Considered to be the fourth largest market for mobile advertising in the world, Latin America is a region where smartphones are more of a necessity than a mere luxury. The region comprises of most engaged social media users and avid video consumption. Due to the heavy usage of smartphones and social media, Latin America acts as a promising region for brands to lead their way with digital marketing.

According to experts, Latin America has the highest social media usage in the world. On average, users spend 4 hours per day on social media. In addition, almost all of these users prefer to use their smartphones over their laptops, desktops, and tablets. Some of the reasons contributing to this preference are:

  • Smartphones are affordable and easily operated as compared to a PC.
  • They are more compact and mobile than your tablets.
  • Smartphones are far better communication devices than both a PC and a tablet.

The number of mobile subscribers is forecasted to cross the 0.5 billion mark by 2022. People are spending more and more on mobiles and this is opening more doors for digital advertising in Latin America. This increase is prompting advertisers to focus more on mobile ad spend in Latin America.

Countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina are seeing a sharp increase in the competitive mobile industry in their regions. This is leading to an increased ad spend by the brands already established in the market. Not just this, many brands worldwide have started making products specifically for the LATAM region.

In order to cater to this penetration which is expected to rise by 78% by 2022, many marketing agencies and brands have been busy making apps and generating mobile ads which are meant specifically for LATAM audience. Many managers believe that Latin America holds a large stake in the future of digital advertising.

The mobile industry in the region is growing at a tremendous and charming rate. Only following sub-Saharan Africa, this growth rate is mainly influenced by the growing popularity of social media among the locals. Latin Americans have been spending more time on social media than any other country. 60% of the population’s smartphones users are already on Twitter, while there are only 23% such people in the US.

Some of the other factors apart from growing social media are:

  • Affordable Devices
  • Increased Network Coverage
  • Fewer Charges

Latin America has successfully established a $26.3 billion digital advertising market. With a growth of 9.3% in the advertising revenues in 2018, the region is now looking to touch the mark of $41 billion by 2021.

While designing ads specifically for the LATAM audience, the uneven distribution of the market over the region should also be considered. Countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Chile contribute the major chunk. Brazil makes more than half of the ad market in this region. It is expected to be the 5th largest digital advertising market in the world by the end of 2019 and cross Korea and Australia in this pursuit.

The main potential of the Latin market, however, resides in its consumers. Digital consumers in this region are more concentrated in 25-34 age bracket than any other region. This young lot is moving ahead of traditional advertisement schemes. Recent past trends have shown that viewers now spend around 37 hours/week on the internet and just 7 on TV.

Latin America has great scope for advancements in social media advertising as currently, it makes only 2% of the total spend. TV makes 68% of that currently but has a viewership of only 24%, while the social media audience is constantly increasing. More than 232 million Latin Americans are already on Facebook.

Facebook has established itself as the biggest platforms for running digital ads. It occupies more than 95% time spent on social media and influences more than two-thirds of the users. Apart from this, more than 90% of LATAM people are using their smartphones for their e-commerce activities. This increases the chances of an ad getting recognized. These people not just open the ads but also read the reviews, compare prices, search for nearby stores, and share their purchases with friends.

The scope of digital ads is not limited to just Facebook and Google. Many other platforms are coming up surpassing others, Youtube and Pinterest are examples. Pinterest has gathered more than 70 million users and is growing at a super fast rate. It is now ranked 2nd after Facebook for driving traffic.

With the non-stop increase in its social media network and a huge number of young population, Latin America is coming forward as a leader in the digital advertising industry. It has correctly been termed as the “Next Great Advertising Ecosystem”.