The Latin America Media Consumption Report 2022

Key Takeaways

• Internet users in Latin America are among the most active users of digital media. They lead the world in time spent on a variety of activities that are at the center of how content is consumed in modern societies, including mobile, social media and messaging, and music streaming.

• The region’s lead in music streaming is likely fueled by the massive popularity of Latin American artists on a global basis. In 2020 and 2021, the most streamed artist on Spotify was Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, who raps and sings in Spanish. In addition, Colombian reggaeton singer J Balvin has been in the top five of the most streamed artists in recent years.

• Latin America also ranks high in time spent with broadcast TV, coming in second to North America. The staying power of TV in the region stems partly from the dominance of media conglomerates such as Mexico’s Televisa and Brazil’s TV Globo, which specialize in popular fare such as telenovelas. In other traditional media such as radio and print, Latin America falls in the middle of the pack among the regions studied.

Leading Ahead

Combined, the four countries that GWI tracks in Latin America are world leaders in several digital activities.

• The region tops the charts in five-time spent categories: PC/tablet, mobile, social/messaging, music streaming, and online press. On any given day in H1 2022, the average internet user in Latin America spent more than 5 hours on mobile; roughly 4 hours on PCs and tablets; well over 3 hours on social and messaging apps; about 2 hours on music streaming; and almost 2 hours on online press. These totals exceeded those of the regional runners-up by anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes each.

• No other region tracked by GWI leads in more than two time spent categories. North America and Western Europe top one category each, while Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and Africa lead in two apiece.

• Internet users in Latin America are also among the heaviest users of podcasts and online TV/streaming. The region ranks second and third in those respective areas.

• Latin America’s lead in music streaming goes hand in hand with its close second place in podcast listening. In the latter activity, it trailed global leader Asia-Pacific by only 3 minutes per day in H1 2022.

• Time spent on mobile is a mixed bag, with Brazil showing an increase and others a decrease. Even Brazil, however, posted a smaller gain than in H1 2021, which was a high-growth period for mobile in Latin America.

Latin America also leads in time spent on activities that are trending downward worldwide, such as online press and PCs and tablets.

• The region leads by a wide margin in time spent with online press, at 1 hour, 56 minutes (1:56) per day. Brazil is by far the global leader in this metric, but other countries in Latin America also index on the high side compared with most Western nations.

• Time spent with PCs and tablets dropped by 38 minutes per day from H1 2021—the most significant drop anywhere except Southeast Asia. The decreases ranged from 18 minutes in Argentina to 40 minutes in Brazil. Latin America now leads the world in this metric despite such large decreases in H1 2022 shows that people in other regions have reduced their time on those devices by even larger factors.

Device adoption in Latin America corresponds closely with time spent, notably for mobile and TV.

• At 98.8%, the rate of smartphone ownership in Latin America is the highest of any region. This undoubtedly contributes to the region’s global lead in time spent with mobile, and mobile-heavy activities such as social/messaging and music streaming.

• TV viewing is also higher in Latin America than in any other region, with 91.6% of internet users engaging in this activity in Q1 2022. This compares with 88.2% in Western Europe—another region where traditional TV is strong—and 88.0% in North America. As noted earlier, entrenched TV network groups in Latin America’s two most populous countries (Brazil and Mexico) and the popularity of telenovelas are a winning combination for TV viewing.

Argentina

• Although Argentina’s year-over-year drop in time spent with PCs and tablets was significant, it was the smallest decrease among the four countries tracked in the region in H1 2022 and contributed to Latin America leading the world in this metric.

• Of the seven categories in which Argentina registered gains in time spent in H1 2022, online TV/streaming saw the biggest jump, at 13 minutes per day. It was followed by podcasts and music streaming, with daily gains of 10 and 9 minutes each, respectively.

Brazil

• Latin America’s most populous country is also the regional leader in six of the 11 time spent categories GWI measures, including online TV/streaming, social/messaging, mobile, and online press.

• In the online press category, Brazil leads not just Latin America, but the world. It has held the lead since 2019, so this is not a new trend. Brazil’s high level of engagement with online press likely stems from the chaos the country has lived through in recent years, with a polarizing political administration and a pandemic toll that stood out as one of the world’s worst.

Colombia

• Colombia leads Latin America in PC and tablet time spent, though—like other countries in the region—it saw a drop in this metric in H1 2022 after a spike in H1 2021. Colombia also leads, in a tie with Argentina, in broadcast radio time.

• Time spent streaming TV and music increased in H1 2022, but the country is the region’s laggard in those activities.

• Colombia was the only Latin American country in which time spent with gaming fell in H1 2022, and it has lagged behind other countries in this category since 2019.

• By contrast, Colombia is an outlier in the region in that it saw increased social and messaging activity, though it slightly lags behind regional leader Brazil.

Mexico

• Mexico leads the world (in a tie with South Africa) in time spent with music streaming. In previous years, the leaders in this category were India and the Philippines, so Mexico’s ascension to the throne represents a change.

• The country has led Latin America in music streaming and gaming since 2019, and in podcast listening since 2020. It is also close behind regional leader Brazil in online TV/streaming and print media. On the other hand, Mexico is last among the Latin American countries measured in time spent on mobile and on PCs and tablets.