Affluent consumers in leading Latin American economies - Argentina, Brazil, Mexico - tend to prefer the Discovery Channel when viewing television, while their preferred website tends to be Google, according to the inaugural Synovate PAX Latin America Media Survey by Synovate, the market research arm of Aegis Group plc.

The study examines the media consumption patterns of the 7.6 million affluent adults and top management and business decision makers in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico:

• Discovery is the most-watched TV channel in Brazil (23.5% of affluents) and Mexico (18.4%) and the runner-up in Argentina (30.1%), where Canal 13 is the most-watched channel (58.7%).

• Google is the most-frequently used website in Argentina (53.4% of affluents) and Brazil (50.1%) and the second most-frequently used site in Mexico (29.0%), where more affluents use Yahoo (30.5%).

• Terra.com and UOL.com are also very popular in Brazil (35.0% and 37.0%, respectively), as is Yahoo (32.2%), which is a favorite among Argentineans as well (41.7%).

“As Latin America continues to emerge as an important player in the global economy, it’s essential for marketers to understand what consumers are reading, watching and buying,” said Steve Garton, Global Head of Media for Synovate.

“It’s even more important to be closely watching the behaviour of the elites as they are typically the trend-setters and early product adopters.”

In the coming week, MarketingCharts will separately cover data regarding each of the three countries studied by Synovate.

About the data: Synovate PAX conducted 4,740 interviews from January to April 2007 with affluent adults age 25-64 in major cities in Argentina (Buenos Aires), Brazil (Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) and Mexico (Mexico City). Affluent consumers are defined as the top 21% of the population in Argentina, top 31% in Brazil and top 20% in Mexico. Those classified as business decision makers comprise senior management/department heads or above in companies with 10+ employees. Those classified as top management include business decision makers as well as those with positions such as CEO, CFO, MD, Director or the equivalent.