Horowitz: Latinx Over-Indexing for SVODs

According to Horowitz Research, media companies are expanding their Spanish-language content to serve growing Latinx audiences, a group that is over-indexing for subscribing to SVODs and using AVODs compared to the total market.

According to the FOCUS Latinx: State of Pay TV, OTT & SVOD 2022 report, seven in ten Latinx TV content viewers watch Spanish-language programming, up 11 percent from last year. Two-thirds watch international content, an increasing amount of which is accessed via SVOD and AVOD streaming services.

Latinx households are now as likely to have similar penetrations of MVPD services compared to the total market, at 52 percent and 51 percent respectively. The share of Latinx TV content viewers who rely only on streaming has continued its upward trajectory: 38 percent of Latinx only subscribe to streaming services and not to an MVPD.

On the SVOD side, Latinx households subscribe to an average of 4.7 streaming services, an increase from 4 last year. Spending on streaming services among Latinx also grew dramatically. Latinx SVOD subscribers report spending an average of $70.70 in 2022 on subscriptions to streaming services, compared to just $48.83 in 2021 and $38.54 in 2020.

With AVOD, YouTube and Peacock are the most-used free streaming services for Latinx TV content viewers.

Despite the increase in Spanish-language content now available, almost half (45 percent) of Latinx TV content viewers find the quality of Spanish content to not be on par with the quality of English content. The firm says that this is likely to change moving forward as media companies continue to invest in quality Latinx-themed and Spanish-language content.

“We have always been bullish about the Spanish-language and Latinx-themed content space, but until recently, this audience was underserved and presented an opportunity that was not being fully realized,” said Adriana Waterston, chief revenue officer and insights and strategy lead for Horowitz Research. “The fact that Spanish and English mainstream and Latinx-themed content were offered in silos, rather than within the same channel or platform, was a major barrier to its growth and evolution. The introduction of Spanish-language content within ‘mainstream’ platforms, starting with shows like Narcos, La Casa De Papel and others on Netflix, has made media companies rethink their Latinx strategies. We are excited to see what lies ahead.”