A few days ago, Amazon announced a new investment $2.65 million for television, film and theater production companies.

The announcement comes after weeks of strategic movements made by other streaming platforms to position themselves best to capture the growing Latin American market.

Jennifer Salke, the Amazon Studios director of new investments said the new funding is going "to countries where the company is developing local and original content" for its Amazon Prime Video platform. It was accompanied by more announcements, including two more seasons of Eugenio Derbez's series, LOL: Last One Laughing, and another for Diego Luna's Pan y Circo.

Con harta alegría y emoción les cuento que esta confirmada la segunda temporada de #PanYCirco por @PrimeVideo !! Gracias a todas y todos los que nos vieron y se sumaron a la conversación, pronto les cuento más detalles. Gracias @PrimeVideoMX !! pic.twitter.com/75oyTvj059

— diego luna (@diegoluna_) January 26, 2021

Last year, Amazon started in Spain with documentaries on its sports stars, and now enter Latin America with a profile of Diego Maradona in Maradona: Sueño Bendito and another project about Chivas de Guadalajara. 

But all the announcements are just a small first phase of promotion. Already the streaming giant has said it is waiting to give the green light in Latin America to 15 series and five films per year for the next five years. Among them is another project from Derbez following his family vacations: De viaje con los Derbez 2 and the apocalyptic Soldados o Zombies.

Beyond the investment, it's also important for that funding to reach independent filmmakers and production companies to effectively showcase facets of culture. The announcement of new funding for Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) through grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is in that vein.

In its press release, LPB reiterated its commitment to reflect how the pandemic has hit twice as hard in poverty-stricken and unequal areas, from Texas and Venezuela to California and Puerto Rico, focusing on communities in films like Los Desobedientes, Traces of Home, Exodus Stories: Voices from the Caravan, and their new voices in El Palsa, My Queerceañera, and The Next Message.

With the flush of cash, advertising changes are also expected at big companies, including Netflix, Prime, HBO Max and Disney+. 

The audiences of on-demand streaming services are considered OTT (over-the-top) in advertising terms, so advertisers and big brands are already looking at them. Platforms such as the free Pluto TV already work thanks to advertising. According to Strategy Analytics, investment in OTT audiences could exceed $100 billion by 2022.