Online Video Viewing on the Rise in Latin America

SANTIAGO: More than 80 percent of Internet users in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile have watched online video according to data collected in March by comScore, with Mexican viewers spending the most time with Internet content.

In March 2011, viewers in Mexico spent an average of 10.5 hours with online video. Chileans viewed an average of 8.6 hours of video online, while Brazilians averaged 8.6 hours. Argentinians averaged the shortest amount of time viewing video during the month at 8.3 hours. The average video length in the four markets was between 5 and 6 minutes.

Mexico also had the highest reach, with 87 percent of its web population (16.3 million) watching nearly 2 billion online videos. Brazil, with the largest Internet population in the region, had 35.9 million people watch 3.1 billion videos. In Argentina, more than 11 million web users watched online in March, and in Chile nearly 6.1 million viewed online video.

"Online video has emerged as one of the fastest-growing digital consumer behaviors in Latin America," said Alejandro Fosk, comScore’s senior VP of Latin America. "Across a variety of content categories, including entertainment, news, and sports, online video is becoming a more integral component. Effectively and efficiently monetizing video content represents an important next step for this developing industry."