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., writes MarketingCharts.

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 percent of affluents) and Mexico (18.4 percent) and the runner-up in Argentina (30.1 percent), where Canal 13 is the most-watched channel (58.7 percent).

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

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

"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."