Mexico. Two out of three, 66% of Mexicans would agree to watch short ads in exchange for watching a movie or TV show for free, according to a recent nationwide survey by Tubi, a video-on-demand service, AVOD, along with marketing research firm OnePoll.
This figure points to the emergence of "subscription fatigue" among consumers: As there are more and more subscription streaming services on the market, viewers may be tired of spending more to watch their favorite movies or TV series, and are willing to watch ads for a free experience.
AVOD on the rise
The growing fatigue of subscriptions in the Mexican market is also demonstrated in the results of the study, which found that 31% of Mexicans have considered canceling a streaming service by subscription due to cost. Also, one in three respondents has no intention of spending more than $300 MXN per month on streaming services. Actually, people are willing to pay up to $269 MXN – about $3,200 MXN per year.
Taken together, these results may indicate that Mexicans can turn to free ad-supported streamers as a way to cut costs or complement their video-on-demand (SVOD) services.
"The idea of advertising TV is not new, but the beauty of AVOD versus advertising on traditional television is that viewers have the ability to watch whatever they want, when they want," a Tubi spokesman said. "As consumers tire of paying for subscriptions to multiple streaming services, we're likely to see AVOD adoption skyrocket in the coming years."
Tubi's own audience data points to this trend: in December 2020, the streaming service reported that they had experienced nine-fold growth since their introduction into the Mexican market in June 2020.
The confinement factor
The survey also revealed that 9 out of 10 Mexicans used an entertainment streaming platform in the last year to watch series or movies. However, due to the quarantine caused by Covid-19, 83% of respondents revealed that they have streamed 2.8 hours more a day on average than in 2019. While it's no surprise that the pandemic has changed streaming consumption habits, these data highlight how important and profitable the Mexican market is.
It's clear that Covid-19 accelerated streaming growth around the world: recently, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) shared that the number of streaming service subscribers increased by 26% in the last year, and industry revenues increased by 23% compared to 2019.
What are Mexicans seeing?
The survey also yielded interesting results on content preferences in Mexico:
The three genres preferred by Mexicans are:
Action (54%)
Comedy (44%)
Science fiction (41%)
9 out of 10 Mexicans stream content on their smart TVs, while 5 out of 10 do so on a smartphone.
Mexicans prefer to watch content dubbed into Spanish (47%) versus their original language with subtitles (43%).
The survey results make one thing clear: streaming has become mainstream in Mexico. Constantly evolving, the streaming industry is poised to undergo changes in the coming years, and AVOD may be at the forefront.
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