Spain’s TV Powerhouses Forge New Partnerships as Series Biz Evolves

Spain’s TV industry is shifting gears as international buyers grow more selective, prompting its leading operators to rethink their series business. Pay TV operator Movistar Plus is scaling up in Spanish originals. Atresmedia is strengthening its longstanding relationship with Netflix, while Mediterráneo Mediaset is placing a large emphasis on international sales. Meanwhile, public broadcasters are pursuing different models of collaboration. RTVE shares financing and rights with overseas partners, while Catalonia’s 3Cat brings partners aboard at the development stage. “In a contracted economy and a very saturated market, we have to nurture the international side very carefully,” says Ghislain Barrois, CEO of Mediterráneo Mediaset España Group. Popular on Variety Barrois sees a shift in the global streamers’ buying priorities. “Now they are focusing much more on local series, and the rest of the market is adapting to that,” he says. “Licensing and co-production, too, are again an important tool,” says Guy Bisson, executive director of Ampere Analysis. Both fell out of favor during the peak-TV boom, but successive release windows now offer ways to “extend life and monetization opportunities,” he adds. Atresmedia is extending the commercial life of its programming through deals with streaming platforms. Its latest Netflix deal brings Antena 3’s daily drama “Dreams of Freedom” to the platform, with Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo‘s “Veneno” also set to join the service. Since 2025, a Disney+ deal brings Spanish subscribers 300-plus hours annually from Atresmedia’s Atresplayer. “Rather than a change, what we are doing is consolidating our content distribution strategy,” says José Antonio Antón, general director of Atresmedia. The broadcaster has long viewed global streamers “as an ally and not as a threat,” an approach that also informs content development. “We study this strategy carefully to ensure it does not cannibalize our business model but, on the contrary, expands and strengthens it,” Antón says. Atresmedia’s recent originals include “Adrift,” from Mediawan’s Boomerang TV and Buendía Estudios Canarias, about fishermen returning after being presumed dead. The volume of content Netflix licensed in Spain rose from 2,420 hours in 2024 to 2,829 in 2025, including around 700 hours from RTVE and Atresmedia, up from 543 a year earlier, Ampere Analysis estimates. Licensing existing programs is one part of the equation. With production costs rising, broadcasters are also bringing partners together to finance new series and share the investment. “The increase in production costs makes it ever more difficult for a single operator to assume the financing of certain projects on its own,” says Rafael Bardem, RTVE’s deputy director of co-productions. Alongside sales of finished programs, RTVE uses advance financing agreements that divide territories and exploitation windows among partners. “El Valle del Arcángel,” which involves “Narcos” producer Dynamo and Sony, follows that model. “It is a demanding formula, because it requires developing a product capable of connecting with audiences in different markets,” Bardem says. For 3Cat, those partnerships also shape projects from the development stage. “The earlier the principal editorial and financial partners come aboard, the easier it is to accommodate the conditions each considers essential or non-negotiable,” says Pío Vernis, 3Cat’s director of audiovisual business. 3Cat tailors release arrangements to each production, working with Netflix and Prime Video while seeking a Catalan premiere for projects it leads. “We think and rethink the windowing formula for each production,” Vernis notes. Charting Ferran Adrià’s culinary revolution at his restaurant El Bulli, drama “Gènesi” has Netflix aboard across multiple territories, with New Regency also handling international distribution outside Spain. Over the next three years, Movistar Plus plans to increase its annual output of Spanish originals from eight to 16 series, alongside another 10 titles through co-production and rights acquisition agreements. Recent Movistar Plus co-productions include “Killing a Bear,” with Arte France. For Rebeca Aguilar, head of international distribution at Movistar Plus, co-productions offer more than financial backing. “They also provide us with a partner who brings a great deal of value to the series and represents a first step in its international reach,” she says. Barrois is more cautious about international co-productions. “From an industrial and economic point of view, if you find someone with whom to share the bill, fantastic. But editorially it is more complicated,” he says. “We design our series with our audience and Spain in mind.” Barrois says Spain retains a cost advantage despite rising production expenditures: “I think we are still well below most European countries.” Mediaset’s domestic-first approach goes hand-in-hand with international sales and platform partnerships. Its family mystery drama “Pure Bred,” produced with Banijay’s Shine Iberia, has secured distribution across 29 territories, including the U.S., Canada and the U.K. through Walter Presents, plus a Spanish licensing deal with SkyShowtime. Mediterráneo has also sold Bambú-produced period drama “La Favorita” to nearly 100 territories and licensed ITV Studios’ Plano a Plano series “She, Damned Soul” to Movistar Plus. On the commissioning front, crime and thrillers lead Spanish-language scripted orders, accounting for 32% of announced VoD commissions in 2025, ahead of comedy at 21% and drama at 20%, according to Ampere Analysis. Genre alone does not determine how well a series travels. “The principal factor is good stories which, regardless of whether they are more local or more global, allow viewers in any country” to engage with them and relate to them, says Aguilar. Vernis also sees international appeal in the cultural roots of Max Original co-production “Pubertat,” set against Catalonia’s castells, or “human towers” that are built during festivals and celebrations. Comedy can be harder to export, Barrois notes, given its reliance on local humor. But format adaptations offer another route: Netflix has commissioned local versions of Contubernio’s Spanish original “Machos Alfa” in markets such as France, Italy and Germany. 3Cat’s “Unfiltered,” a Gen Z-focused short-form series, is also suited to adaptation in other territories.