The number of pay-TV subscribers in Latin America is expected to reach 73.7 million at the end of 2017, which represents a rise of 3.4% compared to the year 2016.
According to Dataxis research, the pay-TV market in Latin America still shows room for further growth but expectations for the medium term are moderate. The region will account for 88.7 million subscribers in 2022.
Two main elements affect the regional numbers. For instance, Brazil used to be the largest market and the main source of growth, however, since the end of 2014 its evolution has been frozen. Secondly, in the larger markets, the challenge is to reduce the barrier of entry to reach new level of penetration. In 2017, legal pay-TV was available in 41% of households.
Mexico became the main Latin American market in terms of subscriber volume and Dataxis predicts that it will maintain this position until 2022, followed by Brazil and Argentina. On the other hand, Argentina has the highest penetration of legal pay-TV, followed by Mexico and Chile.