Adriana Cisneros at MIPCOM: “The Greatest Challenge for Latin America This Decade Will Be to Capitalize on Emerging Opportunities”

Interviewed by Cynthia Hudson, Senior Vice President & General Manager of CNN en Español, at MIPCOM 2012, Adriana Cisneros spoke about the new Latin American decade, and the impact the region’s growth is having on the entertainment industry. She also emphasized that for the Cisneros Group of Companies the key contributing factors to improving the quality of life in Latin America are education, empowerment and sustainability.

CANNES, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As the keynote speaker at MIPCOM’s inaugural “LATAM Global Dealmakers Networking Lunch”, which gathered 80 of the most influential executives of the entertainment industry, Adriana Cisneros de Griffin, Vice Chairman & Vice President of Strategy of the Cisneros Group of Companies, pointed out that the notable growth of the region’s middle class and the surge in new digital media platforms are revolutionizing the television business.

“we are living the Latin American decade and the greatest challenge will be to capitalize on the opportunities that are right before us.”

Cisneros emphasized that Latin America’s middle class is growing at the rate of 70 million people per year, thus transforming buying trends as consumers demand much more sophisticated products and services from providers.

“Today, 51% of the population of the region’s largest economies is currently part of the middle class. This emerging segment of the population is more connected and informed, is increasing its investment in entertainment, and demanding a much more complete experience. In cases such as Colombia, where the middle class nearly doubled in a year, or Peru, where today 56% of its urban population belongs to this segment, demonstrate how the region is being transformed,” stated Adriana Cisneros.

The Cisneros Group of Companies executive went on to explain that along with the growth of the middle class in the region, new digital media platforms are also revolutionizing the way television content is produced and consumed in Latin America. What’s more, Internet usage in the region is increasing at an impressive rate, 16% in 2011 alone, and it’s currently the third largest mobile market in the world. This opens up vast opportunities for the proliferation and commercialization of television content and its digital extensions.

Cisneros added, “Since 2010, the Cisneros Group has embraced new technologies; all our programming incorporate multimedia properties, such as galleries, videos and social media content; furthermore, each of our new telenovelas has an exclusive digital producer dedicated to the design and creation of relevant content to complement our formats in the different platforms.”

Also during MIPCOM 2012, the Cisneros Group of Companies announced a deal with Ben Silverman’s Electus that marks the Group’s incursion into the English-language market with the adaptations of three dramatic series: “The Black Widow”, “Millionaire Maid” and “Country of Women.”

In conclusion, Adriana Cisneros said, “we are living the Latin American decade and the greatest challenge will be to capitalize on the opportunities that are right before us.”