Brand marketers to target Latin American mobile users

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By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on May 12, 2005

Exploding subscriber growth, maturing network technologies and burgeoning interest in interactive, real-time communications are among several factors fuelling the growth of the predominantly youth-oriented mobile content market in Latin America, and brand marketers are now heading into this lucrative arena, according to a report from R&D consultancy Tierra Innovation.

Tierra Innovation, which specialises in tracking, analysing, and designing mobile marketing strategies and applications in the Americas, estimates that Latin America will become one of the world's largest markets for integrated mobile content. Worth up to an anticipated US$1.3 billion by 2007, Latin America's mobile market is a high-value opportunity for consumer brands and media companies that want to distribute and market content and products in the region.

Market on the brink
According to Jamie Trowbridge, president for Tierra Innovation, "The Latin American wireless content market has reached a tipping point and is gaining velocity, due to the strong appetite of its young consumers for a new generation of dynamic multimedia content and real-time communications services. For content providers and consumer brands, the rush is on: with 20%+ annual growth in all the key markets and increasing carrier consolidation across the region, Latin America it is becoming one of the world's largest integrated markets for mobile content. These converging trends are creating a perfect storm of opportunity for marketers trying to reach an often elusive audience of consumers."

Market analysis
The report, entitled 'Mobile Content & Marketing in Latin America', examines business-specific and wider market trends in four key markets (Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Chile), and explores the cross-regional impact of wireless carrier consolidation and the rising consumer demand for new types of mobile content. It also carries a country-by-country breakdown of mobile application developments, cultural attitudes, subscriber forecasts and a valuation model for the mobile content market in the region.

Key findings
The study's key findings and subject areas include:

  • Latin America goes wireless:
    Adoption of mobile and wireless technologies is booming throughout the region at growth rates far surpassing those of Europe and the USA. A new generation of young Latin American consumers are using new mobile technologies and leapfrogging traditional communications (such as fixed lines and dial-up internet) to use the latest handsets, networks, and applications. Key network services such as pre-paid mobile applications and premium SMS are driving this consumer adoption.
     
  • Big - and getting bigger:
    Wireless carriers in the region are catching up with the largest US carriers, and have a younger consumer market with more room for growth. The report examines consumers and wireless applications trends in countries such as Brazil (the sixth largest wireless market in the world), showing how content providers and brands can embrace the region as a whole while also providing insight into consumer attitudes in the individual countries.
     
  • Content and context matter:
    The report details the Latin mobile market from the perspective of brands and marketers, examining specific cultural trends, case studies, and types of applications within the context of strategic changes is the mobile technology sector.
     
  • Key applications ring true:
    The report also forecasts the value of the mobile content market in Latin America by specific product category and region: ringtones, BREW, J2ME, and SMS games, multimedia messaging. Tierra estimates that the market will enjoy a very healthy 211% growth by 2007, with Brazil alone accounting for 42% of mobile content revenue by that time.

The report can be purchased directly from Tierra Innovation's web site, or through the company's distribution partner, Mindbranch.

More Info: 

http://www.tierrainnovation.com