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On January 19, 2023, Viva Entertainment marks another milestone as Viva executives, led by its President and COO Vincent del Rosario, formally introduced to the entertainment press and vloggers the fruition of Boss Vic del Rosario Jr.'s newest vision—Viva Prime.

The event, held at the Le Reve Events Place in Quezon City, was attended by the Viva family as well as some of the country's top directors and creatives such as Mikhail Red, Jason Paul Laxamana, Crisanto Aquino, GB Sampedro, Victor Villanueva, Joy Aquino, at marami pang iba.

Ang Viva Prime ay isa ring streaming app kagaya ng highly successful Vivamax, na meron na ngayong close to 6M subscribers worldwide magmula nang inilungsad noong January 2021.

(At present, available na ang Vivamax in 110 countries, with 26,000 non-Pinoy subscribers.)

Ang kaibahan lang, ito ay naka-disenyo sa AVOD model o 'yong merong advertisements. Kaya naman mas mura itong di hamak sa Vivamax. At only P49, maa-access na ang initial 400 titles na laman nito. May option naman na ad-free at only P99.

"Parang YouTube or Spotify," ang simpleng paliwanag ni Direk Paul Basinillo, ang Chief Marketing and Creative head ng Viva na siyang topman sa media launch and sa paparating na grand launch ng app on January 29.

(Si Direk Paul din ang brains behind the "Ka-Viva" tagline because he likens Viva Prime to a TV network.)

"So, 'yon ang mas gusto namin, mas affordable," dagdag ni Vincent del Rosario. "Mas kaya ng pangkaraniwang Pinoy."

The birth of Viva Prime, of course, was anchored on the success of Vivamax, which remains to be the No. 1 streaming app sa bansa.

"For the past 18 months Vivamax continuous to be number one top grossing, top earning app in the Philippines for video streaming," pagmamalaki ni Ronan de Guzman, ang Vivamax COO na siya ring on top of things pag dating sa Viva Prime.

"I think in terms of 'yong third-party data po ano, actually tayo 'yong sine-search," patuloy niya. "Ang layo nu'ng iba, sa totoo lang. In terms of total search, in total views, malayo.

"Kung gusto ninyong malaman kung ano 'yong numero last year, you know Vivamax generated almost a hundred million views. It's about eight million views a month, about almost three hundred thousand a day. Ang pusong Pilipino, para sa Pilipino, 'yon po 'yong nagtatagumpay at sana po tangkilikin nila 'yong mga obra ng Viva."

Vivamax will continue to churn out the so-called risqué contents and will still deliver one new movie and one series episode per week. At ganoon din ang vision for Viva Prime.

"I think 'yong key driver sa subscription ng Vivamax dati, magiging key driver dito ngayon sa Viva Prime,  and 'yon 'yong pag-fulfill ng commitment sa subscribers na regular na may bagong content week in and week out," dagdag impormasyon ni Vincent.

"Sometimes twice studio content sa isang linggo. Kaya busy na si Tita June at si Valerie sa pelikula." 

(Vincent is referring to June Torrejon, SVP of Viva Communications, Inc. and the head of Viva's film department; and Valerie del Rosario, SVP for Content Creation and Development ng Viva.)

But Viva Prime will be home to movies and series na "p'wede sa lahat" including kids. Dito na rin mapapanood ang mga Viva classic and award-winning films, mga blockbuster movies, documentaries, Viva concert, at maging Hollywood and Korean blockbusters.

Sa Viva Prime din ilalapag ang mga bagong pelikulang nai-release ng Viva sa mga sinehan after a period of 45 days.

Dahil dito, natanong ang Viva president kung hindi raw ba risky for Viva na magpalabas pa sa mga sinehan gayung p'wede namang maghintay ang tao sa paglapag ng pelikula sa Viva Prime sa mas murang presyo. But according to Vincent, hindi nila binitawan ang theatrical outputs dahil mandate daw iyon ni Boss Vic del Rosario, Jr.

Mahal daw nila ang cinema. And while they believe that streaming is the future, naniniwala silang may mga taong patuloy na tatangkilik ng mga pelikula sa sinehan.

"Iba 'yong ano cinema experience," ani Vincent. "Maganda rin na mapanood mo sa mobile or sa bahay, pero iba 'yong nasa loob ka ng sinehan either with barkada or with your loved ones.

"Tulad ng Deleter, yan 'yong bagong labas namin. I think mas masaya s'yang panoorin sa big screen...and there are movies na meant for cinemas talaga and meron naman for streaming."

In fact, marami raw naka-line up na movies ang Viva na for theatrical release this year lalo pa't nag-topgrosser sa Metro Manila Film Festival 2022 ang dalawang pelikula nila, ang Deleter nga at Partners in Crime ni Vice Ganda.

"Malinaw na people would go back to cinemas with the right content. So, si Tita June [Torrejon], busy'ng busy kasi marami kaming naka-line up na mga movies for theatrical release. In fact, may palabas kami ngayon, ano, 'yong kay Kim [Molina] at kay Jerald [Napoles]—(Girlfriend na P'wede Na)—and then next week, ipapalabas naman 'yong kay Janno [Gibbs] na movie, Hello Universe.

"So, nandoon pa rin 'yong ano, pagmamahal namin sa large format na sining," diin ni Vincent. "Hindi 'yon nawawala sa aming gearing. Nae-enjoy namin na makapagpalabas sa sinehan.

"I think this year, twenty movies would pass through cinemas. Part of it, we need to have movies with our stars who have parang taken a back seat the past two years kasi naghahanap sila ng right material. Ngayon, most of them, meron nang gagawin o me nakasalang na nga. Plus, of course, working with the stars of the network and other management companies. So, masaya, very exciting."

Samantala, ang comeback movie ni Nadine Lustre na Greed ang magiging opening film ng Viva Prime, contrary sa nauna na naming naisulat na Maid in Malacañang (MiM). Meron pa raw pala kasing mga territories na hindi pa tapos maipalabas ang MiM gaya ng Taiwan kaya't hindi pa nila ito p'wedeng mailapag sa Viva Prime. But it will be their February 8 offering. Sa Viva prime din ipapapalabas ang highly-anticipated romantic series na The Rain in España.

If everything goes according to plan, 70 movies daw ang target na matapos ng Viva this year—may pang-theatrical, may pang Vivamax, at s'yempre, pang-Viva Prime.

"Si Val at si Tita June, every week between five to seven movies ang sinusuri nila, pinag-aaralan kung igi-green light, kung kailangan ayusin pa... there's at least 200 concepts—minimum—every year.

"So, lumalabo na 'yong mata ni Valerie, dati nang malabo 'yong mata ni Tita June...So, mahirap 'yong trabaho pero if you know your market and with the help of 'yong analytics namin and then 'yong history nga ng pagri-release namin ng pelikula sa cinemas, mas madali nang makapa kung ano 'yong gusto ng merkado. Pero s'yempre marami pa ring missteps along the way. We try to minimize na lang."

Sa January 29 ay magiging available na ang Viva Prime sa publiko. It can be availed inside the Vivamax app kaya madali na for existing Vivamax subscribers. P'wede rin naman itong ma-access on its own.

Here's how:

Kaya sa January 29, simulan na ang panonood ng premium content, anytime, anywhere, mga Ka-Viva!

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