• In only two years, pay TV ratings grew by 22% in Latin America.

• The content offered by pay TV has prompted Latin Americans to spend more time watching programs on subscription channels.

According to estimates published by IBOPE, Pay TV ratings in Latin America grew by 22% over the past two years, from an average of 2.32 in 2008 to 2.82 in 2010. Children’s shows, movies and series are among the most watched programs by Latin American viewers.

With respect to audience share, people who have pay TV service in the region (160 million) dedicate 51% of their time to watch the contents of the Pay TV channels. In countries like Mexico, for example, IBOPE estimates that the time dedicated to watch pay TV among subscribers of this service grew to 57%. In Argentina it grew to 53%, in Colombia, 48% and in Chile, 46%.

Gary McBride, President and CEO of LAMAC (www.lamac.org) comments that, “television viewers in Latin American are being more selective in terms of the content they choose to watch. Pay TV offers high-quality content with greater diversity, and for that reason, television viewers prefer programs with which they can identify. This has caused time spent watching pay TV to rise in the entire region.”

The analysis by segment reveals that during 2010, children between the ages of 4 and 11 living in homes that subscribed to pay TV spent the majority of their time watching content on international channels. In Chile, for example, they dedicated 70% of their time; in Mexico, 68%. In countries like Argentina, Colombia and Brazil, more than 50% of their time was spent watching pay television.

In the segment comprising teenagers between 12 and 17 years of age, a similar phenomenon is occurring. In Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, teenagers who have pay TV spent almost 40% or more of their time during 2010 watching programs on pay TV channels.

According to Gary McBride, “This change in viewing patterns in Latin America is an important indication of how investment budgets in TV advertising should be adjusted to keep pace with viewers. The fundamental premise in our view is that that TV advertising investment levels should be equivalent to audience market share. Therefore, if the ratings are growing, pay TV advertising budgets should grow at a rate equal to the growth of share of audience, to ensure that their levels of investment in TV advertising achieve greater effectiveness for the money being invested.”

Sources:

1: Total people with pay TV in the region as estimated by LAMAC

2: LATAM ratings: IBOPE MWS, Total average daily rating for years 2008, 2009 and 2010, based on people. The Pay TV rating is a percentage of aggregate rating of all pay TV channels.

3: Audience Share LATAM Countries: IBOPE (MWS), 2010 Shr% People with Pay TV, LD 06:00-30:00 hrs. For Colombia the average rating and share for 2009 and 2010, Monday to Sunday 06:00 - 30:00. Includes other Pay TV channels. Pay TV figures correspond to the aggregate percentage of the audience for all pay TV channels.

Note: please include sources in the press release.

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LAMAC, The Latin America Multichannel Advertising Council, is a nonprofit association comprised of more than 40 television networks. Its purpose is to develop investment in Pay TV in Latin America, consistently overcoming industry obstacles through the development of specific resources that will be used to measure presence and advertising effectiveness, and to create communications platforms as an advocate for an equitable distribution of advertising investment.