With the 2014 FIFA World Cup about to kick off in June, all eyes are on Latin America, where mobile usage is through the roof and technology adoption is booming.
The stats speak for themselves. According to Brazil-based media and marketing company IMS, Latin America (abbreviated as LatAm among the initiated) is home to the fastest growing Internet-using population in the world. To put that into perspective, the annual growth of U.S. consumers online is at about 1%. The annual growth of Internet users in Latin America? Twelve times that.
But the numbers get really striking when you move into the social realm. While 67% of U.S. Internet users spend time on social networking sites, a whopping 97.5% of Internet-connected LatAmmers use social media. Maybe the remaining 2.5% just momentarily misplaced their phones while IMS was doing its study?
Numbers released by IDC also paint a rosy picture: In 2013 alone, smartphones sales grew by more than 50% and tablet sales shot up 234% (!!) across the continent.
Latin America is clearly a brand’s real-time marketing paradise—and the World Cup will be its field of play.
@ eTail Latin America: mobile is the largest disruptor in Latam according to Forrester Research
— Jean Christian Mies (@jean_mies) May 19, 2014
Latin America spends 7.6 hours on average on #SocialMedia. Marketer and Audience #Insights #infographic – http://t.co/QofUcmnewr
— Creatine Marketing (@creatinemrkting) October 26, 2013
IDC expects India and Brazil to overtake the UK (currently the world’s 3rd largest smartphone market) by 2016 | http://t.co/D07zbWCwU1
— Waracle (@WaracleUK) May 20, 2014
Within 4 years, Latin American #tablet sales are expected to reach 37.7M units– nearly 9% of the total global market http://t.co/rsRy8cKUym
— Usablenet (@Usablenet) April 10, 2014
#mobile #edu Latin America Digital English Market Will Surge To $260.9 Million By 2018 – http://t.co/2h50IFlSfN http://t.co/VwneDwQOjV
— e-learn.net (@elearnnet) April 19, 2014
It’ll definitely be interesting to see how it all plays out. Coke, Nike, Adidas, McDonalds, and other brand titans are all lacing up as we speak.
Smart of FIFA to add football matches as value-add content for this summer’s World Cup of Brands.
— Prof. Jeff H Jarvis (@ProfJeffJarvis) May 14, 2014
Touché.
