Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BRASILIA1080
2006-06-02 15:27:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Brasilia
Cable title:  

PROFILE OF BRAZILIAN INTERNET MARKET 2006 - USAGE EXPANDS,

Tags:  ECPS PGOV ECON EINT XM BR 
pdf how-to read a cable
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FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5564
INFO RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 7081
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 4881
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 2187
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 5477
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 4062
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 6291
RUCPDO/USDOC WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 001080 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECPS PGOV ECON EINT XM BR

SUBJECT: PROFILE OF BRAZILIAN INTERNET MARKET 2006 - USAGE EXPANDS,
COMMUNITIES GROW; MEDIA CONVERGE

REFS: (A) SAO PAULO 216, (B) SAO PAULO 245

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 001080

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECPS PGOV ECON EINT XM BR

SUBJECT: PROFILE OF BRAZILIAN INTERNET MARKET 2006 - USAGE EXPANDS,
COMMUNITIES GROW; MEDIA CONVERGE

REFS: (A) SAO PAULO 216, (B) SAO PAULO 245


1. SUMMARY: While overall usage rates remain relatively low - only
14 percent of the population use the internet - Brazilians are
increasingly active online, in terms of the total internet user
base, and how much time each of these users spends online. Social
networking has become the most popular internet-based activity in
Brazil but news content is also in increasing demand. Large media
providers are responding with mature online products, and the U.S.
Mission is enhancing its online presence. For its part, the
Brazilian government is actively participating in the debate about
global administration of the internet, including active advocacy of
transferring control of dimain name issuange to an international
body linked with the UN. The GOB is also taking an interest in
issues related to the convergence of internet, broadcast and
telecommunications media. END SUMMARY

Background
--------------

2. As of December 2005 Brazil had 25,900,000 Internet users, or
14.1% of the population, according to IT market research company
eTForecasts. Internet usage in Brazil has increased 346% over the
past three years. The broadband internet audience is estimated at
66% of the total, most of whom are on ADSL lines. Cable broadband is
available, but market penetration remains very low. Some 64% of
internet users are in the middle and upper classes. Brazilian
internet users spend on average 17 hours online each month, with
some 65% of residential users surfing during TV prime time. Evidence
suggests that the internet is replacing or augmenting TV as an
entertainment medium. Broadband users are viewing videos, listening
to music, playing online games and engaging in what has become a
Brazilian cultural phenomenon - online communities.

Online Social Networking Experiences Organic Growth
-------------- --------------

3. Social networking communities such as Orkut and Myspace.com have
captured the imagination of Brazilian internet users over the past
few years. According to IBOPE's NetRatings survey released in July

2005, such communities surpass e-mail as the most popular
internet-based activity, with the average Brazilian internet user
spending 20.5% of their online time on this activity - almost twice
the amount of time they spend e-mailing. As a comparison,
communities do not figure in the top five activities of the average
U.S. internet user.


4. With such an active user base, social networking communities have
grown organically in Brazil as members invite their friends and user
networks expand dramatically. This phenomenon is most effectively
demonstrated by the domination of Brazilian users of Google's online
community Orkut. According to online encyclopedia Wikipedia,
Brazilians now account for over 75% of Orkut users (U.S. users
amount to less than 6%) - which has caused some in the U.S. to
complain of a Portuguese language domination of the
American-developed service.

Domestic Portals Grow, while AOL stumbles
--------------

5. The top portal in Brazil is Universo Online (UOL),which was
accessed by 63.7% of internet users aged 15-plus in August 2005. UOL
reported 1.45 million paid subscribers in February 2006, of which
586 million are broadband users. UOL recorded a profit of R$266
million in 2005 - 875% higher than the year prior. In December 2005
UOL offered 20% of the company's stock on the Sao Paulo stock
exchange, which was sold for R$555 million, suggesting a company
value of over R$2.7 billion.


6. The second ranking portal in Brazil is Terra, which was accessed
by 55.2% of internet users aged 15-plus in August 2005. U.S. company
Yahoo!'s Portuguese language Brazil portal ranked third with 53% of
users. Other U.S. content providers have not been so successful.
AOL's Portuguese language Brazil service was closed March 17 after
seven years of operation. The service had only 150,000 subscribers.
Ref A.

Brazilians seek news online in increasing numbers
-------------- --------------

7. As the Brazilian internet audience increases, demand for online
news is expanding. A March 2006 Ibope/NetRatings survey revealed
that online news websites are registering growth at twice the rate
of the total internet audience in Brazil, with home-based internet
users spending 56% of their time online accessing news websites.
News outlets have been debating the role of the internet, and it now
appears that Brazilian print media are largely adopting what they
term the "hybrid model"; free-access, real-time, news service, but

BRASILIA 00001080 002 OF 002


with paid access to the online version of the print product. Sao
Paulo-based leading national dailies Folha and O Estado are already
doing this, and leading Rio de Janeiro-based national Daily O Globo
is expected to follow suit shortly.

U.S. Government online presence
--------------

8. There is significant demand in Brazil for Portuguese language
information from U.S. government sources. Mission Brazil's websites
registered over 1.3 million visits in 2005. During the same period
45% of visits to the VOA Portuguese to Africa website originated
from Brazil.


9. The Mission has leveraged the internet in order to increase its
visibility and outreach across the continent-sized landmass of
Brazil. Mission Brazil was the first in WHA to establish Virtual
Presence Posts (VPPs). VPPs are designed to increase the frequency
and effectiveness of engagement with regions where the USG does not
maintain a traditional diplomatic presence. VPPs combine
on-the-ground activities and media engagement with a branded web
site that provides customized content about U.S. government
activities in the region. Mission Brazil has five such VPPs, with
plans to establish two more. As a measure of their effectiveness,
visits to VPP websites have grown dramatically, with an average of
over 4,000 monthly website visits in the first four months of 2006,
compared to an average of 1,800 in the same period in 2005.


10. In response to the internet preferences of Brazilians, the
Mission has developed several online community initiatives, the best
example of which is for the Youth Ambassadors youth exchange
program. In order to facilitate dialogue between program
participants and alumni, the embassy established an online
networking community. Mirroring the experience of larger networks
such as Orkut, the service has proven to be extremely popular, and
has taken a direction of its own. For instance, program alumni have
recently started an online mentoring initiative for new grantees.


11. The Mission has also initiated an "Ask The Consul" feature which
allows visitors to the Mission consular pages to submit questions.
Initially the idea was to select one question each month for
publication on the "Ask The Consul" page, with a response from the
Consul. However, due to the immense popularity of the service, the
consular section has taken to directly answering as many as 30
e-mails per day.

Brazilian government and the internet
--------------

12. The Brazilian government has been at the forefront of efforts to
reform control of the internet, currently managed by U.S. government
entity ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).
Brazil has proposed the creation of an autonomous, independent
organization, affiliated to the United Nations and created by
international treaty that would become responsible for, among other
things, issuing top-level domains (.com, .net, .br, etc) and
developing common standards for future web services as they evolve.

Media Convergence
--------------

13. Another important area where the Brazilian government is
involved is in the convergence of cell phone service with both the
internet and digital TV. There are more than 80 million mobile
phones activated in Brazil - a country where many communities are
not served by land lines, and growing numbers of Brazilians are
accessing news websites via these cellular phones. Additionally,
telecom companies have been actively lobbying the Brazilian
government as Brazil deliberates which of three competing digital TV
standards to adopt, all of which offer some degree of mobility, or
content delivery to mobile phones. Ref B.


14. COMMENT: Due to various geographical and societal factors,
Brazil has widely embraced the internet. It has become a world
leader in community-based online activities, and looks
well-positioned to continue in audience growth and the convergence
of broadcast, print and online media. END COMMENT.


15. In line with the Department's focus on transformational
diplomacy and expanded outreach to key audiences, post will continue
to monitor these trends, and will respond with post developed online
communications products that cater to an ever expanding and
increasingly sophisticated internet audience.

CHICOLA