Smart TV on the up in Latin America

Smart TV penetration has experienced significant growth in Latin America, according to research by Dataxis, which calculates that there will be 111 million devices installed across the continent by the end of this year.

According to the research outfit, the rapid progress of Smart TVs in Latin America is caused by a number of factors.

Since 2016 the integration of the Internet has become a basic feature present in most of the televisions sold in the region.

Additionally, in some countries, notably Brazil and Mexico, the renewal time of televisions was accelerated following an analogue blackout on free-to–view television that required the replacement of the receiver.

Dataxis senior research analyst Carlos Blanco says that another strong stimulus for the deployment of Smart TVs is provided by the progress of OTT services in the region. By the end of 2020, OTT SVOD services are expected to be available in 109.4 million homes.

This has boosted the rate at which smart TV devices are connected to the internet to reach 76%, according to Dataxis.

Dataxis estimates that as of 2019 there were also 7.2 million media players in Latin America. The segment was led by Google’s Chromecast, which held a 65% market share, with alternatives including Android TV dongles and boxes accounting for 26%. Android TV is the fastest growing alternative, according to Dataxis.