OneToro is not getting it right. The channel dedicated to the world of bullfighting recently released a devastating statement specifically criticizing the industry, announcing that it will not broadcast the San Miguel fairs in Seville and the Autumn fairs in Madrid. The company claims that it will not do so because it has already accumulated losses in the millions of dollars in its short history and assumes that its subscribers will “never come around” to cover the “exorbitant amounts” they have to pay for the image rights.

This leaves the door open to a 2025 in which “image rights are directly tied to the viewer.” These are not easy times for the world of bullfighting.

Saying goodbye to two important appointments. OneToro will not broadcast the Autumn fairs in Madrid and the San Miguel fairs in Seville, two important events in the national bullfighting calendar. This was announced by the platform in a statement that left the sector with a few slaps and showed that its financial situation was fragile. Born to replace the Movistar Plus Toros channel, the platform, despite its youth, managed to exceed 12 million euros in less than two years, exhausting the patience (and pockets) of its investors.

The journey so far may have been short, but it has not been smooth or easy. OneToro allegedly faced initial publishing issues, changed its name and registered its shares Independent A year ago it was about the high costs of the fairs. In February, its managers announced a program that they described as “unique in the world of bullfighting” and “unique in the world of bullfighting”, with 117 bullfights, a self-produced series with more than 180 episodes, special broadcasts and summaries of more than 40 venues.

“Yes, support or privilege”. Now the mood seems different. Realizing the multimillion-dollar losses, the platform announced that its investors were “not willing to continue investing” without an agreement “that would validate the continuity of the project.”

“After injecting over 20 million image rights and over seven million directly into the production and promotion of bullfighting in a year and a half, they find themselves without support or strict privilege, feeling that they are subsidizing the industry,” emphasizes the statement published by OneToro TV, which issues a warning to sailors: their experience to date has led them to denounce “the lack of responsibility in the bullfighting sector”.

From good guesses to reality. These are not the only figures announced by the company, which also shares how it explains the market estimates it started with, the reality it faced and, most interestingly, the huge difference between the two. Those responsible explain that their surveys show a market of about 200,000 subscribers “only in Spain”, while in reality they assume that subscribers did not exceed 60,000 at the peak of the season. As of today, there are exactly 53,504 people.

Beyond miscalculation or lack of interest in the market, OneToro points out how its content is consumed in Spain today. “What this company could never have foreseen is that only one in four fans who watch the channel does so legally and pays a subscription. In countries like Mexico and Peru, this figure is one in 20. They are not willing to pay for this type of content, preferring pirate links and channels,” laments the platform. The average price of a bullfight on OneToro TV is 1.28 euros.

“Excessive prices”. The subscriber base is only part of the problem. The other is the broadcast costs, the economic burden that televising the fairs puts on the company. OneToro is clear (and quite critical) about this.

“The target audience willing to pay for this content will never be able to generate the income needed to cover the exorbitant amounts of money required for image rights to broadcast a live bullfight,” he notes, with particular emphasis on the last point, image rights: “The prices the industry is planning to charge do not match reality.”

Changes in the industry. That’s what OneToro is calling for. It’s urging the industry to “industrialize, as many industries based on royalty revenue have done,” and to outline a “concise and transparent roadmap” that allows private investment to be “sustainable.” “This is not an easy transition, so we’re preparing a 2025 season where the image rights are directly tied to the viewer, as is the case with other series.”

The key for OneTore is to adopt a “variable model” that allows business people, bullfighters and ranchers in the industry to share in the “revenue generated by their viewers.” “We understand that the image rights generated reflect the real value.” It won’t be easy. While scrolling recently WorldOne of the keys to explaining the longevity of the emblematic Canal Toros on Movistar Plus is that it has the great financial power of Telefónica behind it.

Loss of interest? The platform concludes by insisting that the sector “should not be in a bulls yes, bulls no debate” and reminds us that the problem is not so much the lack of fans in society as that only 25% of those who consume its content do so. . However, there is new data that suggests that bullfighting is losing its power in Spain.

Statista tables show that 45 percent of the population believe that bullfighting should be banned, while another 30 percent do not share the idea of ​​banning it but are in favor of discouraging it. In leading regions such as Madrid, the number of appointments has fallen over the past few years, and the industry has recently seen a heated debate over the cultural value of bullfighting. Just a few months ago, the government decided to revoke the National Award it had been given for ten years, on the grounds that it was “animal cruelty.”

Images | Arild Andersen (Flickr) 1 and 2

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