'Vida' Season 2 Gets Bingeable and Traditional Releases on Starz

Starz will give viewers options to consume the second season of Vida: either all at once or in small weekly doses.


The premium cable outlet will release all 10 episodes of the critically acclaimed half-hour drama to binge-inclined viewers on demand and via the Starz app in the United States and Canada and StarzPlay in the U.K. and Germany, on Thursday, May 23. Vida will also air weekly on Starz starting May 26.


Season two of the series from creator and showrunner Tanya Saracho will find Lyn (Melissa Barrera) and Emma (Mishel Prada) beginning the monumental task of rebuilding their mother's business while dealing with financial constraints, competing developers and a growing anti-gentrification movement on Los Angeles' Eastside. They must contemplate the relationships in their lives, including their own, and dig deep to unearth what their mother's legacy means to them.


The dual launch for Vida won't be the first time Starz has done a nontraditional release for a series. After two weeks of regular airings, new series Now Apocalypse is now available in full on all of Starz's nonlinear platforms, while continuing to air the show as scheduled on Sunday nights.


Since it relies on subscriber fees rather than ad revenue, Starz, like other premium outlets, can experiment with release patterns while also attempting to drive users to its digital platforms. A handful of other shows on cable and broadcast have been released that way as well as traditional providers look to capture digital-only viewers.


Vida was not a ratings breakout in season one, averaging just 130,000 same-day viewers. It did, however, gain some traction on nonlinear platforms: Starz says the show's audience on the network's app grew by 60 percent from the premiere to the finale. The series also made inroads among Hispanic viewers, drawing the largest Hispanic audience composition of any premium series in 2018.