According to a Zoomin.tv report published by Notimex, growing Internet access – up 11 million during last year – have completely modified the way Mexicans consume television.

While, on average, Mexicans are watching five hours per week of free-to-air (FTA) linear TV through traditional technologies, over 14 weekly hours are spent watching video through online platforms.

VOD, including free-subscription platforms like YouTube, is the most consumed content, chosen by 85% of viewers, followed by live FTA TV, which is watched online by 66% of the Internet audience.

“Internet gives viewers the opportunity to choose the content you like and watch it when you want to do it. Traditional TV cannot do that and it’s inevitably losing ground,” said Martín Frontini, managing director for Latin America and US Hispanics, Zoomin.tv.

As other reports have previously shown, FTA TV seems to be doing well in a context of increasing competition, as many online viewers use the Internet to watch FTA content. A similar trend has been seen for pay-TV as almost eight in ten Mexicans have said they regularly watch FTA TV despite of having pay-TV access.

However, Fontini believes that FTA TV shouldn’t be over-confident. “FTA TV has to rebuild its business model and invest in new technologies and platforms in order to compete against those which are slowly growing in the market,” he added.