It’s not surprising that YouTube’s 2019 rewind video features Harina, from the Spanish-language comedy Backdoor, as Mexico’s most-liked and most-trending video of the year. Since ViacomCBS acquired a majority stake in the digital-first property Porta Dos Fundos—a popular Brazilian comedy series—the company in partnership with Viacom International Studios (VIS) and Viacom Digital Studios International (VDSI) launched the spin-off, Backdoor, in Mexico. The series achieved 200 million views, 2.88 million subscribers on YouTube, and 1.5 million followers on Facebook in just seven months.

This is one example of why VDSI’s online success is an important element of ViacomCBS’ digital presence.

“We've set up Viacom Digital Studios International in order to create programming on behalf of our strong brands that have a presence around the world,” says Brendan Yam, SVP of VDSI. “The mission is to connect with the younger generation of viewers, knowing that they spend a lot of their time on social platforms. We think a lot about YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Internationally, those platforms are really strong.”

In order to reach international consumers, Yam and his team established an in-house facility that can version IP into 20 different languages in as little as 48 hours. With this capability, in 2019 the team created roughly 800 pieces of content and shared more than 8,000 original clips for social and digital platforms around the world. In addition to repurposing existing content, VDSI also churned out more than 100 digital original series in tandem with ViacomCBS brands.

“We’ve been able to fuel that massive content appetite with a proven product and it's really working,” Yam explains. “We'll take something like Bikini Bottom Mysteries that worked really well for the U.S. and we'll create new versions of it. We'll push it out and reach audiences in their native language.”

Brand Affinity Across Borders

VDSI benefits from a stable of brands with international appeal. Nickelodeon is very strong, in large part due  to the global appeal of IP like SpongeBob SquarePants. MTV and Comedy Central have also had a record year of growth internationally on social.

According to Yam, MTV’s topical pop culture subjects are natural fits for digital first audiences. For example, VDSI created Geordie Cribs, a hit digital spin-off of the UK’s linear series Geordie Shore, which itself is an international version of the Jersey Shore.

One of the more popular VDSI Americas and MTV series in Mexico is MTV+Tú, a weekly vlog show which features influencer Dhasia Wezka, who boasts nearly 5 million Instagram followers.

“It feels very MTV, the look is very MTV, and it really connects with audiences,” says Yam. “When we look in the comments, you see things like ‘this is the best thing that MTV's done recently.’ So we know that we're connecting with the younger fan base in a way that's still very authentic to the MTV brand.” Based on this success, VDSI also created a localized version, MTV Vixe, for MTV Brazil.

For Comedy Central, as long as the content is funny and targeted, it works in the digital space. Recently, the female sketch comedy series Flaps, performed well outside of its UK home, garnering over 40 million views globally.

‘Every Audience, Everywhere’

The most recent Tubular data shows that its content reaches roughly 430 million people per month, a number that’s bolstered by its willingness to distribute content across platforms.

In October 2019, VDSI announced a partnership with Facebook Watch to produce a slate of short-form content for the platform. The series will target audiences in the Americas, Asia, UK, Germany, Spain, and France.

ViacomCBS also partners with mobile distributors to reach viewers. In April, the company and T-Mobile entered a content deal in which T-Mobile would provide linear streams and on-demand content to its 80 million users in the U.S.

“Our mission is to reach every audience everywhere,” Yam says. “From viewing during breakfast and during commuting hours, to watching more premium content before bed on a bigger screen—people are constantly consuming content.  In that fragmentation, there's a great opportunity for short-form to continue as a strong contributor to the total watch time of audiences. As audiences reach peak attention, we are committed to carving out a key place within the overall viewing ecosystem.”