Lamac: It is undeniable that open TV is a massive media in Mexico but pay TV continues growing rapidly

“Open TV is a platform with massive programming design and as a consequence, its ratings are generally higher than a pay TV channel. That is undeniable. But Mexico, like other countries, is in love with pay TV. Pay TV penetration continues growing. It is a trend of the last 10 years and in Mexico it became more notorious with the shutdown of analog TV,” expressed Gary McBride, president and CEO of Lamac.McBride stated that from December 2015 to July 2016, pay TV penetration in Mexico went from 50% to 56% and the total audience share of all the pay TV channels in that market rose from 39% to 43% between July and August this year. Additionally, in the homes with pay TV, the sharing of theme channels rose to 71%. “It is the highest share we have seen in any country in Latin America,” he said.He clarified that this is not a competition. “It’s not that one advertiser must buy just one media or the other. The reality of the market is that any advertiser who wants to reach Mexico must buy a combination of pay TV and open TV channels, and has to make a budget distribution similar to how consumers distribute their time in front of the TV.”As for online TV growth, he mentioned that there are clients that are already investing 10 to 30% + of their advertising budget on online, even when the media represents 5%. McBride agrees that the reach of open TV in Mexico continues to be high, but the Mexican consumer only has four hours a day to watch TV and if he is watching more pay TV than before, then he is watching less open TV. “That is reflected in the shares and the hours watching pay TV. Ibope says that from Monday to Sunday, the Mexican TV viewer spends 3.05 hours watching pay TV,” he explained.