Content Americas 2025: PlumReseach reveals major shifts in the TV streaming market

New data from PlumResearch, presented at Content Americas, reveals major shifts in the TV streaming market in 2024. Consumer preferences continue to diversify, with Spanish-language content on streaming platforms rising by 73% over the past five years. Additionally, content from LATAM on services like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video has surged by 300% since 2017, growing from 150 billion hours to over 450 billion hours in 2024. Despite this trend, only a few non-English-language titles have topped streaming charts, with Korea’s "Queen of Tears" emerging as Netflix’s most-watched show of 2024.

Consumption data also highlights the differing approaches taken by major streamers. Netflix focused on first-run series to engage its most active users, while Disney and Amazon found greater success with returning series. Netflix’s "Squid Game" narrowly missed the top spot, primarily due to its late 2024 release. Since its debut, the Korean series has accumulated 690 million hours of viewing, with Season 2 adding another 162 million hours.

LATAM consumers are showing increasingly diverse tastes, with Korean series "True Beauty" and "Marry My Husband" taking top spots for first-run series on Netflix and Amazon. Meanwhile, the Colombian series "Yo Soy Betty, La Fea" claimed the top spot for returning and library content on Amazon.

Both Disney and Max relied much more heavily on their franchise properties, including Marvel and Star Wars IP, as well as "Harry Potter", "Game of Thrones", and other game-based IP.

Key content produced in LATAM is garnering increasingly high-profile audience engagement. Argentina’s "Chiquititas" received 400 million hours of consumption globally, Brazil’s "Desperate Lies" also garnered 400 million hours, Colombia’s "La Reina del Flow" picked up over 500 million hours, Mexico’s "Rosario Tijeras" saw 440 million hours of consumption, and Peru’s kids’ series "Little Angel" enjoyed 200 million hours of viewership.

NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONTENT
PlumResearch data shows that consumers continue to favor non-native productions, library content, and a wider range of choices, even with the return of glossy U.S. productions. LATAM content peaked in 2022 but plateaued in 2023 and 2024 due to media austerity. However, PlumResearch’s Research Director Jonathan Broughton anticipates that 2025 will see a return to growth. He commented: “Stories drive content, and every country has great stories to tell. While non-English (U.S.-produced) content accounts for up to 60% of the hours consumed on streaming platforms, the revenue generated by that content tells a different story. LATAM content offers an extremely cost-efficient way to satisfy audience appetites, and as competition between streamers intensifies, LATAM countries are sure to reap the benefits.”

STRATEGY FOR STREAMERS
While ad-tiers have positively impacted the growth of all streaming services, viewing growth has been relatively flat for both Netflix and Amazon in 2024, with Netflix reporting the same consumption in hours as in 2023. Revenue growth from advertising has also been modest, with only 4-8% of revenues generated by Disney or Netflix coming from ads. Sports IP is crucial to growth in this area. Jonathan commented: “Streamers currently earn around a $20 CPM, while linear sports typically command closer to $70. Every sports IP added to a streamer brings them closer to that figure.”

PlumResearch data shows that early sports IP like "The Netflix Cup" and "The Netflix Slam" garnered only 3-5 million hours of viewing. However, "The Jake Paul Fight" continued to attract viewers long after the event, with total viewing in 2024 reaching over 550 million hours. Additionally, Christmas NFL games attracted higher audiences than early sports IP, with each game racking up between 36 million and 56 million hours of viewing.