European on-demand platform CHILI, which is backed by Warner Bros., Paramount, Foxand Sony, is ramping up operations, following up its expansion in the U.K. last June with an official launch in Germany and Austria over the past weekend.
The Milan-based company is now active in Italy, Poland, Germany, Austria and the U.K., which it says puts 60% of Europe’s potential audience within reach. Overall, it now has 2.4 million registered customers who have signed up for access to the non-subscription, on-demand streaming platform, including more than 500,000 in Britain, CEO Giorgio Tacchia told Variety in an interview. His aim is to grow that to more than 4 million customers by the end of the year, and to 14 million across Europe by 2022.
Tacchia, who launched the service in Italy in 2012, said Chili’s two big strengths are how early it puts movies on the site and how it serves as a “one-stop shop” for entertainment-related consumption. By operating in the transactional window space – the first window after theatrical release – “we get product before anyone else,” Tacchia said. And movie and TV fans get access in one place to merchandise, gadgets, posters, trailers, physical DVDs/Blu-rays and exclusive content via its digital magazine……