Mexico. In the past five years, especially since the pandemic, there has been a significant transformation in audiovisual content consumption preferences in Mexico.
Under this scenario, traditional media have ceded ground to streaming and access to content over the internet, due to the proliferation of their offer, relative affordability, convenience in their availability, the marked investment in the generation of original content, and more recently also to the migration of sports licenses.
Thus, pay television, which previously provided relevant content and significant value for audiences, registers a decline in its preference, due significantly to the unstoppable growth of streaming platforms.
Fall and Advance
According to information from the IFT's National Survey of Audiovisual Content Consumption (ENCCA), in 2018, 49% of Mexican households had pay TV service. However, by 2024 this ratio fell to 46%, its lowest level in the last five years.
In the same sense, subscriptions to the service have accelerated their fall, such that at the end of 2024 they registered a contraction of (-)4.8% in their annual comparison, one of the highest levels since it began its sustained downward trajectory, three years ago.
This marked trend is especially evident in the provision of service under satellite technology, which registered a contraction in subscriptions of (-)12.7% in the last year, while in the case of cable pay TV it was only (-)0.5%.
The latter since the offer of cable companies has adapted to the growing preference for streaming platforms, by bundling the pay TV service with several of these at a preferential price and under the same experience and user interface. A circumstance that has allowed them to maintain their value and relevance for audiences.
At the same time, the subscription streaming service registered a significant increase in adoption, going from registering a ratio of 33% in 2018 to 48% in 2024, of the total number of people who watch content on the internet that require a periodic subscription, according to statistics from the ENCCA of the IFT.
While in terms of subscriptions, figures from The Competitive Intelligence Unit (The CIU) register an acceleration in their hiring at the end of 2024, with an annual growth of 6.3% to reach an accounting of 14.3 million accounts to subscription video-on-demand streaming (SVOD) services.
Pay-TV Decline Factors
The decline in pay-TV subscriptions is closely related to several factors.
In the first place, practically a third (32%) of users who decided to cancel the service refer to the high cost as the reason why they no longer have their subscription, while 10% canceled because they suffered price increases.
Indeed, operators have systematically adjusted their rates upwards, due to the increase in the costs of acquiring content and improvements in the provision of convergent services. According to information from INEGI as of December 2024, there was an annual cumulative inflation of 3.5% in the pay TV service.
These increases have motivated users to look for more affordable alternatives with more flexible contracting schemes, such as streaming platforms.
Additionally, the migration of content to streaming platforms is another of the factors with the greatest weight in the loss of preference for pay TV. Programmers and content generators such as Disney have withdrawn channels and content from restricted television to move their offer to their own digital platforms.
In addition, sporting events that used to be exclusive to pay television are now broadcast on streaming platforms, a circumstance that expands the offer and accessibility for users, but that fragments and makes it difficult to know their availability.
In this regard, 28% of users who decided to cancel their pay TV service report that they can no longer find relevant programming, 13% because they "don't like it" and 9% that it represents an unnecessary expense by not having the possibility of choosing what content to watch and when to do it, determining factors in the rise in preference for streaming platforms.
Thus, pay television in Mexico faces significant challenges in the face of the rise of streaming platforms. The increase in the cost of the service, the migration of content and the preference for on-demand content over the internet have led to a significant contraction in the adoption and subscriptions of pay TV.
This landscape forces traditional content players not only to adapt, but to define and implement new strategies to stay relevant in an ever-changing market.
Text written by Radamés Camargo of The Competitive Intelligence Unit, The CIU.
