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Be a Smart Marketer – Hispanics Are Active Participants in Broadband/Mobile Arena |
 Hispanics are a young demographic. During February 2006, the number of online Hispanics under 35 years old was 57% versus 44.4% for the general market. (Source: comScore Media Metrix, US Hispanic and General Market services, Feb 06) Perhaps this is one of the reasons why U.S. Hispanics over-index in using emerging technologies, as examined in this issue.
For example, as with any culture or minority, music plays a big part in one’s life, young or old. Hispanics shine above the rest when it comes to online music consumption. 50.2% of online Hispanics visited sites within the Entertainment-Music category, versus 46.8% of general market. (Source: comScore Media Metrix, US Hispanic and General Market services, Feb 06) Forrester Research is a bit more dramatic; citing 41% of Hispanics visited music web sites in 2005, versus 18% of Non-Hispanics.
Taking this one step further, Hispanics surpass the rest in viewing online video (23% Hispanic versus 17% Non-Hispanic) perhaps by watching their favorite music videos online.
Since online video is best served from a broadband connection, Hispanics are a growth segment for at-home broadband service. Of the Hispanic adults with at-home Internet connection, 48% are connecting via broadband. Even more are connecting from work with high speed connectivity. Among dial-up consumers, Hispanics are more likely to switch to broadband in the next year (22.1% Hispanic vs. 20.5% African-American and 16.1% White/Other). (Source: Arbitron, 2005) With the Hispanic segment fueling broadband growth, it is no surprise that providers, like Comcast.net, are catering to their content needs. See the Comcast Latino offering at http://comcast.terra.com/, a thriving partnership between Terra and Comcast. Broadband connectivity provides US Hispanics with a better experience for viewing the video and music that they are demanding.
As Hispanics continue to establish themselves as a desirable online audience segment, how do they fare in other advanced technologies and mobile? Hispanics outpace the rest when it comes to SMS use, as the chart below illustrates.
In fact, Hispanics are the #1 growth segment for mobile use, which is why Terra has developed an extensive suite of offerings for SMS interactive campaigns. For example, Terra was the online gateway for elimination voting in the recent season of La Academia on TV Azteca: http://www.terra.com/laacademia/.
Whether it is due to their younger demographic or a myriad of other reasons, U.S. Hispanics have positioned themselves to be an attractive target for interactive campaigns involving online/mobile/broadband. In fact, almost 1/3 rd of Hispanics already own Internet-enabled mobile phones and are actively accessing media from a number of different distribution platforms.
Research indicates that Hispanics seek out the latest technology, such as broadband and wireless applications, and as a result, continue to increase their overall multimedia consumption. All marketers need to consider how and where to reach this valuable audience segment –and include these “new” distribution platforms in their communication plans. |
