Fuente: eMarketer

Colombia is without a doubt a rising digital star in Latin America. The country is the third-largest market in the region by population and the fourth by GDP. In addition, it boasts the third-largest smartphone user base in Latin America, trailing only Brazil and Mexico by that measure. Colombia is also one of the most active regional markets in a category closely tied to advanced internet adoption: digital video.

According to comScore, 85.9% of internet users in Colombia watched online video at home and work locations-excluding mobile devices-in December 2014. That figure works out to 12.8 million online video viewers ages 6 and above.

While data about digital video consumption habits in Colombia is scarce and sometimes aging, there are some clues that may be worth highlighting. In a December 2013 poll by The Cocktail Analysis, specialized video properties such as YouTube and Vimeo topped the list of preferred sites to consume digital video, cited by 88% of digital video viewers in Colombia. TV channel websites-led by Caracol and RCN Televisión-followed, mentioned by 61%. Unsurprisingly, just 26% cited niche over-the-top (OTT) services, such as Netflix and Clarovideo.

OTT services are not as common not only due to the costs associated with them, but also because of infrastructure constraints. According to December 2014 data from Netflix's ISP Speed Index, top speeds in Argentina (3.28 Mbps), Brazil (3.44 Mbps), Chile (3.17 Mbps) and Ecuador (3.12 Mbps) were 23% faster on average than Colombia's fastest connection of 2.65 Mbps.

Meanwhile, research by Dataxis Intelligence found that Colombia held a 5.4% share of the estimated 4.5 million video-on-demand (VOD) OTT subscribers in Latin America in Q1 2014. That works out to nearly a quarter of a million VOD OTT subscriptions, making Colombia the fourth-largest market in the area. And the number of viewers is certainly higher given that VOD OTT subscriptions are used by several household members in most cases.

More recently, a Digital TV Research Limited study based on Netflix totals showed just how quickly VOD OTT services may be growing in Colombia. Here, the country ranked fourth in Latin America through December 2012, when it reached 110,000 Netflix subscribers-trailing Argentina's 130,000 at the time. One year later, Colombia snatched the third spot, with 307,000 subscribers.

Strong Netflix adoption continued as Colombia-based subscriptions rose nearly 74.3% in the first nine months of 2014 to reach 535,000 subscribers. Colombia's expansion outpaced the regional average (nearly 65%) and was more than 5 percentage points clear of second-place Brazil (69.2%).

On a global scale, Colombia remains a relatively small contributor to an estimated Netflix subscriber base north of 14 million outside of the US. In the regional picture, however, the country held an 11.0% share of an estimated 4.85 million subscriber base across Latin America in September 2014, up from 10.4% in December 2013.

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