Brazil Emerges as FAST Streaming Powerhouse, Set to Soon Become Its Second Biggest International Market in the World (EXCLUSIVE)
Already the second-largest market for Netflix subscribers outside the U.S. Brazil is on track to become the No. 2 international FAST market by 2029, the country playing a growing role in how the next era of connected TV unfolds.
More from Variety
Rio2C's Industry Pitching Captures a Brazil Intent on Remembering the Forgotten, Its Slaves, Extraordinary Artists and an Emblematic Guerrilla Fighter
O2 Filmes to Produce a Biopic of Samba Star Elza Soares: 'If She Were American, She Would be Compared to Ella Fitzgerald'(EXCLUSIVE)
Rio2C, Latin America's Largest Creativity Event, Reaches Record Attendance as Rio de Janeiro Aims to Build as Brazil's Film and TV Capital
That is one of the key takeaways from a presentation to be delivered by María Rua Aguete, Omdia's senior research director of global analyst Omdia, made Tuesday as one of the opening sessions at Rio2C, Latin America's largest entertainment creativity meet.
According to Omdia, the media and entertainment sector will generate $1.07 trillion globally in 2025, with online video commanding the lion's share — accounting for 70% of that total and growing at 13% year-on-year. While traditional pay-TV is in steady decline, FAST services are scaling rapidly, both in terms of user engagement and advertising revenue.
Brazil Rises to FAST's Global Top Tier
'Brazil is now the third-largest market for FAST services outside the U.S. — and will climb to No. 2 ahead of Canada in revenues by 2029,' Rua Aguete told Variety ahead of her presentation. 'It's not just about adoption; it's about monetization. That's why we're here.'
According to Omdia, Brazil's online video revenues will reach $14.4 billion by 2029, $3 billion of that increase from advertising. Brazilians are increasingly opting for free services over adding subscriptions, and platforms like Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus and Tubi are now regulars in the country's top 10 most-watched services on Smart TVs, sitting alongside Netflix, Prime Video and Globoplay.
Advertising Trends: Underspending in Streaming
Rua Aguete's keynote will likely strike a chord with brand and agency attendees, spotlighting what she called 'a massive imbalance' in the global advertising mix. Despite consumers spending more time on streaming platforms than ever before — 86 minutes per day on average — advertisers continue to disproportionately invest in social media and linear TV.
In Brazil, the disconnect is even more stark. 'FAST and online video are clearly under-penetrated in media plans. That is the massive opportunity,' she said.
Globally, Connected TV (CTV) advertising is the fastest-growing category in media, with an expected 80% growth over the next five years. In Brazil, CTV revenues are rising while YouTube's share is projected to decline from 56% in 2024 to 41% by 2029 as premium ad-supported platforms gain ground.
Smart TVs Are the New Shopfronts
Much of this shift is being driven by the rapid rise of Smart TVs. Among Brazilians who watch FAST, 45% do so on Smart TVs, while 20% turn to their smartphones. Of the Smart TVs used to stream these services, Samsung leads the market with a 51%share, trailed by LG at 20%. Rua Aguete noted that 83% of FAST content in Brazil is watched on Smart TVs, particularly via built-in apps.
With $6.6 trillion in global e-commerce forecast by 2029, she highlighted the rising potential for shoppable TV — an area brands like Samsung and LG are investing in. 'If we can get shoppable TV, buying through the TV as easily as currently through smartphones, the revenue upside is enormous,' she said.
Streaming Landscape: FAST Enters the Top 10
The FAST ecosystem is no longer niche. In Omdia's global consumer surveys, FAST services now routinely appear in the top 10 most-used streaming apps on Smart TVs including in Brazil, Mexico, the U.S., and across Europe.
Yet the commercial beneficiaries vary significantly by region. 'In the Americas, CTV platforms like Samsung, Roku, and LG are winning,' Rua Aguete explained. 'But in Europe, it's public service broadcasters and video streamers like Pluto TV.'
Netflix's Brazil Strategy? Local Hits with Global Reach
Brazil also remains Netflix's second-largest subscriber market globally, Omdia estimates. In 2024, Netflix used Brazil to launch a wave of local originals that gained significant global traction, top performers included 'Desperate Lies,' 'Burning Betrayal', 'Senna,' and 'Bionic,' according to PlumResearch. These shows weren't produced with international audiences in mind, Rua Aguete said, but rather as authentic stories rooted in Brazilian culture; a factor that has ironically made them stand out and potentially more exportable.
''Senna' is the exception,' she said. 'It was designed from the start as a global franchise. But most Brazilian hits on Netflix succeed because they are locally grounded, not globally targeted.'
What's Next?
The FAST growth isn't set to slow. Weekly usage in Brazil has quadrupled in four years, and 30% of the population now watches FAST content weekly. While it still only accounts for 6% of premium video ad revenue in Brazil, that number is expected to rise steadily.
The data on show clearly places Brazil as a region to track intently. Or as Rua Aguete put it: 'If you want to understand where the future of global streaming is headed, watch Brazil.'
Best of Variety
New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz
Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Netflix (NFLX) Premieres K-Content Thriller 'Trigger' In Global Release
During the last quarter, "Trigger," a series by K Wave Media and a Netflix worldwide release, highlighted the company's expanding global content strategy. Alongside an increase in Q2 sales and net income, Netflix announced positive earnings and revised its full-year earnings guidance, indicating robust operational growth. The company's strategic alliances, such as its collaboration with Telefilms Ltd. and opening Netflix House locations, likely reinforced investor confidence. While Netflix's 7% price increase outpaced the market's modest 1% rise last week, these developments would have naturally supported the broader positive market trend, contributing to its performance. Buy, Hold or Sell Netflix? View our complete analysis and fair value estimate and you decide. We've found 17 US stocks that are forecast to pay a dividend yield of over 6% next year. See the full list for free. The recent news surrounding Netflix's (NFLX) "Trigger" series and strategic collaborations like those with Telefilms Ltd. may further bolster its aggressive global expansion and content strategy. This aligns well with the broader narrative of enhancing monetization through proprietary ad tech and diversified content investment. While short-term share increases of 7% illustrate positive market response, the potential impact on revenue and earnings forecasts could be significant as these initiatives enhance user engagement and international market penetration. In the context of total shareholder returns, Netflix's shares have delivered a substantial 424.9% return over the past three years. Over the past year, Netflix outperformed the US market, which returned 17.2%, and the US Entertainment industry, which returned 69.7%, demonstrating resilient long-term investor returns. With a current share price of US$1180.49 and a price target of US$1345.32, Netflix is trading at approximately 13.96% below its target, highlighting room for potential appreciation if the company meets or exceeds analyst expectations. Click here and access our complete financial health analysis report to understand the dynamics of Netflix. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include NFLX. This article was originally published by Simply Wall St. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@
USA Today
28 minutes ago
- USA Today
'Happy Gilmore 2' is absolutely wonderful
The legacy sequel has transformed itself into one of the ugliest reanimations in modern Hollywood, the crass puppetry of a once-beloved corpse dancing to the same song-and-dance that made it so cherished in the first place. Shame-soaked nostalgia dollars flutter about like ugly butterflies in a trash garden, destined to put on the same "dead dog and dead pony" show for fearful audiences afraid of any ounce of originality until the unforgiving entertainment machine runs out of caskets to mine and the whole movie world falls off a cliff. And then there's Happy Gilmore 2. Leave it to Adam Sandler, perhaps the most beloved American entertainer this side of Mickey Mouse and Tom Hanks, to putt the golf ball through the most byzantine mini-golf fun house from Hell and nail the shot to keep himself under par. Happy Gilmore 2 is just baked with too much love to reek of what dooms its colleagues. In one way, you could view Happy Gilmore 2 as a triumph of affable stupidity, a sequel so awash in the hallmark Sandler rage-man physical comedy that it manages to feel fresh... if only because Hollywood has practically abandoned the genre entirely for "comedic" superhero movies that smirk at the screen as if any insinuation of comedy at all is some sort of naughty cooke jar-snatching that big daddy corporation didn't see while reading the newspaper... the kind that would make even Wade Wilson blush. Last summer's Deadpool and Wolverine actually owned its identity of being a straight-up comedy as opposed to something dreadful like Thor: Love and Thunder (shutters in Zeus), but even then, it was still a Deadpool and Wolverine movie. Marvel putting out the biggest comedy of the decade so far just feels wrong, even if the movie was indeed funny. Yes, a Happy Gilmore Netflix movie in 2025 replete with countless cameos from golf professionals, Sandler regulars, podcast hosts and sportscasters plays to the broadest audience possible. The humor is wack-a-mole wide, the callbacks to the original so plentiful and obvious that you can almost count this as a double-bill on Letterboxd with just one sit on the couch. However, everything feels hand-stitched, as if an entire community of people who love Happy got together and crafted a big quilt to wrap themselves in nearly 30 years later. The warmth radiates from the screen. Unlike a big-budget Hollywood legacy blockbuster where nostalgia cuts the checks and the corporate "reverence" for what came before feels AI-generated to appeal to the most shameless part of our brains' art-processors, Happy Gilmore 2 feels pleasantly overstuffed out of adoration. Sure, most of the film is flatly ridiculous, the lowest-hanging fruit basket being passed around for everyone to take one and pass it down. Characters punch and choke each other out of sheer glee; another drinks hand sanitizer to get a buzz. One man on a beach thinks he's watching a Happy Gilmore golf match on television, but in reality, it's just a rock in a makeshift box. One character goes to the bathroom in a mailbox. Like all of Sandler's movies, the cheap joke is the best joke, and the school cafeteria belly laughter is real and wonderful. Think about the star for a moment and where he is now. After years and years of pushing it away, Sandler's recent forays into auteurism have fulfilled the tantalizing promise of Punch-Drunk Love and Funny People. Even in his screwiest of comedies, he showed off the volcanic range and crestfallen heart of a truly generational actor. Uncut Gems in particular felt like an answered prayer. Watching the Sandman getting sandbagged down with heartless 2010s Netflix comedies made you question if he had finally just settled. The grand pleasure is that Happy Gilmore 2 shows that even a new Sandler Netflix comedy can make you scream-laugh to the point of waking up your dog and bothering your neighbors. By plowing shamelessly into the original film beat-for-beat but still awakening something oddly profound on the passage of time with how so many of the 1996 film's actors have departed from this golf course for the other, Happy Gilmore 2 plays as both a Happy Madison fan convention smorgasbord and a group hug for the past, present and future. Happy Gilmore 2 also arrives like a godsend in a world where studio comedies have fallen to the wayside. Consider that modern comedy has mainly shifted into other genres and into the indie space, where witty banter and situational ironies tend to rule the day. They're incredibly funny, but the other side of the spectrum, the kind that studios used to pump out in the summer with the Sandlers of the world for mass appeal, have nearly gone extinct. Perhaps that makes a big, doofy Happy Gilmore sequel all the more commendable with its themes of mourning the people we've lost and saving the traditions we care about while we have them. The film's villain is a tech-bro who wants to turn golf into a glitzy rizz-fest with color-run fireworks and brash stunts to appeal to the TikTokers and Twitch streamers who don't have time for the love of the game. As much as you absolutely cannot read any supremely deep text in a movie where a honey-drenched Travis Kelce gets attacked by a bear in Bad Bunny's "happy place" dream, you feel the Sandler-dad wisdom trying to slap around the young'uns a bit to appreciate the old ways and cherish the familial bonds that keep them aflame. Happy Gilmore 2 is the funniest movie of the year so far by default, if only because no other movies really try to go for laugh-a-minute comedy like this any longer. The new Naked Gun movie will surely challenge it, but why can't the audiences of today get their own Happy Gilmores and Frank Drebins to cherish anew? It's an unfortunate irony that the surest bet at getting a major comedy project off the ground in 2025 is to dust off an old character and put a new shine on them to appeal to nostalgic business sense. No, Happy Gilmore 2 can't stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its predecessor because that's outright impossible. However, it can bundle in the laughter in equal measure and mess around so much with the very nature of a legacy sequel that some of its most shameless callbacks feel inspired, almost a parody of its serious brethren. Yes, there is infinitely more integrity with Chubbs Peterson having a son who works at a mini-golf course who also has a fake hand than whatever the Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hook was with Shea Whigham being Jon Voight's kid out of nowhere. Those two movies mirror each other. Tom Cruise's sacrifice-for-the-movies adrenaline and Christopher McQuarrie's James Cameron/Brian De Palma-tinged set-piece excellence go blow-for-blow with Sandler's ageless comedic timing and immaculate facial expressions and his and co-writer Tim Herlihy's masterful ability to mine nonstop gags out of the most ludicrous visuals. Watching Cruise's underwater submarine ballet in the latest Mission: Impossible is incredible; watching golfer John Daly try to drink booze out of an antique cuckoo clock is, too. Where Happy Gilmore 2 succeeds and the latest Mission: Impossible fails all has to do with the approach. The latter is bound to sincerity in its most cringey throwbacks because it's downright, well, impossible to wink a bit at the audience at how silly this all is. A Sandler comedy has the freedom to have its nostalgia cake and throw it across the room to instigate a food fight. During a scene at a graveyard, headstones of characters long gone from the original start popping up in spades. A few of those would have induced eye-rolls; a bunch of those, even of the most random side characters, makes for great meta-humor. Comedies give you the ability to check yourself a bit, as the wedgie-giving ombudsman comes in to readily acknowledge a lot of this is looney tunes. A streak of sadness dyes the current, as the reason Happy falls off the golfing map is the kind of shock revelation a Happy Madison production probably doesn't aim for 10 years ago. The world kept spinning while Gilmore was swatting golf balls with a hockey goon's might, and it wasn't always kind to our favorite golfer like we might have hoped. Dad-Sandler has always been the most sentimental version of himself, and his kids aging right in front of his eyes and starting to leave the nest seems to weigh on him and his renewed take on Gilmore. This and Wes Anderson's excellent The Phoenician Scheme both dive into similar subject matter with equal gusto, of a father reckoning with his children and his place in providing for them. There's a world-weariness to Happy this time around in the way Sandler carries him that both compels the film's most jarring narrative choice and grounds some of the film's far, far sillier antics. That approach gives Sandler's performance added gravitas and the entire film around him a paternal watchfulness that would've played as unearned earlier in his filmography. There is no doubting Sandler's commitment to the project as you might could have in the past; he's all in, and so is everyone around him. The older Sandler has gotten, the more his traveling-theater approach to making movies has taken on new meaning. Even in his biggest comedic misfires, the community Sandler keeps with him on his Happy Madison projects has always endeared. He takes care of his own, and that love shows through here more so than in any other project he's ever worked on. The rampant cameos would be gratuitous if the people staffing them didn't seem so genuinely thrilled to be there. Christopher McDonald's Shooter McGavin getting dragged back into the fold would feel forced if McDonald didn't treat the role like it was the true opportunity of a lifetime. There's no way in heck Verne Lundquist wears that blazer in the film's third act if he's not tickled to be back in this world. Heck, all of the brand-name golfers in the cast seem to relish the chance to act with Sandler and actually buy into the material. Do you know how much of a comedic achievement it is that three of the funniest people in this movie are Daly, Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris? Daly plays with the kind of comedic fire that we sometimes praise to the extent of pushing them into awards talk; he's really that inspired with his fearlessness to be as zany as possible. Sure, Happy Gilmore 2 is still a legacy sequel at its core, replete with brand endorsements and adorned with Super Bowl-commercial rascality. However, it's the rare legacy sequel that feels purposeful and human-driven. The film reaches for real profundity, as much as you can find in a Happy Madison movie. It's a movie with a good soul, as affably crude and dingy as Sandler's landmark works and operating with the same level of zeal. Does all of it work as well as it could? Nah. Does every joke land? Probably not. Is it messy? Most certainly; all of Sandler's comedies have been to a degree. However, it's still so much better than so many other films like it. The world is a better place when Sandler is making comedies like this. Hubie Halloween felt like a nice change of pace, and Happy Gilmore 2 feels like the grand return to that high-wire fire hydrant style of Sandler funny business. It's painfully fully and surprisingly wistful for its place in time. We need Sandler to keep tapping into his dramatic potential; it's why his decision to work with Noah Baumbach again on Jay Kelly is so encouraging. However, we also need Sandler firmly planting his feet in the comedic worlds where he's the smartest idiot in the room with a heart of gold, and we all love him for it. Watching Sandler succeed with everyone cheering him on as those signature Happy Gilmore needle drops hit might make you just a wee bit misty... and not because it's an uncaring algorithm programming "Nostalgic Feelz" for the most basic audience possible. When it's earned and it's real, there's nothing like going back to your happy place with the people you love.
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Former 'Bachelor' Star Faces Backlash Over Upcoming Age-Gap Dating Show
Nick Viall is one of the most polarizing Bachelor stars, not only for his time on the franchise, but for the relationship advice he offers on his podcast, The Viall Files. Now, he and his wife, Natalie Joy, are capitalizing on their 18-year age gap marriage with a new Netflix dating show, Age of Attraction. The news was announced on July 18 by the streaming network, revealing that the show will launch in 2026. More from SheKnows Bachelor in Paradise Spoilers Reveal Who's Engaged & Who's Still Together After Season 10 The logline for the series reads, 'Age is thrown out the window as singles search for their soulmates with help from hosts Nick Viall and Natalie Joy. Is love truly ageless, or will the years come between them?' The eight-episode series will feature contestants ranging in age from 22 to 59 years old. This age-gap idea is not much different from the reality star's relationship — Viall is 44 and Joy is 26 years old, and they share one child, daughter, River, 1. His decision to marry a much younger woman has gotten him in hot water quite a few times. On his March 26 podcast, Viall joked, 'Age gaps are in. I always say, when it comes to age gaps, looks matter.' Even though he made the statement in jest, the internet criticism reached a boiling point because Bachelor Nation fans take issue with his casual approach to his May-December affair. 'Their obsession with trying to justify their very concerning age gap is just gross,' wrote one Reddit user in The Bachelor forum. 'Ew to Netflix for greenlighting this. Hope their show is a monumental wreck and tanks so hard. And so fast,' another account added. Of course, some viewers are definitely going to hate-watch the series just for research. 'I'm gonna get judged so hard for watching this,' admitted another user. Viall and Joy began dating in July 2020 after she slid into his DMs on Instagram with a simple, 'You're unreal' comment. It was love at first DM. They soft-launched their relationship on social media in October 2020 when they posted pool snapshots from the same location. It took them until January 2021 to go Instagram official. The former Bachelor contestant addressed the age-gap controversy in June 2022 on the Call Her Daddy podcast. 'At first, it was something I think I was having a lot of anxiety about,' Vial said. 'You know, like, 'Are we going to be compatible?' And I think early on, that was part of the things I would worry about. But just the more I got to know her, the more I was just going to her for advice or just checking in with her, I just felt like we just met each other on the same wavelength, and I always felt like she was my equal.' Joy contributed her thoughts on the situation, 'We realized we were on the same stages of life, and we were ready for the same things … I'm in a place where I want to get married and have children, and he's also in that same place. We both have big careers and aspirations and jobs and stuff that we both love.' Viall and Joy got engaged in January 2023, welcomed their daughter in February 2024, and were married in April of SheKnows Everything We Know About Carolyn Bessette's Life Before JFK JR 29 Times Gisele Bündchen's Red Carpet Fashion Proved She's the Ultimate Supermodel 68 Celebrities Who Share a Famous Ex Solve the daily Crossword
