YouTubers, Cinépolis, and Life Expectancy

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Today's charts:

  1. Multinational Mexican cinemas are expanding globally

  2. The top Latin American YouTubers of the moment

  3. Does spending more on health care mean a longer life?

Make sure you check out the comment of the week at the bottom!

Cinema Industry 🎥

Mexican movie theaters are major players in the global cinema industry.

Cinépolis, or the "City of Cinema," was founded in 1947 by Enrique Ramírez in the Mexican city of Morelia. Rebranded several times, the current brand name was first used in 1994 and started expanding nationally. It then launched its up-market VIP brand (luxury cinema with reclinable seats and service) in 1999, which became an instant hit. Surprisingly, the company remains a family business, now run by Enrique's grandson, Alejandro Ramírez.

Cinépolis owns over 50% of Mexico's market share and has expanded massively in the last decade. The company has 820 theaters and 6.4K screens globally, with locations in Mexico, the US, Central & South America, India, and even the Middle East.

Its main national competitor, Cinemex, has also been expanding, although not as aggressively. The company started as a Harvard student business plan when Miguel Angel Dávila, Adolfo Fastlicht, and Matthew Heyman were doing an MBA. Today, the company operates 335 theaters in Mexico and 33 in the US after its 2017 acquisition of Cobb Theaters.

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Creator Economy 🤳

Every day, more than 1B hours of videos are consumed on YouTube by their 2.5B+ monthly active users. The platform has become one of Google's most lucrative branches, producing $29B in ad revenue last year. YouTube reportedly shares about 55% of that revenue with content creators, which means their creator economy is worth about $16B annually, representing a massive opportunity for creatives. The ecosystem is likely to continue growing; a recent poll showed that about 30% of kids between 8 and 12 (in the US and UK) want to become YouTubers.

This giant content factory has disrupted the way humans consume entertainment. Although we tend to think of Netflix as the primary disruptor of traditional television, the reality is that YouTube consumes 10x more of the world's time (as of 2017). The platform's ecosystem allows it to offer unprecedented content that caters to just about every kind of person out there. It also provides an endless catalog for learning new skills.

So, who are the most successful YouTube personalities in Latin America?

Mexican beauty vlogger Yuya tops our chart, with more than 6M views per video. Her average views surpass US primetime television's top 3 most viewed shows — 60 Minutes, Family Feud, and America's Got Talent. Yuya started posting makeup tutorials on YouTube when she was 16 years old. She has since published two books, released her own perfume, and been named a 'Change Ambassador' by the United Nations.

Right below Celebrity Family Feud's 5M views per week is Luisito Comunica, also from Mexico. Luisito started posting travel vlogs ten years ago and now averages 4.6M views per video. Yuya and Luisito represent the new generation of Latin American creators, proving that it's possible to make a living on their own terms thanks to the unlimited potential of the Internet.

Health Care 🩺

Latin America spends an average of $645 USD per person on healthcare annually, and the region's average life expectancy is 76 years. Uruguay has the highest spending in the region, and Costa Rica has the region's highest life expectancy at 80. Also worth mentioning is the fact that both Venezuela and Bolivia now have a higher life expectancy than Ukraine and Russia, according to the World Bank.

These numbers contrast with the US, where the average expenditure per capita is almost $11K annually. However, even though the US’s expenditure per capita is 17x more than LatAm’s, its life expectancy is only one year above. Another country that highlights the US's inefficient spending is Canada, where people can expect to live up to 80 while spending less than half. The leading causes of a lower US life expectancy are its higher rates of obesity, smoking, opioid overdoses, accidents, and suicides, compared to other developed nations.

So, how did Costa Rica become LatAm’s leader in life expectancy? Universal healthcare and social security have been a part of society since the 1940s, where its CAJA system (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social) plays a significant role. Costa Ricans enjoy 100% coverage through CAJA for all medical procedures, appointments, hospital visits, and prescription drugs. The system, mandatory for everyone since 2010, is funded by small monthly contributions from all residents based on income levels.

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