On April 27, Viva Communications Inc. CEO Vincent del Rosario and Vivamax COO Ronan de Guzman revealed insider details about the number one Pinoy Streaming Platform.
During the Vivamax’s Summer to The Max campaign event, Del Rosario described Boss Vic (Vicente del Rosario Jr.) as a man with “balls” when the Viva executive pushed for the launch of the streaming platform.
“Si Boss Vic may balls. Ano siya malakas ang loob. Kami man in the family, we were skeptical about the launching of the platform. We’ve been talking about launching a streaming platform siguro for three years na before the pandemic. And then ‘yung nangyari ‘yung pandemic, nakita niya ‘yung shift ng tao to digital.”
He then detailed how they select projects for their artists, noting that they don’t play favorites.
“Kasi madalas ‘yung production cycle sa amin, nagsisimula with the right material eh. So based on that, kung material falls to our artist X or artist Y, eh doon na lang parang may natural flow na lang doon na lang mapupunta ‘yung project.
“Pero, it’s hard to play favorites when you have three-four hundred artists that you love in the same way.”
He clarified that they consider the artist’s attitude when offering projects to them.
“Of course, depende na rin sa attitude noong artist no kung ganado siya, masipag siya, and then tuloy-tuloy lang ‘yung work. And then may moments naman na parang may downturn ‘yung artist, hahanapan mo naman siya ng ibang gagawin.”
De Guzman then shared updates about having their own awards event for Vivamax content.
“We are thinking of doing that. That’s why we already made the Million Views club. But we wanted to be more Viva in looking at the categories. We wanted something different in a way to recognize–not just the artist but also the directors, even the cinematographers. But of course, we will have that.”
Del Rosario then discussed their production process amid the pandemic with eased restrictions.
“More than half are canedn, or in the late stage of production, and the other half are about to start. Dati harder eh noong Alert Level nasa Tres, nasa Dos, ngayon One mas mabilis na ‘yung turn over ng production. Baka 80% already in production.”
He also shared upcoming projects they have for release.
“I think if we announced 20 movies at that time, maybe labing lima doon natapos. ‘Yung iba lang hindi pa namin maipalabas no, kasi nabanggit ko nga, ‘yung Walang KaParis, Spellbound, Ultimate Oppa, ito ‘yung dalawa ni Liza, may mga six to eight titles na tapos na, for Cinema eh.
“Mayroon pa kami ‘yung with Piolo and Jasmin Curtis, with Ten17P. And then Sassy Girl adaptation, si Fifth Solomon, si Toni Gonzaga, tapos na rin ‘yun hindi pa lang napepetsahan.”
As for their streaming platform, Vivamax became the number one Pinoy Streaming Platform, with its subscribers hitting around 2.5 million in the first quarter of 2022.