• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, September 19, 2022

In a major strategic milestone, free, ad-supported Spanish-language streaming service Canela.TV will launch original content in October. 

The streamer, which claims to reach 23 million unique users in the U.S., Mexico and Colombia, announced its intention to produce original content earlier this year, after its parent, Canela Media, secured $32 million in Series A funding largely for that purpose.

The first original show — a daily entertainment news program,  ”¡Ponle Canela!” — will launch Oct. 10. “Secretos De Villanas,” a reality series featuring telenovela actresses, will bow on Oct. 20.

Other shows launching in the next few months will include a young-adult-oriented series, “Bocetos,” and a series featuring Latino celebrities’ journey to fame, according to CNBC.

Canela.tv says it will have 537 hours of original content by the end of this year.

Founder and CEO Isabel Rafferty launched Canela Media in May 2020, using a licensed-content /revenue share model to create an 8,000-hour library of Hispanic movies and TV shows spanning genres, including novelas, comedies, cartoons, action films and documentaries. Cultural programming geared to U.S. Hispanics is available in English, as well as Spanish.

The streamer serves all ages, but has put particular emphasis on engaging millennials, who are known to be big cord-cutters.

Canela.tv has been selling out its ad inventory each month, according to Rafferty.

Canela Media, which is the third-largest Hispanic ad-focused company and the only female- and minority-owned certified digital company, is set to launch Canela Kids, a stand-alone streaming service for kids that will offer original content as well as licensed content from partners including Moonbug Entertainment ("CoComelon") and Blue Ant Media ("Love Nature"). 

The company also offers Canela Music, an app featuring various genres of Latin music programming. 

In all, Canela Media says it reaches more than 50 million unique Hispanics across 180 Spanish-language sites.