Insights

TV Content Trends of the Caribbean

2 March, 2018

Image: Blue Mountains, Consulate of Jamaica

One region that is often overlooked by the television industry – with the exception perhaps of location scouts hunting for the perfect tropical setting – is the Caribbean. While some markets in the region such as Puerto Rico are often included as part of wider Latin America, trends in other markets like Jamaica are often sidelined.

In this study, Parrot Analytics has leveraged its comprehensive, global TV demand dataset to illuminate some recent content trends for Caribbean markets.[1]
 

Which subgenres are most in-demand in the Caribbean?

When individual title demand is averaged across all the countries in the Caribbean and then aggregated by subgenre, we can identify the five subgenres that had the highest demand share in the region for January 2018:

Across the Caribbean, the subgenre that led in share of demand is crime dramas. That subgenre had 9.3% demand share in January 2018, meaning that 9.3% of all demand captured in the region was for this specific subgenre.

The Caribbean’s second most in-demand subgenre was sitcoms, which had 8.6% demand share and third was sci-fi drama which had 5.6%. Superhero shows and fantasy dramas were also popular in the region in this month.
 

Market focus: Highest demand shows in Jamaica and Puerto Rico

Focusing on the content trends in two specific markets in the region for January 2018, we identify which specific titles were most in-demand in both Jamaica and Puerto Rico:

All of January’s most in-demand titles in Jamaica originate from the United States. The show with the highest average demand in the country was Lucifer, originally from FOX. The second most in-demand show in the market was family saga Empire, which is also from FOX.

The CW’s superhero title The Flash takes third, while crime drama Power from Starz is fourth; all these shows rank higher in Jamaica alongside the usual chart-toppers such as Game Of Thrones and The Walking Dead.

Unlike Jamaica, Puerto Rico’s most in-demand titles aren’t exclusively from the US. Although as a US territory Puerto Rico has a high English-speaking population, the island’s majority language is Spanish. This is reflected in the top ten titles as it includes two titles from Spain: Antena 3’s heist drama La Casa De Papel and the Netflix original Las Chicas Del Cable.

Puerto Rico also enjoys anime and so has a Japanese title in its top ten as well; Dragon Ball Super was the ninth most in-demand title in January.

However, the most popular three titles in Puerto Rico for the month are a familiar trio of globally popular hits: Stranger Things, The Walking Dead and Game Of Thrones. Historical action series Vikings also had high demand in the market.
 

The Caribbean leads the world in appreciating superheroes

An interesting trend is revealed when we average demand for the superhero subgenre in each market worldwide for January 2018:

By this metric, Caribbean countries have some of the highest demand per capita in the world for superhero series.

Although Trinidad & Tobago has a small population, when demand is normalized by population size, with 1.60 Demand Expressions per 100 capita it is the most enthusiastic market in the world for superhero shows in January 2018.

That’s followed closely by Singaporean demand and then by fellow Caribbean country Jamaica, which musters 1.57 Demand Expressions per 100 capita. Both of these Caribbean markets have around double the global average demand for the subgenre.

Clearly, the region is home to the genre’s super-fans.

[1] Please note that Parrot Analytics does not currently track data from Cuba and so the results presented here exclude that market.



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