RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Brazilian indie specialty channel network Sofa DGTL will launch 16 free advertising-supported streaming television specialty FAST channels in Spanish and Portuguese on YouTube in Brazil, Spanish-speaking Latin American countries, the U.S. and Portugal.
Sofa will deploy the channels gradually, starting during the week of Rio2C 2026, the largest creativity gathering in Latin America, which will take place over May 27-31, Fabio Lima, CEO of Sofa, and Douglas Rodrigues, YouTube Brasil’s strategic partner manager, told Variety.
The channels, which are currently available on FAST platforms, feature 24/7 premium linear programming, offering mostly films, but also series comedy shows and other TV shows, everything dubbed into Spanish or Portuguese.
On YouTube in the U.S., Sofa will launch Cinépolis Channel, targeting the U.S. Hispanic market and a Spanish-language film channel partnering Sofa and Mexican exhibitor giant Cinépolis.
Across Spanish-speaking Latin American countries, Sofa will deploy Spanish-language channels Adrenalina Pura TV (with action and adventure films and series, a partnership of Sofa and Brazilian distrib California); Adrenalina Pura TV – Halloween (horror, thriller and true crime films and series, also a partnership with California); Cinépolis Channel; Filmelier TV (ranging from family comedies to award-winning fest titles); Filmelier TV – Real Life (productions based on real facts and true stories); Filmelier TV – Esperanza (inspiring stories of resilience, faith, fresh starts, overcoming challenges, and emotional healing); and Filmelier TV – Pasión (love stories).
In Brazil, Sofa will launch the Portuguese-language versions of these channels, with some variations determined by the regional licensing agreements for the productions.
In addition, it will launch both on YouTube in Brazil and Portugal comedy channel Porta TV, a partnership of Sofa and Brazilian comedy production company Porta dos Fundos (literally “Back Door”). Founded in 2012, Porta dos Fundos is a pioneer of high-quality, internet-native comedy.
Rodrigues explained YouTube Brasil currently has other linear channels, such as SBT, one of the top three free-to-air networks in the country, and DiaTV, an indie channel of Dia Estúdio that aggregates entertainment shows hosted by Brazilian creators.
Douglas Rodrigues. Credit: Courtesy YouTube
“Sofa’s linear channels are relevant to us because they align with the new behavior of YouTube users in Brazil and around the world. They are increasingly behaving like broadcast TV audiences and want longer-form content,” said Rodrigues.
He added that more than 80 million people in Brazil (more than half of the platform’s users in the country) watch the content via Smart TVs, following a similar trend in other parts of the globe.
“More and more Brazilians are bringing the YouTube experience to their TV screens, seeking a more collective and immersive viewing moment,” Rodrigues said. “The great differential of Sofa’s channels is the offering of premium content, such as dubbed films selected through specialized curation. Users who want to watch, for instance, action movies can tune into the channel and let the curation choose films for them.”
Fabio Lima. Credit: Courtesy Sofa
Lima pointed out that all 16 channels will have commercial breaks. They will employ the Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), an ad-serving technology currently used mostly in YouTube sports lives. DAI enables the insertion of ads targeting each specific user and at moments of peak audience attention.
“It’s equivalent to launching 16 new broadcast TV channels, but with all the infrastructure, technology and interactivity that only YouTube can provide. We are reinforcing viewers’ habit of trusting the selection of their favorite channel, without the fatigue of endless searching,” Lima said. “In the short term, we will be competing against the big networks. We will bite a slice of the ad revenues currently destined to free-to-air TV.”
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