Tag: Gaumont

Pluto TV Gets Netflix Original Series ‘Narcos’

In a significant move, ViacomCBS-owned AVOD platform Pluto TV has secured free streaming rights to Netflix original series “Narcos” beginning on Oct. 20. The deal was ironed out between Gaumont, co-producer of the series, and Pluto TV. This marks the first time the five seasons of the entire “Narcos” series will be available to stream, for free, in the U.S.

T-Mobile joins Pluto TV as the presenting sponsor for “Narcos,” offering limited commercial interruptions for the first two episodes.

The series about law enforcement’s efforts to take down notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar (played by Brazilian actor Wagner Moura) originally streamed on Netflix in August 2015. The program will be streamed across four different Pluto TV channels, with multiple air times and different languages to appeal to and accommodate a wide variety of viewing audiences and preferences.

“Narcos” will be programmed across Pluto TV’s Crime Drama and Narco Novelas channels and its own branded single-series, marathon-style channels — Narcos and Narcos en Español. Spanish-speaking versions of Narcos will stream with English subtitles, and respectively, English-speaking versions of Narcos will stream with Spanish subtitles catering to multi-lingual audiences.

“As the adoption of ad-supported streaming continues to accelerate, we are excited to build on that momentum and align with esteemed creators and producers in search of new ways to introduce audiences to their coveted collection of award-winning content,” Amy Kuessner, SVP of content strategy and global partnerships at Pluto TV, said in a statement.

Kuessner said the deal with Gaumont underscores the evolving AVOD landscape that is rapidly gaining foothold for distributors, content holders and viewers.

Season One of “Narcos” will stream weeknights at 10 p.m. ET, with catch-up episodes the following day beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Bonus weekend marathons will be offered following the series premiere. Pluto TV will debut a new season each month through February 2021.

“Narcos” (season 1-3): From the Colombian government to the DEA agents and the policemen who would risk their lives pursuing drug lord Pablo Escabar, the series takes an unfiltered look into the war that would change the drug trade forever.

Spin-off series,”Narcos: Mexico” (season 4-5) explores the origin of the modern war on drugs, beginning at the time when Mexican traffickers were a loose and disorganized confederation of small-time independent dealers.  As the series progresses, viewers are introduced to DEA Agent Walt Breslin, the man in charge of Operation Leyenda: the DEA’s second attempt to take down the biggest drug lords in Mexico.

Spike in Demand for ‘Narcos’ Seen as Season 4 Launch Nears

The Netflix original series “Narcos,” produced for the streaming giant by the French film company Gaumont, currently ranks as the fifth most in-demand digital original series in the world for 2018, Parrot Analytics announced Oct. 8.

Further, anticipation for the upcoming fourth season of the drama series is driving demand beyond that of any previous season’s debut.

According to Parrot Analytics’ most recent data, U.S. demand for “Narcos: Mexico” (season 4) is accelerating ahead of its Nov. 16 release. Comparing pre-release demand data for season 3 with season 4 over the same 30-day period ahead of launch, Parrot Analytics has found that audience demand for the forthcoming season is on average 318% greater.

Parrot Analytics used a proprietary metric call Demand Expressions to measure global demand for TV content through a wide variety of data sources, including video streaming, social media activity, photo sharing, blogging, commenting on fan and critic rating platforms, and downloading and streaming via peer-to-peer protocols and file sharing sites.

A “digital original” is described as a multi-episode series in which the most recent season was first made available on a streaming platform such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Hulu.

“We have every indication that the upcoming ‘Narcos: Mexico’ will be the most popular yet,” said Courtney Williams, European regional director for Parrot Analytics. “The release of the trailer for the new season served to super-charge interest and we have seen a considerable spike in demand.

Gaumont retained Parrot Analytics last year to quantify cross-platform, country-specific audience demand for its roster of established and new television shows and has recently renewed their agreement with company for another year.

The first two seasons of “Narcos” were set and filmed in Colombia and were based on the story of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, who became a billionaire through the production and distribution of cocaine. The two seasons also focused on Escobar’s interactions with drug lords, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents, and various rival drug gangs. Season three picks up after the fall of Escobar and continues to follow the DEA as they try to shut down the rise of the infamous Cali Cartel.

On July 18, 2018, the directors announced that the fourth season would instead “reset” as a new Netflix original series, titled Narcos: Mexico, set in Mexico in the 1980s.

Formed in 1895, Gaumont says it is the first and oldest film company in the world, with offices in Paris and Los Angeles. In the past few years, the company’s release schedule has continued to increase across film and television production, in both the French and English languages.

The film library now encompasses over 1,100 titles, including films from such directors as Luc Besson, Matthieu Kassovitz, Francis Veber, Jean-Jacques Beineix, Federico Fellini, Maurice Pialat, Jean-Luc Godard and, most recently, Toledano and Nakache for The Intouchables, the highest-grossing French-language movie ever with more than $450 million in revenues to date.

Gaumont also produces and distributes  TV programming worldwide. Key drama series include “Narcos” for Netflix; the critically acclaimed “Hannibal”; winner of “Best Series” (Festival of Fiction TV); “The Frozen Dead”; “The Art of Crime”; and “Nox.”