Rosario Buil, Chief Customer Officer of BB Media
In the PRODU 2023 OTT & VOD Guide, Rosario Buil, Chief Customer Officer of BB Media, questioned whether the platforms’ journey will follow that of pay TV in Latin America.
“We all know that in recent years, OTT platforms have gained great popularity in Latin America and changed how people consume audiovisual content.” For her, with the arrival of giants such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and HBO Max, among others, the entertainment market has experienced changes. “But the inclusion of FAST signals, AVOD, and ASVOD plans remind us of a path already taken by traditional pay TV.”
Buili, who joined BB Media in 2018, assured that pay TV has experienced significant growth in Latin America between 2015 and 2022, reaching 82.7 million homes by the first quarter of 2023. “However, penetration level continues to be flat in most markets, and even Brazil, Mexico and Ecuador have been showing declines.”
She considers that one of the main challenges is the lack of access to high-speed Internet and the digital divide that still exists in some Latin American countries. “In other regions, the level of OTT consumption exceeds 80% of households on average, while in Latin America, it is 49%. Another challenge is finding the best way to monetize due to the cost that each subscription represents to households”.
She also said there are similarities between pay TV and OTT platforms in their beginnings when pay TV offered a service that began being advertising-free and later expanded its profitability by including ads. “We see the same thing happening in the on-demand platforms’ strategy in Latin America, beyond the AVOD model, opening a cheaper subscription plan (ASVOD) as Netflix or ViX implemented in the region. But we also see this option in US plans on leading platforms such as HBO Max and Paramount+, which may anticipate a similar impact for LatAm.”
In her opinion, although OTT platforms are in a more favorable position to grow and readapt in the region, they still face obstacles in terms of Internet access and competition in the market. “As the market continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how these trends develop and affect how consumers watch content in Latin America.”
To read the full article, visit PRODU OTT & VOD Guide 2023
