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Key Insights
Latin American short dramas are not about “educating users” but rather a “natural migration”.
Their popularity stems from the continuation and reinterpretation of the emotional intensity and dramatic tension found in traditional series such as telenovelas. Storylines featuring themes like “dominant CEOs, revenge, and rebirth” naturally align with local audience preferences. The “minute-long” viewing pace is well-suited to fragmented daily scenarios such as commuting and queuing, allowing short dramas to quickly emerge as the new mainstream in mobile entertainment.
Latin American short drama user base surges, accounting for 27% of global downloads in Q1 2025.
Since 2024, short drama platforms in Latin America have entered a period of rapid growth, with quarterly downloads demonstrating sharp, staged increases. In Q1 2025, cumulative downloads of short drama apps in Latin America accounted for 27% of the global total, making the region the largest global market in terms of short drama downloads. Brazil and Mexico are currently the main markets, together accounting for more than 75% of total downloads.
Platforms still face a structural dilemma of “high viewership but low monetisation,” with average revenue per download at only USD 0.27.
Although the Latin American short drama market leads the world in user scale and download volume, profitability remains a challenge. User engagement is strong but per-user spending remains low, and advertising monetisation is limited by the underdeveloped local ad ecosystem. In addition, fragmented payment methods and the complexity of invoicing and settlement processes severely constrain cash flow efficiency. Platforms are caught in a bottleneck marked by strong user demand but thin margins.
Content production efficiency and cultural resonance are the engines of sustained growth.
Competition in short dramas has shifted from “can you attract users” to “who can continuously and efficiently produce content that truly resonates with local audiences”. Industrialised high-frequency production, AI-driven efficiency, multilingual support, and local collaboration together create a scalable and replicable model for international content expansion, providing platforms with ongoing traffic and retention.
The key to breaking the commercial bottleneck lies not in relying on one-off hits, but in building system-level infrastructure.
To achieve scalable profitability, relying solely on viral content is far from sufficient. Platforms must establish integrated capabilities across multiple areas including content monetisation, ad aggregation, payment integration, tax compliance, and foreign exchange management. Only by connecting the full chain from user retention to cash repatriation can platforms convert traffic dividends into sustainable growth momentum.
From telenovelas to short dramas: the new narrative battlefield in Latin American mobile entertainment
From Escrava Isaura to Deseo Silencioso, Latin Americans’ entertainment habits are being reshaped by the “minute-long” revolution. Watching five-minute short dramas daily is replacing traditional hour-long telenovelas. Has audience preference fundamentally changed? Why have short dramas gained such rapid traction in Latin America? And why are short drama platforms rushing into this market? By leveraging classic themes like the dominant CEO, revenge, and rebirth, how are they unlocking this blue ocean market with annual growth of over 30%? And behind this rapid expansion, what monetisation challenges do platforms face in a market defined by an audience with high viewership but low willingness to pay?
The dual engines driving the natural rise of short dramas in Latin America: cultural roots + technological momentum
The rapid rise of short dramas in Latin America is not accidental but rather the result of a deep resonance between cultural foundations and technological infrastructure. The region’s longstanding telenovela (Latin American soap opera) tradition provides a natural pathway for user migration in terms of narrative style and emotional structure. This is complemented by the maturity of mobile internet and short-form video ecosystems, which offer a solid foundation for distribution, user reach, and repeat viewing at scale. The interplay of content familiarity and technological compatibility allows short dramas to embed seamlessly into the daily media consumption habits of Latin American users without requiring behavioural change.
A rich telenovela tradition provides a “natural migration” pathway for users
Since the mid-20th century, telenovelas have become one of the most iconic audiovisual formats in Latin America, deeply integrated into television ecosystems and popular culture. Their defining characteristics include complex plots, dramatic emotional arcs, high episode counts, and frequent updates. A typical telenovela runs 80–160 episodes, each lasting 45–60 minutes. Storylines often address themes such as romance, social class, gender roles, family, and race. Through extended, serialised storytelling, telenovelas build immersive narrative universes that foster strong emotional resonance with viewers.
According to a Kantar Ibope survey of 135.5 million TV viewers across 11 countries, telenovelas remain the most popular programme type in Latin America, ranking first in Panama, Uruguay, Brazil, and Paraguay. In Brazil, for example, Globo’s three evening telenovela consistently dominate national prime-time ratings, with coverage reaching as high as 99.5%.
Short dramas inherit many of the structural elements of telenovelas, including fast plot pacing, heightened emotional intensity, and a strong focus on female perspectives and relationship conflicts. Popular genres such as the dominant CEOs, revenge, and rebirth closely mirror traditional telenovela themes. The difference lies in the format: short dramas compress narrative units into minutes or even seconds, optimising for mobile platforms and faster circulation. This creates a “micro-telenovela” viewing experience that perfectly aligns with Latin America’s mobile-internet era demand for fragmented, snackable content. The widespread familiarity of telenovelas essentially provides short dramas with a “ready-made narrative migration path”, eliminating the need to rebuild audience recognition and accelerating cultural acceptance.
Widespread mobile internet adoption and a large, engaged digital video user base
The rapid expansion of short dramas in Latin America is closely tied to the region’s steady growth in mobile internet adoption and digital video consumption. Latin America has gradually developed a mobile-first, video-centric content environment that strongly supports the diffusion of short dramas.
By the end of 2024, the region had 413 million mobile internet users, representing 64% of the population. Smartphone adoption exceeds 70% and is expected to surpass 79% by 2030. Leading markets such as Brazil, Mexico, and Chile have relatively mature 4G coverage, while 5G rollout is accelerating. In 2024, Brazil’s 5G penetration reached 12%, nearly doubling year-on-year.
The maturity of this infrastructure has significantly strengthened user reliance on digital video and daily engagement levels. According to eMarketer’s Future of Digital 2025, Latin American internet users spend over one-third of their day online, the highest proportion worldwide, with social and short-form video platforms serving as the main traffic hubs. Projections from eMarketer and other outlets suggest that by 2025, the region’s digital video audience will surpass 360 million, representing over 85% of internet users. Daily time spent on mobile video platforms (including TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels) continues to rise, especially among younger demographics, where short-form video has already become the dominant entertainment channel. This “time abundance + video priority” usage pattern provides short dramas with both a natural audience base and strong momentum for sustained engagement.
