Latin America is set to deliver one of the fastest growth rates in global media in 2026, with total revenues forecast to hit $65 billion (€55.4bn) – up 10.7% year-on-year – according to new Omdia data presented by Head of M&E Maria Rua Aguete at Content Americas.
The same dataset puts the US market on $453 billion (€385.9bn) in 2026, growing 6.9% over the period.
Omdia says the region’s outperformance is being powered by rapid adoption of online video, a faster shift to advertising-led business models, and experimentation with mobile-native formats such as microdramas. That combination is reshaping how content is packaged, discovered and monetised across the region, particularly in its two biggest engines: Brazil and Mexico.
FAST continues to be a standout growth vector. Omdia ranks Brazil as the world’s 3rd-largest FAST market by revenue, generating $152 million (€129.5m) – behind only the US and the UK – while Mexico and Brazil also sit among the heaviest FAST users globally, at 53% and 40% respectively.
Rua Aguete described the pace of change as a blueprint for other territories, pointing to the combined rise of FAST and the integration of microdramas into mainstream services. “What’s happening in Latin America is nothing short of remarkable,” she told the Content Americas audience in Miami, as the market turned to hybrid monetisation and new forms of engagement.
In subscription streaming, Netflix remains the region’s dominant commercial force, accounting for nearly 50% of streaming revenues, with Omdia highlighting the role of its ad-supported tier and bundling strategies in supporting that position. Alongside monetisation, discovery is becoming increasingly mobile-first, with YouTube and Instagram Reels reaching 97% of adults aged 18–64 in Brazil, underlining the pressure on premium video services to compete for time and attention on the handset screen.
Microdramas are emerging as a key battleground for that mobile engagement. Omdia forecasts microdrama revenues will reach $14 billion globally (€11.9bn) by the end of 2026, including $3 billion (€2.6bn) generated outside China, as short-form, vertically formatted stories scale internationally. The research argues the format’s low production costs and high repeat viewing are helping it punch above its weight, with microdrama apps now driving more daily viewing time on mobile than some of the biggest long-form streaming services.
In Latin America, TelevisaUnivision’s ViX is cited as an early example of how microdramas can be folded into AVOD and freemium ecosystems to extend reach and lift total time spent, while specialist apps such as DramaBox and ReelShort are also pushing into the region. Omdia suggests the trend risks widening the “mobile engagement gap” for services that already skew more heavily to the living-room screen experience.
Advertising sits at the centre of the growth story. Omdia notes that in 2025, $42 billion (€35.8bn) of global online video expansion was attributed to ad-driven models, reinforcing the direction of travel away from pure subscription economics and towards hybrid monetisation. With global media and entertainment revenues approaching $1.2 trillion (€1.02tn) in 2026, the research positions LATAM’s ad markets and mobile-first consumption as a testbed for the next phase of streaming growth – especially as online video revenues in the region are projected to hit $34 billion (€29.0bn) in 2026.
