LATAM Acquisition Spotlight

Fewer US Scripted Series are finding distribution in Latin America. Analysis of Show Tracker data for Mexico (which is a strong indicator of Pan-Regional activity) shows the total number of titles from the 18/19 season without distribution inside 12 months of its US premiere is 49, an increase on previous seasons.

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Pay TV acquisitions have not decreased any more after its dramatic drop between the 16/17 and 17/18 season.

Pay TV is buying a similar volume of US series as before with Free TV still inactive in the first window. Global SVOD (Netflix & Amazon) now acquire much less and continue to invest more in Original content, both titles with worldwide appeal and those locally produced for Latin American audiences.

Meanwhile local SVOD acquisitions, which has always held a marginal share of total US acquisitions in Mexico compared to other Show Tracker markets, has doubled as more services launch in the region.

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In place of Netflix and Amazon, local SVOD services are picking up shows in the first window, with StarzPlay taking four shows in Mexico, such as Pennyworth from MGM.

Looking across at acquisitions of both US and UK content in Mexico and Brazil it is clear that the majority of acquisitions are dominated by companies with pan-regional networks like WarnerMedia (HBO and Warner TV), Disney (FOX Premium and FOX Life) as well as to a lesser extent Sony Pictures (AXN and Canal Sony).

In both Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets of Latin America those with the biggest success have the benefit of access to their own distributor's content libraries but are still acquiring a reasonable amount from third party distributors.

Grupo Globo is the stand out exception in Brazil which has managed to position itself as a key buyer of US and UK content in the market, acquiring shows from a variety of third party distributors for its SVOD Globoplay.