Mexico. Today more than ever, consumers have a diversity (and increasing!) of alternatives for access to audiovisual content, through a multiplicity of devices, platforms, spaces and forms.
From the comfort of home, to drive-in cinemas, speedboats, and cinema networks, the experience of accessing television and film content is today very vast and innovative, with the addition of new formats and competitors.
With regard to access to content at home, Mexico has seen an accelerated growth trajectory for Over The Top (OTT) over traditional audiovisual services. This, attributable to the incursion of new options and bidding companies, as well as the growing preference of consumers for this way of content consumption.
Although free-to-air TV continues to be the audiovisual service par excellence (92.9% of households have access to it), in just 8 years, OTT platforms reach a level of adoption in homes (24.8%) close to half that reached by Pay TV (47.3%).
Thus, the penetration of OTT platforms went from 1.6% of total households in 2011 to 24.8% in 2018. Increasing competition for audience attraction and capture has resulted in a reduction in the penetration of free-to-air and pay-TV among households in recent years.
Demand for Audiovisual Content on the Internet
In other words, the growing offer and preference of original content on OTT platforms means that the volume of users of these (26.4 million in 2018) is close to half of those who view audiovisual content on Pay-TV (59.8 million).
The exclusivity of content disseminated through the internet has allowed these platforms to gain ground in terms of users compared to other audiovisual services.
Thus, the consumption of audiovisual content on the Internet follows an upward trajectory, while that through traditional services has been reduced in recent years.
The upward trend in investment dedicated to the generation of new original content and improvement in the user experience on online video platforms has boosted the subscription base to these.
Internet Video Platform Expansion: Subscriptions
In this way, between 2012 and 2019, it is estimated that the number of subscriptions to OTT platforms will multiply by more than 13 times, going from 0.7 to 9.4 million. In 2019, they will increase 9.3%, in line with the launch of new consumer alternatives (for example, Starz Play and Apple TV+) and renewal of others already available on the market (Blim).
Based on the above, it is clear that these alternatives of consumption by internet have gained ground in the ecosystem of audiovisual content platforms. With significant annual growth coefficients and marked efforts of investment, advertising and improvement of user experience to attract and capture the attention of Mexican audiences.
The incursion of new players and content offers will not only have to modify the competitive structure of the market, but additionally, it will encourage the creation of subscriptions and generation of new revenue channels for technology and content companies that have ventured into this market.
Text written by Radamés Camargo of The Competitive Intelligence Unit.
