding its footing in the online streaming space.
The people behind Viva Prime look to apply all these lessons to boost the platform's chances of succeeding early on.
Likewise, Viva Prime hopes to take on the winning strategies of Vivamax, though from a more wholesome perspective, to capture its target audience.
"Yung inu-offer kasi nitong platform is yung accessibility," said Valerie.
"As Sir Vincent mentioned, hindi pa naaabot ng marami yung Internet, di ba?
"But people can actually, and people do this, they go to the mall and download the content kasi puwede po yun gawin sa Vivamax, and then dun sila nanonood. I think kaya siya successful.
"At the same marami pang content na iba na puwede ka mapanood na hindi mo mapapanood sa ibang platforms, kaya siya successful."
Vincent added, "I think for Viva Prime, yung difference is yung value proposition.
"Of course, you have to live with the ads that go with it.
"Pero binababa namin to PHP49 para mas accessible sa tao."
But despite the lower subscription fee, Vincent assured, "Para i-avoid yung redundancies, i-avoid din na pareho yung content offering.
"Dini-define maigi nina Valerie, the programming committee yung content na papasok dito sa Prime, yung ipapasok sa Max."
But there will come a time when "iba-bicycle siya," which means it will be shown via Prime after it was housed in Vivamax for a period of time.
Will there be TV series as well?
Val replied, "The first one that we will launch na original is actually The Rain in España. Soon.
"Yung mga ibang series na rin na nalabas sa Vivamax, you'll see it din sa Viva Prime."
The Rain in España, originally a Wattpad story, is headlined by Heaven Peralejo as Luna; Marco Gallo as Kalix; Gab Lagman as Sevi; Bea Binene as Via, and many more.