“A lot of people come to the office and ask: What about these new posters? I wanted to create a bit of human contact,” Daniel Domenjó, the new CEO of Movistar Plus+, Spain’s biggest national payTV/streaming service, explains at the very beginning of an interview with Variety, his first after having been appointed Movistar Plus+ CEO in March.
Nobody could accuse Domenjó of a lack of human contact.
Affable, personable, he talks fast in Spanish and is courteously conscious of that, asking if he should talk slower. He explains why he’s hung in his office at Tres Cantos, a 25-minute car ride north of Madrid, a poster of “No tenéis ni **** idea,” a highly personal mini-series bio doc on Luis Enrique, the driven, outspoken and tragedy-struck manager of Paris soccer club PSG. It’s “a declaration of principle, bold, unfazed, disruptive,” he enthuses.
Domenjó’s equally open, and willing to talk at length, about his strategic vision for Movistar Plus+.
Netflix is highly active in Spain and has taken Spanish shows and movies to the world. The country has ambitious, global production powerhouses like The Mediapro Studio. That said, what Domenjó does with Movistar Plus+ is vital for the Spanish TV and film industry. His intentions are clear, however, and draw on his own background.
In a 23-year career, he’s done most everything: as a current affairs magazine host, moderating multiple TV debates, conducted in-depth TV interviews and producing internationally-sold documentaries (“Chased,” “Saved”).
His most recent experience, however, has been leading companies, as executive director of burgeoning indie Mediacrest (2019-23) and launching Satisfaction Iberia (2023-2025), and making TV hits such as “The Floor” (Antena 3, TVE), “El Cazador” (a daily show which ran for five years) and TVE’s “Internal Affairs,” Mediacrest’s first fiction project turning on Clara (Laia Manzanares, “Estoy vivo”), among the first female detectives in Spain, after she’s accepted to a seedy Madrid precinct just as a heroin becomes readily available in Spain.
Broadening Movistar Plus’s Focus
Little wonder, then, that what Domenjó brings to Movistar Plus+ is a corporate vision of its way forward, with a hands-on involvement in individual shows and movies.
Under Domenjó, Movistar Plus+ is not looking to destroy what it has achieved under fiction head Domingo Corral, CEO Cristina Burzako and president Sergio Oslé, who led the company since it began to release ambitious, cinematographic value, premium series from 2017, such as Alberto Rodríguez’s “The Plague” and Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “Riot Police.”
What it is aiming to do is to broaden its compass, not abandoning its auteurist flair but at the same time expanding into more mainstream and younger demos and entertainment, aiming at capitalizing on the company’s talent relations, muscle and brand.
“Movistar Plus+ has its own marked, consolidated brand of prestige premium product. Still betting on this legacy, which has been built up so well in the past. We aim to grow in the future broadening Movistar Plus+’ focus,” Domenjó explains.
Growth can cut several ways, such as “opening up to formats and genres like entertainment, where we aren’t at the moment,” says Domenjó. Entertainment could be “above all,” docu reality shows, a “fiction/doc hybrid, say, where we can remain faithful to our brand but innovate.”
“We’re divulging the idea with Movistar Plus+’s unscripted division, headed by Hugo de Tomás, with Telefónica Global Solutions (TGS), associated with Movistar Plus, and every producer in Spain, with whom we can co-develop,” he adds. Movistar Plus is currently developing two ideas for entertainment shows, one a doc-reality,” Domenjó notes.
Currently skewing adult in subscribers, Movistar Plus+ also aims to skew younger and more mainstream on some shows. Domenjó cites as one mainstream move under prior management, “La Caza. Irati,” a pick-up from Banijay, produced by its DLO Producciones, and one of the highlights of June’s Spanish TV forum Conecta Fiction, which sneak-peaked a trailer. The anchor broadcaster on Seasons 1-3’s was Spanish public broadcaster RTVE. Now backed by Movistar Plus+, “Irati” boasts a significantly larger budget.
Expanding Production Partnerships
Another strategic push looks likely to be in production partnerships. One likely San Sebastián highlight is Movistar Plus+ original “Anatomy of a Moment,” written by Alberto Rodríguez, Rafael Cobos and Fran Araujo, directed by Rodríguez and produced by Movistar Plus+ and Arte France.
A portrait of the deeply human motivations of the three key figures who wrestled democracy for Spain, the four-part mini-series is produced with Banijay’s DLO Producciones and Arte France, which also partnered on Movistar Plus+ Venice world premiere series “The New Years” and acquired Series Mania 2025 top Grand Prix winner “Querer” and “La Mesías,” which has sparked rave reviews in the French press.
Movistar Plus+’s production/sales axis with Arte France is “fundamental,” says Domenjó. “Arte is the most natural marriage possible, for its content philosophy. It’s not just a question of the number of viewers which Arte gives us, which is very high, but also the value for the brand that people say Movistar Plus+ and Arte are continuing to collaborate.”
Under Domenjó, however, Movistar Plus+ is looking to broaden its production partner spectrum. “Co-producing with Warners, ITV, Paramount, ViX or Dynamo in Colombia is necessary, not just for a question of investment and budget but because of the business model of adapting with all naturalness our ideas outside Spain and adapting other companies’ ideas for Spain.”
Movistar Plus+ is also talking to potential partners in Germany, the U.K., the U.S., France and Italy and in Spain itself, Domenjó adds.
The Bottom Line
“We need subscribers, viewers and to make more noise,” he insists.
That’s not to say that Movistar Plus+ is in a bad place. A report from Spain’s CNMC regulator, asking consumers what film-TV content consumers use most, put Movistar Plus+ in third place in Spain with a 16.7% share, only behind Netflix (44.1%) and Amazon Prime Video (21.4%).
Around 3 million year-end 2022, Movistar Plus+ subscribers should reach 3.76 million by the end of 2026, forecasts Maria Rúa Aguete, head of M&E at analyst Omdia. That’s thanks to the launch in 2023 of an aggressively priced streaming offer, Movistar Plus+.
“Our aim is to continue generating net gains in Movistar Plus+ subscribers, based above all on the streaming’s service’s growth potential,” says Domenjó.
Big-picture market trends, such as split rights deals and domestic windowing with companies once seen as rivals, may also play in Movistar Plus+’s favor.
“A good agreement or co-production with free-to-air broadcasters, public or private in Spain, can create good productions and share budgets,” says Domenjó.
“Production with Netflix or Amazon Prime Video? Why not? We’ve already talked with them and they’re very, very receptive,” he adds, pointing out that Movistar Plus+ has already sold its original “Muertos S.L.” Season 3 to release on Netflix.
Domenjó’s roadmap has to be approved as part of a Telefónica Strategic Plan which will be presented on Nov. 4. “I think it could be an important milestone to continue pushing the growth of Movistar Plus+ with more content and technological development,” said Domenjó.
Movistar Plus+ capacity to take advantage of its still significant growth potential will depend on that parent company approval.
