Mercado Play: AVOD OTT inside Ecommerce

The Challenge

Mercado Libre sought to integrate a video streaming experience directly within its core ecommerce ecosystem. The challenge was to do this without disrupting the primary shopping flows while building a new operating model for AVOD (Advertising Video on Demand) from the ground up. This included scaling the audience, managing content, and monetizing efficiently.

My Role & Key Responsibilities

• As **Sr. Product Manager**, I was responsible for the end-to-end product delivery of Mercado Play.
[cite_start]
• I directed **45 engineers, designers, and scientists** across **7 countries** to deliver on a bi-weekly release cadence with zero downtime[cite: 26].
• My role involved defining the product roadmap, managing discovery, and setting KPIs for the entire service.

The Solution

We conceived and shipped Mercado Play, an AVOD platform designed to live seamlessly within the Mercado Libre app. The service was tailored for multiple platforms, including mobile, web, Chromecast, and Smart TVs.

[cite_start]A core component of our solution was the implementation of a **data-science recommendation engine** [cite: 25] that leveraged behavioral signals to personalize content at scale. This hybrid approach blended collaborative filtering with content-based ranking to optimize for session duration and ad opportunities.

Results & Impact

[cite_start]
• The platform scaled to **7M monthly active users (MAU)**, with **35M+ viewing minutes** and **10M+ ad impressions**[cite: 24].
[cite_start]
• The recommendation engine boosted the average session time by **22%**[cite: 25], demonstrating the effectiveness of our personalization strategy.
• We successfully launched and maintained a service that grew into a key driver of engagement for the core marketplace.