Brazil is world’s second in streaming; Prime grows and Disney+ soars

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to “Finder’s Global Streaming Adoption Report,” an Australian consultancy that measures the world’s 18 major streaming markets, 65% of Brazilian adults use at least one streaming service, well above the global average of 56%.

The survey, conducted with 28,547 adults in 18 countries, shows that Brazil ranks second in the number of people with at least one streaming service, behind only New Zealand (65.26%).

“Over the past decade, we’ve seen a real boom in streaming services and the Covid-19 pandemic seems to have only accelerated that trend,” says Finder’s streaming editor James Dampney.

World’s Top Streaming Consumers*

New Zealand 65.26%.
Brazil 64.58%
Ireland 63.24%
Philippines 61.72%
Canada 61.24%
United States 58.90%
Spain 57.67%
India 56.94%
Denmark 56.33%
South Africa 56.16%
Mexico 55.91%
Italy 53.54%
Germany 52.70%
Hungary 51.43%
Malaysia 50.55%
Greece 46.81%
France 45.21%
Pakistan 44.64%

*Finder consulting data

Netflix leads the way, Amazon Prime grows and Disney+ soars

According to Finder, only 35.42% of the population has no streaming service in Brazil. Netflix leads the market with 52.69%, followed by Amazon Prime Video (16.87%), Disney+ (12.09%), and Globoplay (9.96%). HBO Max, a newcomer to Brazil, is not yet present in the survey.

One of the highlights is the growth of Disney+. In a little over 8 months, the service has surpassed Globoplay and is getting closer to Prime Video. The company was pointed out as a growth phenomenon even before reaching Brazil, surpassing 100 million subscribers in less than 16 months, a record in the sector.

New competitors change the scenario in Brazil

If at first Netflix and Globoplay sailed smoothly, taking different segments of the Brazilian market, the dispute is increasingly fierce at the top and the shares are less clear. Globo has increased the volume of international productions in its catalog and Netflix has invested more in Brazilian productions. But new competitors have shown up on the block.

Amazon Prime Video’s arrival was a sign of things to come. Not too long ago, the e-commerce giant was perceived only as an e-commerce with streaming. The catalog was huge, but no big news. This was until recently, when Amazon began releasing interesting original productions such as The Boys (one of the best hero series), The Expanse (great sci-fi series), Invincible (captivating adult cartoon), and Jack Ryan (not that great, but worth it because of John Krasinski).

The recent purchase of MGM, owner of titles such as RoboCop, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Rocky should heat up the dispute. Amazon invested R$45 (US$8.6) billion in this acquisition. It is the second largest purchase ever made by the e-commerce giant (in 2017 Amazon paid R$74 billion for Whole Foods supermarket chain).

This rapid growth in competition is one of the main reasons for the speed with which streaming is becoming popular in Brazil. Coupled with this is the fact that the quality of streaming content is increasing and prices are affordable (Netflix is an exception in continuing to raise its prices, but its absolute leadership explains the strategy).

However, it is worth noting that a movie theater ticket in São Paulo can cost up to twice as much as a Netflix subscription, the most expensive platform.

Price is the determining factor

While Netflix costs at least R$25.90  per month, Amazon Prime costs R$9.90 and has other benefits for Amazon shoppers. Price is a key factor anywhere, but particularly in Brazil in times of crisis.

But the competition tightened with the arrival of Disney+. The media giant notoriously knows how to make content and has some of the best franchises on the planet (Star Wars and Marvel, for example), but it is also a reference in marketing.

And Disney+ did not disappoint. It executed its strategy in an exemplary way when it landed in Brazil. From a surprising partnership with Globoplay, with aggressive discounts on the joint subscription, to a controversial projection of brand images on Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro.

Overnight, series such as The Mandalorian, WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki won the Brazilian popular imagination and became the hot topic on social networks and news portals.

Chance also helped Disney. With the stop of soap opera productions in Brazil, big entertainment websites were left without much to talk about. The solution was to discuss streaming, which benefited Netflix, but mainly Disney, which was new and had a sizable batch of new releases.

Far beyond streaming

Another Disney strength is its gigantic investment capacity. Disney+ should only stop losing money in 2024, it says. It is no secret that Disney+’s revenue per user is much lower compared to Netflix’s.

But for now, they are different business models. While subscriptions are the biggest source of revenue for Netflix (which has been investing to change this scenario), it is Disney’s parks and hotels that generate most of the profit for Mickey’s company. So Disney+ is a huge tool to attract new business by providing more visibility for the Star Wars and Marvel franchises, but also by allowing access to more user data that can be converted into more effective sales.

At Amazon Prime the model is similar, Prime Video is part of a larger cog in which users are consumers of other Amazon products and services.

In this context, Netflix, HBO Max (which landed disastrously in Brazil) and Globoplay have the challenge of improving the monetization of subscribers by exploiting user data more effectively to generate other business, which may even include selling advertising on their platforms, for instance.

But for now, Amazon Prime and Disney+ have the advantage by virtue of having other very successful products to “sell” along with their subscriptions.