Winning Strategies for a Subscription-Based Platform: How to Transform Filipino Viewing Habits From Traditional to Digital, According to Vincent del Rosario of Vivamax

Powerhouse Viva Communications continues to lead in the entertainment industry thanks to its recent shift to streaming with Vivamax and Viva One. President and COO Vincent del Rosario shares how the company got there.

In the brand new world of video streaming is a grand old name of Filipino cinema: Viva. As technology transforms the entertainment industry around the world, Viva Communications has leveraged video streaming to achieve remarkable scale. Through its streaming services, Vivamax and Viva One, the company has been able to reach 13 million subscribers around the world while producing more movies and TV shows than ever. At the same time, this new way of doing business has allowed the company to chart a new course for the future of Philippine entertainment.

Behind this transformation is the father-son duo of Vic del Rosario, Chairman and CEO of Viva Communications, and Vincent del Rosario, the company’s President and COO. Last month, The Business Manual spoke to the legendary Boss Vic, as he is known, about how he built the Viva entertainment empire. This month, we are putting the spotlight firmly on Viva Communications Inc., led by Vincent del Rosario–in particular its unrivaled streaming success, Vivamax.

Known for its mature content, Vivamax has made an undeniable impact on Filipino culture. Vincent del Rosario shares how his father Vic likes to say that, when he travels abroad, overseas Filipinos used to talk to him about Manny Pacquiao, but now they only talk about the latest shows on Vivamax. Without exaggeration, Vivamax has become something of a pop culture phenomenon.

This Vivamax-led shift has fueled a boom in production of all kinds of content for Viva Communications, from new films to a stable of new stars and new advertising avenues for brands. How did Viva Communications get to this enviable position? We take a closer look.

Act I: Building the Viva Library, Acquiring Rights

The Vivamax streaming service was launched in 2021, in the middle of the pandemic. But its origins begin as far back as 1986. At the time, Viva, which itself was born from the music industry, had begun making movies, and Vic del Rosario had an eye on the future–video rental, television and beyond.

Enter Vincent del Rosario. As a young student, Vincent did not thrive in the traditional environment of educational institutions. And so, straight out of high school, his father Boss Vic had him work for Viva. He asked Vincent to go to Escolta, where most movie producers were based, and acquire movie rights from the producers, in particular ancillary rights.

Vincent explains, “[Vic del Rosario] said, just get all the ancillary rights after cinema. And then he explained to me that because of his experience with the music industry where music libraries have had value even after 20, 30 years. He said, we need to aggregate movies from other film companies. Because he had that foresight that sooner or later technology would be needing content even from the past and up to now.”

In the 80s when cinema was booming, few could conceive that acquiring the rights to a library of video content had any value. Vincent admits, “Our first movie made in ‘81 still resonates and it’s being used in different platforms whether on TV, on cable, [or] on streaming. So, I guess 40 years ago, I didn’t have the idea that would come through.”

And yet it was this visionary move that set the foundation for Vivamax and Viva One. Boss Vic estimates that after a few years, Vincent had acquired the rights to around 800 movies. Together with the 900+ movies that Viva itself produced, the company had a library of over 2,000 films. 

In the interim, it was this library of content that enabled Viva’s businesses in video rental, television and cable. But for on-demand video streaming, it would take more time. Technology had to catch up to the vision.

Boss Vic, for his part, never had any doubt. From his experience in the music industry, he knew that acquiring rights would provide opportunities later on. He explains, “So I look at [rights] like a property play. It’s an asset play.”

Act II: Pandemic Baby

Cut to the year 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdown.

Vincent del Rosario, now leading Viva Communications Inc., had 17 movies in the pipeline when President Duterte declared a nationwide lockdown and the country’s economy ground to a halt.

Speaking of those challenging times, Vincent says, “What do we do with these movies? You know, at an average of close to P20 million a movie, this is like 350 million in investment that we cannot just flush down the drain.”

With malls and cinemas closed, Vic del Rosario’s solution was to enter into streaming. But not on their own, not yet. Viva first licensed their content to other streaming platforms so as not to incur large capital expenditure.

The initial reaction was promising, Vincent recalls. “There was stickiness,” he says. “People were enjoying [the streaming movies] but the numbers weren’t enough to cover the cost of producing those movies.”

Looking at the data from this early foray into streaming, Vincent and Boss Vic saw an opportunity. Vincent recalls, “We released a film that had a mature theme in it. [Vic] saw the numbers spike, the subscriptions spike, and he said, ‘I think we found the niche.’”

From there, the direction was clear. Vic del Rosario tasked Vincent to seek out creative people who could create mature content for the platform. He tapped Brillante Brilante Mendoza, Joey Reyes, Joey Lamangan, and other veteran directors. At the same time he also spoke to younger directors who were eager to make their mark. “Then we started to shift bit by bit to what we are now,” Vincent says.

“What we are now” is, of course, a company on top of the streaming world.

With a winning formula in place, Viva Communications launched Vivamax on Jan 29, 2021, a subscription-based streaming service. By 2023, the number of Vivamax subscribers had ballooned to seven million. To date, Vincent del Rosario estimates that they have 13 million subscribers.

Capitalizing on the success of Vivamax, Viva created another platform for mainstream audiences. On Jan 29, 2023, just two years after the launch of Vivamax, the company launched Viva Prime–a streaming platform for general audiences which they would later rebrand as Viva One.

The main focus of Viva One is another booming market: the young adult (YA) market. At the same time, it is the platform where Viva does what Viva does best: launch new stars. Using tech startup language, Viva One serves an incubator for up and coming stars.

Vincent del Rosario explains, “Right now, it’s a good compliment between the two [streaming platforms]. So one is an incubation platform, which is Viva One… That’s also where most of our library is. The Sharon Cunetas, the Sarah Geronimos.”

Succeeding Where Others Failed

With all the success that Viva found with Vivamax and Viva One, it is important to note that they weren’t the first local or regional entertainment company to jump into streaming. In fact, many others had gone before them. Why did Vivamax succeed where others failed?

Vincent points to the importance of learning lessons from other players in the industry. He credits their success to being able to study what happened to regional players who were forced to close shop.

He says, “We saw iFlix which is run by talented individuals, highly financed. We saw Hook, which is owned by SingTel, one of the biggest Telcos in the region, fail. And we saw that the failure was because they were just licensing titles from other companies. Meaning the titles that they licensed are not unique to them because they’re also available on other platforms. 

“We saw the Netflix model work because they were doing originals for their platform… But then again, the difference, I guess, is that we said we cannot compete with Netflix. We don’t have their budget.

“So, we said, let’s find a place where we can call our own. You know, you look at Korean content. It’s K-drama… You look at Thai content, they’re known for their BL–boys love–series. So, my dad said, why don’t we be known for who we are now, which is mature content.”

Act III: Transforming the Entertainment Business

For an entertainment company like Viva Communications Inc. that produces, licenses and distributes film and television content and more, Vivamax has become more than just a profitable way out of the pandemic. It has transformed their business in movie production, licensing, and business-to business (B2B).

Movie Production Boom

Vivamax and Viva One are currently fueling a boom in movie production. Vincent del Rosario shares, “You know, right now, we’re, I guess, the busiest production company in the Philippines in terms of feature films. We do close to 100 every year.”

Of these 100 films, 80 of these go straight to the streaming platform. The remaining 20 have a theatrical release in cinemas and eventually find a way to international streaming platforms. So in essence, the role of Vivamax and Viva One is twofold. It is a competitor to streaming platforms like Netflix. It is also a supplier of content for these platforms.

New Revenue Streams Through Licensing

Streaming has also unlocked new revenue streams for Viva’s movies and content. Through Vivamax, the company has found a worldwide appetite for the films it produces.

Vincent says, “We found ourselves overwhelmed with the demand when we go to attend the film markets because we do selling, licensing of movies. We found out that most of our Asian neighbors would license the Vivamax content and bring it to their own territories. Same in Europe.”

Partnering with Brands

With such stellar subscription numbers in the Vivamax and Viva One data, it wasn’t long until big brands began to take notice.

“We started as a pure subscription model,” Vincent del Rosario says. “Right now, because of the growing subscriber base, we have evolved into a B2B model [where] brands would come in and ask to advertise within the platform.

“So, that’s a bonus again for us. Right now, I think the brands or the advertisers are acknowledging that we can reach a specific market that suits their brand.”

Epilogue: The University of Vic

Vincent del Rosario has risen to the very top of Viva Communications and built a revolutionary streaming platform that has transformed their traditional business along the way. And yet, for all his personal success, he is quick to credit his father, Boss Vic, and his mentorship. They even have a name for this mentorship in the del Rosario family: the University of Vic, or the School of Vic.

Vincent recounts, “I was feeling I wasn’t getting the right education from the schools. Because I wasn’t focused. But when I entered the business, I felt that I had the right teacher. Between him and my uncle, his brother.”

Speaking more about this mentorship, he says, “So, of course, we get the guidance. If there’s a failure, then maybe we need to tweak. If there’s really [no way out], then he taught us to pull out and not to be sentimental about businesses that fail. Move on. There are other challenges.”

In parting, Vincent del Rosario’s advice for entrepreneurs is both an astute lesson in marketing and a life lesson in humility:

“It’s always being able to listen to people who are successful, who know more than you. Matuto kang magpakumbaba and saan ka makadampot ng talino hopefully, a-adapt mo sa nalalaman mo. Again, yung sistema sa Viva, it’s very much consensus-based. So, I’d ask our staff, executives, I’d ask my driver, oh ano ba, okay ba to? Kasi yung negosyo namin, mass-based diba? Sila rin ang cliente, ang customer namin. Nakikinig kami sa kanila. [Learn to be humble and where you can pick up knowledge, adapt it to what you know. Again, the system in Viva, it’s very much consensus-based. So I’d ask our staff, executives, I’d ask my driver, hey, is this okay? Because our business is mass-based, right? They are our clients, our customers. We listen to them.]”

Text VINCENT SALES

Photography KIERAN PUNAY

Videography OMAR VILLANUEVA assisted by RJ CRUZ

Art Direction ANDREA SANGCO

Sittings Editor RJ LEDESMA

Shoot Coordination TONI MENDOZA and ROCKY TEODORO

Shot on Location VIVA COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE , TEKTITE TOWERS, PASIG CITY