Pay-TV Market Is Soaring in Latin America
The pay-TV market in Latin America is currently thriving, and will continue to experience strong growth, eMarketer reports.
In 2015, there were 64.4 million pay-TV subscriptions in Latin America. This figure is expected to balloon to 78.7 million in 2019. What’s more, in 2019 total households with pay TV in Latin America will increase from 41 percent in 2015 to 47 percent—great news for local providers.
Mexico is currently leading the region with the most subscriptions, as the country registered 19.1 million in Q3 2015. This figure represents nearly one quarter of all Latin American pay-TV subscriptions. Despite having the most subscribers in Latin America, though, only 62 percent of households actually have pay TV.
Next on the list is Argentina, at 11.1 million subscribers, followed by Colombia, with 8.1 million subscribers. Other countries mentioned in the report include Venezuela (6.4 percent), Chile (3.5 percent), Puerto Rico (0.9 percent) and Uruguay (0.8 percent). As a whole, Latin America now has 86.5 million pay TV subscriptions.
What’s driving this growth? According to Frost & Sullivan, it can be attributed to several factors: strong competition among cable operators, an increase in service adoption ratings resulting from bundled offerings, an uptick in direct and high-definition TV, increased geographic coverage and more value-added services.
These business drivers are helping to offset restraints like expensive content, over-the-top content and little competition in remote areas.
This encouraging report serves as proof that, on a global scale, pay TV is still showing strong signs of consumer interest despite the popularity of over-the-top services like Netflix and Hulu.