The Cool Side of Novelas

June 2008

The notion that telenovelas are made only for housewives no longer applies in today’s market. Novela producers have been experimenting with new technologies and higher production values to attract those much-coveted younger demographics. And distributors keep getting savvier about what works in different markets and how to reach consumers, wherever they are.

A lot of factors have changed the television landscape. And producers must be aware of them as they try to create novelas that appeal to young viewers. First of all, technology allows for an increasingly interactive audience that can watch programming wherever and whenever it wants. Broadcasters demand high production values to keep increasingly sophisticated viewers satisfied. And there has been an explosion of channels in recent years.

In this cluttered and highly competitive landscape, novelas must remain true to the elements that have made them such a success though the years. “I believe that the telenovela is unique; and it is a love story with basic elements such as romance, hatred, revenge, reiteration and a happy ending,” says Marcos Santana, the president of Telemundo Internacional, emphasizing that reiteration is the backbone of a telenovela. “The telenovelas that do not repeat facts episode after episode are a failure; reiteration allows viewers who miss the novela for a week to find out what happened after watching one or two episodes.”

“The main production elements in a telenovela are the same that have always characterized TV Globo’s telenovelas,” adds Flavio Rocha, the director of international content at the Brazilian media powerhouse. “We want to offer surprising stories, which are universal and relevant to contemporary society. But in addition to that we have added more location shots, we pay special attention to the directing, wardrobe and even the special effects.”

Rocha explains that one of the main characteristics of the telenovelas from Brazil’s leading channel is their artistic quality. “The best actors and actresses in Brazilian television perform on TV Globo,” he adds.

TRENDSETTERS

Not only do today’s novelas contain all the main elements that have made the genre such a success, but they have also had to evolve in order to keep up with viewers’ changing tastes. Gone are those slow-paced productions shot entirely in the studio, in which actors played out stories that attracted mainly adult audiences, and close-ups and extreme close-ups were used to emphasize suspenseful and tense moments.

“The telenovela audience today is different from that of 20 years ago,” says Jose Escalante, the president and general manager at Dori Media Distribution and CEO of Dori Media America. He explains that the audience composition for novelas started to change the moment they began airing in prime time. In his opinion, this move allowed the telenovela to be seen not only by housewives, but by every member of the family. “As a result, producers realized that with only small changes, a slightly younger audience could be attracted, and by this I mean one ranging between 18 and 34 years old, which is the audience with the highest purchasing power nowadays,” he adds.

Today’s telenovelas have the same structure as the great, traditional love-story novelas, but they also incorporate topics that are relevant to young people and they include younger cast members, with whom younger viewers can identify more easily.

Telenovela producers are very aware of the tastes and viewing habits of young people who have been weaned on MTV-like programming, and consequently today’s youth-skewing novelas have a faster pace. “Our scenes are much shorter now [than they used to be in telenovelas from the past], with much quicker dialogue and a more direct language,” comments Vicente Albarrace, the director of the telenovela La trepadora, which is currently broadcast by RCTV. “People want the story line to unfold faster. In other words, they no longer want the young lady to be blind for about 200 episodes—they want her to be able to see, they want the lie to be uncovered and the deceit to be discovered,” he says.

In addition to picking up the pace, novela producers are betting on humor and more realistic and contemporary themes to attract the audience, even though the traditional element of making dreams come true is still a vital part of story lines.

“Telenovelas keep on selling dreams and the ending is still a happy one, but they have more current elements, and taboo topics such as a teenage pregnancy or homosexuality are no longer so taboo,” says Dori Media’s Escalante.

Michelle Wasserman, the head of program sales at Telefe International, explains that in today’s telenovelas, there are distinct subgenres that appeal to the different niches and that are targeted at specific time slots. “Telefe’s 10 p.m. telenovelas have a slightly more sophisticated production level than [the rest],” she says. “The audience watching at this hour likes scenes with less dialogue and which, without losing sight of the main plot, have numerous subplots, many of which deal with social issues.” Wasserman cites the telenovela Montecristo as an example of this trend, which introduces story lines related to the “desaparecidos” during the military dictatorship in Argentina; or a more recent one, Taking Lives, in which human trafficking is an essential part of the story.

AUDIENCE INTERACTION

Nowadays, everyone who wants to reach consumers thinks of interactivity, especially since technology continues to serve up all kinds of digital devices that allow viewers to get content in all sorts of ways. Telenovela producers know this and have started to use interactive elements in the subject matter and have been exploring the range of possibilities technology offers to interact with the viewer.

“Starting with blogs, which are such a big part of teens’ daily lives and now very much a part of the adult world, we have begun to think about stories kids nowadays can relate to,” says Leonardo Bechini, who is currently working on the youth telenovela Psat x mi log, together with South Winds Entertainment. Aimed at teenagers, this novela allows young viewers to interact through a website created by a group of protagonists of the show. The audience will have the opportunity to share their experiences, pictures, videos and opinions, which will be included in the novela’s script.

This idea is only one of several examples of interactivity, which range from the audience being able to choose the ending of a story by voting via their cell phones to the production of telenovelas especially for mobile and Internet platforms. Examples of the latter include as Querido profe and Mi ?o deseo, which will both be distributed by Venemobile.

In addition, in the area of digital interactivity, there are many possibilities that are being considered, and a number of different sites devoted to telenovelas are being developed. They offer novela fans a wide range of activities, from watching past episodes or scenes, reading plot summaries, participating in actors’ chat rooms and blogs, to downloading photographic material and ring tones.

One of the most effective tools telenovela producers have to attract the younger audiences has been music. The creation of a soundtrack and its subsequent release on CD fits in well with consumer-product strategies, which are always included in the creation of today’s telenovelas.

A prime example of the successful use of music comes from Cris Morena’s company, which has created numerous mega-hit telenovelas, including Tiny Angels for children and Teenangels for teens. The novelas, says Morena, the CEO of the Cris Morena Group, offer multimedia and interactive elements that allow viewers to provide constant feedback on the show. “We use all multimedia concepts—music, graphics and video clips—to make the content entertaining and dynamic.”

THE BEAT GOES ON

Music is essential for Cris Morena Group’s productions. The songs written for novelas tell stories about the characters and their relationships and the CDs represent a lucrative source of income, especially when the novela songs are performed by bands during live music concerts. “Our albums have been released successfully in several Latin American countries, as well as in Europe and Asia, and have received critical acclaim at both the domestic and international level,” Morena points out.

There are countless examples of the power of music in telenovelas, but the most remarkable one is undoubtedly Rebelde, Televisa’s version of the Cris Morena format Rebelde Way. RBD, the band that grew out of Rebelde, has generated a whole line of related businesses. But other broadcasters have also experimented with music in an effort to attract a larger young audience. Rede Record in Brazil has done it with What’s Up?, about six young people during their college years. Also in Brazil, the network Band has approached music with the telenovela Dance Dance Dance, about a girl who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer.

Music is not the only factor that can help promote telenovelas and create additional revenue streams for producers and distributors. Nowadays, a whole series of elements contributes to enriching the genre. “The telenovela is an ideal vehicle for developing ancillary businesses such as merchandising, because of its long-form format and its great potential to attract the audience,” comments the VP of international sales for Venevision International. “I think the best product that works in this sense is the music used in the program. As well as the main theme song, other songs that are played during the program contribute to promote the show on the radio and generate additional income through the sale of CDs.”

CREATING ADD-ONS

Caracol Television is also placing particular emphasis on ancillary products that could yield additional income for its clients. Angelica Guerra, the VP of Caracol TV Internacional, explains that DVD sales have been very successful for series like Without Breasts There is No Paradise that have packaged complete episodes on DVD, as well as for novelas, for which shorter versions have been sold on DVD.

“We have also carried out very positive experiments with music CDs from novelas,” says Guerra. “For instance, we were successful with Nobody is Eternal in the World. We toured and offered concerts around the country [in Colombia], and we are doing it now in other territories. Not only do these experiments generate additional income, but they also provide important promotional support for the channels.”

While trying to appeal to younger audiences and creating additional revenue streams, novela producers and distributors cannot lose sight of their main goal, getting their novelas out to a broad worldwide audience through international sales.

Dori Media’s Escalante explains that sometimes casting a leading actress with specific physical characteristics can help different audiences identify more easily with her character, and this, of course, can make selling the novela an easier task.

“In Latin America there is strong demand for this genre, as it is very well positioned and channels air novelas in slots which audiences are faithful to,” adds Caracol’s Guerra. “In the case of the U.S., Europe and Asia, our greatest challenge is to understand the buyer’s audience so that we can offer the most universal product possible, which can be best adapted to local markets.”

There is no doubt that the quest to create novelas that attract younger viewers involves many different factors. It starts with knowledge of the market and extends to interaction with consumers and developing a wide range of ancillary products that can drive promotion and provide additional revenue streams.