Lat-Am SVOD growing fast, Netflix to maintain lead

Latin American SVOD subscriptions are forecast to reach 51.1 million by 2024, according to new forecasts from Digital TV Research. This figure is almost double the 27.12 million recorded at close of 2018 and sees Netflix continue as market leader.

According to DTVR, six regional platforms will account for 85% of the region’s paying SVOD subscribers by end-2024. Netflix will have 26.3 million subscribers – up from 20.5m at the end of 2018. While this will still dwarf the competition, it does reflect a decline in market share for the firm – from 75.7% to 51.5%. Its fastest growing rival is expected to be Amazon, with Claro Video the biggest regional rival.

Despite the rapid expansion of the market, Simon Murray, principal analyst at DTVR, said the figures are suppressed by the local availability of low-cost or free services: “Our Latin America OTT TV and Video Forecasts report only covers paid-for services. Several mobile and pay TV operators provide free and limited SVOD platforms to their top paying subscribers. This stifles paid SVOD take-up.”

Exploring revenues, DTVR said that Brazil will remain the SVOD revenue leader by 2024 – supplying 40% of the regional total. Mexico will provide another 24%. DTVR also predicts that OTT TV episode and movie revenues for 19 LatAm countries will more than double to $8.25 billion in 2024; up from the $3.33 billion recorded in 2018.