NEW YORK CITY—Brazil and Mexico experienced significant growth in the penetration of connected television (CTV) from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023, according to findings from the eighth edition of Amagi’s “Quarterly Global FAST Report.”

Brazil saw a 94% increase in CTV penetration during the period, while Mexico experienced 93% growth. Both countries have exceeded uptake of FAST channels in the more mature U.S. CTV market for the period, which stood at 80.6%, the report said.

Comparing data from the first quarter of 2022 to the same quarter in 2023, the report offers an in-depth overview of the rapidly evolving trends in the Latin American (LATAM) FAST market. Drawing on Amagi’s proprietary data analytics platform, Amagi ANALYTICS, and the 2023 Amagi Consumer Survey, the report lays out audience preferences and viewing habits across more than 50 FAST platforms and about 1,800 LATAM channel deliveries using the Amagi THUNDERSTORM server-side ad insertion platform. The Brazil and Mexio findings are based on about 800 households of various socio-economic backgrounds. Participants had watched TV at least once in the prior week, the company said.

Other key findings regarding the LATAM market, include:

• 71% of existing pay-TV customers are open to switching to ad-based streaming services.
• 150% year-over-year growth in ad perceptions, 45% increase in channel deliveries and 7% climb in hours of viewing (HOV).
• Peru saw 1,829% HOV growth; Chile, 948%; and Argentina, 405%.
• Argentina experienced 657% ad impression growth, and Peru, 551%.
• While subscription VOD (SVOD) remains strong in Brazil and Mexico, uptake of FAST is steadily increasing.
• When faced with an economic downturn, Brazilian (34%) and Mexican (43%) households prioritize giving up TV subscriptions but are inclined to transition to FAST (Brazil, 24%, and Mexico, 23%).

"Latin America is experiencing a remarkable transformation in its media landscape, with FAST leading the charge. As affordability and accessibility become key drivers, Brazil and Mexico emerge as vibrant hubs for FAST adoption," said Baskar Subramanian, CEO and co-founder of Amagi. "The data speaks volumes, showcasing the rising influence of CTVs, diverse genre preferences, and a steady progression toward FAST.”

The latest edition of the report is available online.

CEI’s buildout of Discovery’s new Latin American operations in Sterling, Va., includes five multichannel-playout master control rooms operating up to 13 channels each.STERLING, VA.—Discovery Networks is home to some of the most widely distributed cable channels in the world. Programming for its Latin America service alone provides 44 unique channels including Discovery, TLC, ID, Animal Planet, Discovery Civilization, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo, Discovery Kids, Home & Health, Discovery Familia, Discovery en Espanol, and Discovery HD Theatre—each customized for various regions in Latin and South America.

In Discovery’s Miami playout center, where the LatAm channels originate, the network faced a difficult challenge. Existing playout systems were aging, and much of the gear was approaching end of life and loss of vendor support. Also, there was no more room for additional channels to serve new market opportunities.

So the questions became what to do, where to do it, and when? Did it make more sense to rebuild in Miami or relocate LatAm playout to Discovery’s primary transmission facility in Sterling, Va.? In either case, the equipment would have to be upgraded. Was IP technology ready enough for prime time?

TECHNOLOGY RIDDLE

To solve this technology riddle, Discovery enlisted Communications Engineering Inc. (CEI), a systems design and integration firm based in Newington, Va. It was clear that migrating the LatAm channels to Virginia would centralize playout resources, drive efficiency, and allow room for channel expansion—key goals for this challenging project. After deciding to make the move to Virginia, Discovery charged CEI with making it happen in two phases: Phase 1 included technology analysis and proof-of-concept testing, and Phase 2 comprised implementation and transition.

Surprisingly, CEI’s analysis showed that building the LatAm playout systems on an IP architecture would cost about 30 percent more than expanding Discovery’s traditional SDI infrastructure. On the other hand, IP would provide a much more flexible design that was fast and cost-effective to expand once the core systems were in place. Even though cost was a huge consideration, Discovery wisely looked at the long term and chose to invest in an IP playout platform.

“CEI provided extremely valuable guidance and expertise as we broke new ground for the LatAm playout systems,” said Jim McGrath, Discovery’s senior vice president of engineering and technology. “During the technology analysis phase, they provided expert advice on IP system architectures and helped us weigh the pros and cons of each design based on their experience with each of the major playout-system vendors. That guidance was invaluable.”

With approval to pursue an IP architecture, CEI focused on which manufacturers could deliver end-to-end IP playout systems. The conclusion: Evertz and Grass Valley. For channel-in-a-box systems, Grass Valley’s iTX Integrated Playout platform came closest to meeting Discovery’s key requirements. Meanwhile, evaluation of core IP routing platforms settled on Evertz’ SDVN (Software Defined Video Networking) platform, which uses its EXE Video Service Router and its MAGNUM and VUE applications for IP routing, signal distribution, control, monitoring, and redundancy switching.

Working collectively with project stakeholders, CEI developed the new Latin America playout systems around iTX, EXE, MAGNUM and VUE. The result is an exceptionally robust playout platform leveraging the latest technologies from two of the industry’s leading manufacturers.

“Working with Evertz and Grass Valley together on this project was a critical factor in its success,” said Raef Alkayat, CEI’s lead on the Discovery Latin America project. “Their close cooperation meant the project stayed on schedule and on budget—key factors in every project effort.”

That teamwork became especially important when dealing with project challenges. For example, the project had unique program audio and caption/subtitle requirements to serve the diverse, multi-language needs of Latin/South America. The goal was to make one program file and automatically rearrange the playout audio channels per region, directly from the playlist rather than separate files. Grass Valley stepped up and developed custom code to make it happen.

THREE KEY SYSTEMS

Overall, Discovery’s new Latin America playout facility encompasses three key systems, and IP technology made it all possible. First, the playout systems themselves consist of five clusters, each delivering up to 12 channels in 1+1 redundancy for a total capacity of 60 channels (120 streams). Currently Discovery uses only 44 channels, with a few additional playout chains dynamically assigned to support system maintenance.

The other key areas of the project: five multichannel-playout master control rooms operating up to 13 channels each, and four live-event control rooms, each managing a single channel during a live program, when commercial rolls are less predictable. New multiseat supervisor positions support the multichannel rooms, and there are two individual supervisor consoles to manage the four live-event control rooms.

What’s interesting is that, thanks to IP multicast (using SMPTE 2022-6), any channel can be controlled and monitored from any operating space using DNF Controls’ DC21 and USP control panels with Evertz MAGNUM and VUE. And while the high-level, file-based workflow remains similar for the operators, the underlying IP technology behind the operation is radically different.

Many media companies are rolling IP technology into their facilities, but so far, few are doing it at this scale, and not for both primary and backup playout.

THE RESULTS

There are many advantages of Discovery’s all-IP master control and playout systems, but the two main benefits are dramatically improved flexibility and upgradeability. Leveraging IP has given Discovery a playout platform that can quickly adapt to new business opportunities for Discovery programming.

By building an all-IP core, the signal-transport systems are resolution-independent, requiring little or no change of gear as technology advances. Those benefits will enable Discovery to respond rapidly to viewer demand for advancing technology such as HD, 4K, or even 8K down the road.

Spike Jones is the vice president of sales and marketing for CEI.

DISCOVERY LATIN AMERICA IP PLAYOUT FACILITY

Key Components

Grass Valley

• iTX Integrated Playout system with 104 channels

– 14 HD channels (1+1) = 28 HD streams
– 30 SD channels (1+1) = 60 SD streams
– 8 maintenance channels (1+1) = 16 streams
– Softel Swift Create captions and DVB subtitles
– Vertigo XG Inside graphics
– Nielsen watermarking
– Softel Swift TX – DVB Subtitle Playout Systems
– Custom software development on iTX

Evertz

• 288-port EXE 10G IP routing platform (expandable to 1152 ports)
• 72 570IPG IP gateways (redundancy switchers)
• MAGNUM control (SDVN)
• 23 VUE-CUBE visualization and control panels (GUI)
• 14 3067VIP10G IP multiviewers (36 x 4 each)
• 5601MSC Master Reference Generators w/PTP

DNF Controls

• 5 DC21 controllers
• 16 USP-16 control panels
• 6 USP-S48R control panels
• Exclusive delegation control software

Emerson

• Avocent HMX network KVM

switching system (154 x 16)

Volicon

• 3 Observer TS enterprise logging and monitoring systems

Sony

• 6 LMD-2451TD and LMD-A220 production monitors

Tektronix

• 2 WVR7200 multistandard/multiformat rasterizers

Audio Monitoring

• Studio Technologies, Bryston, JBL, Tannoy, Wohler