Latin America: Amazon leads in streaming commissions for the first time

Amazon Prime Video is now the leading streaming commissioner in Latin America, with 23 commissions for its video-on-demand platform announced in the second half of 2023, as reported by the latest study from Ampere Analysis. Other than Amazon and Mexican commissioner TelevisaUnivision, all other major commissioners in the region saw a total decrease in the number of streaming commissions announced between 2021 and 2023.

Disney, for example, saw a 45% decrease in streaming commissions in the period, while Netflix’s fell by 43%. Rival Paramount announced only four commissions in Latin America in 2023. Indeed, while Paramount will maintain its content pipeline in Argentina and Chile, it is withdrawing everywhere else in the region as part of its general strategy to move away from localized, international content.

Meanwhile, Amazon, unlike other U.S.-based commissioners, continues to focus on international (non-North American) projects. With a consistently decreasing proportion of commissions based in North America (reaching an all-time low of 25% in the second half of 2023), Amazon is instead focusing its efforts in Western Europe, Asia Pacific, and Central and South America. Among all Amazon Original commissions announced in H2 2023, 13% originated from Latin America, almost double the proportion announced in the same period of 2022 (7%).

A weakened Western economy, coupled with recent industrial action in North America, sees global streaming companies face increasing time and budget constraints. As a result, many have reduced their efforts in the Latin American market, creating more opportunity not just for local players such as Brazilian media giant Grupo Global, but also those global streamers, such as Amazon, better positioned in the non-U.S. content production market.