I’m in the middle of planning a platform strategy for a US DTC brand entering LATAM, and I’m getting conflicting advice about where to focus budget. Some people say TikTok dominates, others swear by Instagram, and a few mention YouTube. The truth seems more nuanced.
Here’s what I’m seeing from creator insights: TikTok is absolutely massive in Mexico—that’s where the attention is. But in Brazil, Instagram and YouTube are still the heavyweight platforms. creators there have spent years building YouTube channels and Instagram followings, so the ecosystem is more mature. Argentina is somewhere in the middle, with a strong YouTube audience and growing TikTok adoption among younger demographics.
The platform choice also changes by product category. For fashion and lifestyle, Instagram still dominates in Brazil. For entertainment and trend-driven content, TikTok wins in Mexico. YouTube performs well for longer-form, educational, or testimonial content across all three countries.
The mistake I’ve seen brands make is assuming “TikTok is the future everywhere,” so they over-allocate budget there. But if your audience is primarily on a different platform in that specific country, you’re wasting spend.
What’s been helpful is talking directly with creators in each market about where their engaged audiences actually are. A creator might have followers on multiple platforms, but their audience’s behavior is completely different by platform.
Has anyone built out successful multi-platform strategies for LATAM? How did you prioritize platform allocation, and what were your decision-making factors?