Music Television in Latin America

Gloria Estefan, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira

In August 1981, Music Television --- now popularly known as MTV --- was launched.  Soon, it resurrected the music recording industry in the USA; deified a new generation of video-savvy stars such as Madonna and Michael Jackson; created cultural icons such as Beavis and Butthead; affected form and style in fashion, cinema, music, radio and television; and created new lifestyle standards and attitudes.  This successful formula was exported by MTV all over the world and also spurned local imitators everywhere.

According to Goodwin (see book reference below), the two brilliant (and cynical) features that account for the success of MTV 

  1. "No matter how corny it was, no matter how transparently manipulative, no matter how crass its images (many music video directors are clearly in need of some serious metaphor therapy), MTV was fun to watch." 
     
  2. "MTV had invented one solution to the perennial problem of cable television --- how to generate enough revenue for new programming.  MTV sidestepped this difficulty to some extent by having someone else pay for the "programs," as its video clips were financed by record companies."

According to the Los Medios y Mercados de Latinoamérica 1998 study, 48% of Latin Americans between the ages of 12 and 64 years old claim to watch music television on a regular basis.  By comparison, 93% of Latin Americans watch televised news regularly and 86% of them watch televised movies regularly.

Music television is available in Latin America mainly through specific cable/satellite television channels.  The best known music television channel is the Spanish-language Latin America edition of MTV known as MTV Latino America, which appears as a different Portuguese-language channel called MTV Brasil in Brazil.  MTV has domestic competitors in various countries, such as Much Music and Music 21 in Argentina, Via X and Zona Latina (which is not related to this website) in Chile, Ritmo Son and Telehit in Mexico, and HTV in many countries.  You can check out the websites for these channels through the links at the bottom of this page.  In addition, certain mainstream television channels may allocate non-prime dayparts to run music videos (usually late night and weekends), especially Top 10 shows.

In principle, there is no entry barrier to entering the music television business, since record companies are more than willing to provide their music videos to music television channels because the airplay constitutes free advertising for their recordings.  However, the daunting challenge lies in the fact that it requires plenty of marketing and promotions to popularize a music television channel.

Research also plays a major role in the success of music television channels.  At any point in time, there will be many more music videos available than can be accommodated.  Just as in radio, the choice of the right play list is very important.  In the case of MTV, a major issue is the striking of a balance between playing English-language international hits versus Spanish-language (or Portuguese-language) national favorites.  Such decisions are based upon large amounts of quantitative research as well as qualitative research such as focus groups and networks of knowledgeable informants.

According to the IBOPE cable television household ratings in the month of April 2000, in Argentina, MTV was #25 among all networks with a 0.27% rating, Much Music #34 with a 0.17% and Music 21 #58 with a 0.04%.  In Mexico, MTV was #4 with a 0.68%, Telehit was #21 with a 0.25% and Ritmo Son with 0.07%.  But the importance of MTV, like many other niche channels, does not lie in its total audience size.  In the following table, we show the results separately by various demographic classes.  The viewing levels for music television are higher among affluent younger people.

Demographic Characteristics

 % Watched Music Television Regularly
Geographical Region
     Argentina
     Brazil
     Chile
     Colombia
     Mexico
     Venezuela
     Balance of Central America/Caribbean
     Balance of South America
50%
43%
49%
58%
51%
59%
54%
38%
Major Urban Areas 53%
Sex / Age
     Male 12-17
     Male 18-24
     Male 25-34
     Male 35-44
     Male 45-54
     Male 55-64

     Female 12-17
     Female 18-24
     Female 25-34
     Female 35-44
     Female 45-54
     Female 55-64
50%
63%
53%
39%
31%
21%

65%
64%
45%
45%
34%
26%
Socio-economic Level
     Level A (Top 10%)
     Level B (Next 20%)
     Level C (Next 30%)
     Level D (Bottom 40%)
53%
57%
52%
38%
TOTAL 48%

(Source: Los Medios y Mercados de Latinoamérica 1998)

Marc Anthony, Luis Miguel, Carlos Vives

Music television is more than a demographic play.  The following table shows that music television viewers tend to have psychographic profiles reflected by values, attitudes and lifestyles such as

Psychographic Segment

 % Watched Music Television Regularly
     Image Seekers
     Curious Cosmopolitans
     Global Professionals
     Concerned Traditionalists
     Comfortable Conservatives		 52%
56%
51%
42%
34%
TOTAL 48%

(Source: Los Medios y Mercados de Latinoamérica 1998)

Shakira

While music television may not be as popular with the audience as other genres such as movies and news, it is very popular with advertisers.  Why?  In the following table, we show a list of consumer activities among those people who regularly watch music television as compared against the general population.  Music television viewers are consumers of popular culture and their ancillary products.  Much more than that, music television even plays an important role in setting the popular agenda in terms of culture, fashion and lifestyle.  As such, they are the dream targets for certain types of advertisers.

Consumer Activity

 % among regular music tv viewers % among general population
Went to movie theater in last 12 months 39% 30%
Ate at fast food restaurant in last 12 months 40% 31%
Bought jeans in last 12 months 60% 47%
Bought athletic shoes in last 12 months 54% 43%
Own compact disc player 48% 42%

(Source: Los Medios y Mercados de Latinoamérica 1998)

Santana, Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony

LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC

MUSIC TELEVISION CHANNELS

INTERNET LINKS

BOOK REFERENCES

(posted by Roland Soong on 5/19/00)

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