Digital Landscape in Latin America
Part 1 of 3
Today, there are almost 600 million people in Latin America. A considerable group when compared to the U.S., but tiny when compared to China or even India (with populations of over a billion). Regardless of its smaller size, Latin America may just be the next frontier for brands wanting to expand south of Rio Grande. There are a few things happening in the technology front that are propelling the region forward, and in some cases its pushing some countries, like Argentina, to over index in some areas when compared to the rest of the region.
The region is seeing an expansion of its digital infrastructure, a steady growth of mobile technology adoption, as well as an increase in Venture Capital investment, augmenting the growth of the tech-startup scene. Nonetheless, this growth is not equal to all, and some countries are seeing a faster evolution than others.
As follows I will highlight the best findings from different sources like eMarketer, PulsoSocial and Our Mobile Planet, so that I can provide you with the most relevant numbers broken down by the following segments:
• Online Infrastructure in Latin America
• Mobile Penetration in Latin America
• The StartUp Market in Latin America
For this article, I will be talking about the digital infrastructure in Latin America, but in the next few days, I will be posting the remaining segments of the “Digital Landscape in Latin America, as shown above. So here we go, read on, and enjoy!
Online Infrastructure in Latin America
Internet penetration overall is low, but its rapid growth is now seen in metropolitan areas. Approximately a little less than 50% (42.6% to be exact in 2012 according to eMarketer) are online. Approximately 30% of all households in Latin America have broadband access. That is approximately 77 million people with broadband access. These numbers place Latin America #4 globally, with 10.6% of all internet usage worldwide. Logically, countries with better infrastructure, will see higher internet usage. For instance, Argentina and Brazil over index in digital penetration, when compared to the rest of the countries in the continent.
When we look at the overall internet penetration, these are the top 5 country with the highest internet penetration:
There are countries with higher internet penetration than these, but not relevant enough as their populations are very, very small. Case in point will be the Falkland Islands, with 92% penetration, but only 2,900 internet users. Although Brazil is in 5th place, it does represent almost half of all internet usage in the region, with almost 80 million users. Argentina and Colombia follow Brazil closely with 28 and 25 million users respectively. These are pretty decent numbers, as they set the ground for an explosive growth in digital, mobile and social media marketing. Brands that can recognize it these numbers today, will be way ahead of the competition later in the game.
Stay tuned for our our next post on mobile penetration in Latin America.
Hasta la próxima!
