Last month’s edition of Terra’s Smart Marketer heralded World Cup 2006 for its historic ability to empower online fans to voice and share their opinions through new means, such as blogs and more established methods like chat and forums. As World Cup is now well under way, it is an opportune time to further explore user generated content and its potential for advertisers.

A quick visit to Terra.com’s home page, along with the latest match results, shows a forum link entitled ‘¿Quién Será el Campeón?’ or ‘Who Will Be the Champion?’ Fans are filling pages of this forum, showing their colors and devotion to their favorite teams. Recent posts include:

argentina sin maradona no es nada y nunca lo sera, podra ganar y ganar y nunca mas campeonar...alemania sera el campeon

<English version> “ Argentina without Maradona is nothing and never will be, it may win and win and never again be champion... Germany will be the champion ”

ustedes no saben nada por logica MEXICO sera campeon

<English version> “ None of you know anything, logically MEXICO will be champion”

por supuesto BRASIL BRASIL es el mejor

<English version> “Of course BRAZIL BRAZIL is the best”

And so on… Interest among US Hispanics runs high as they support teams from their countries of origin: Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Costa Rica, and Spain.

These postings are refreshing to read, expressive, succinct, and stylish with a liberal sprinkling of emoticons, which lend personality. Unlike dedicated blogging sites, portals in particular, are perfectly positioned for their audience to both produce and consume a wide variety of content. As evident from Terra’s user generated content, World Cup 2006 is being fought both infield and online - simultaneously. Undoubtedly a key factor in online audience participation is integration. Similar to related links, related forums and blogs can serve as an evolving, different perspective on the overall story.

Chart #1:

Blog usage is experiencing a high growth spurt among US Hispanics. Chart #1 indicates that Hispanics (USH) visiting the blog category grew 54% in unique visitors, surpassing the general market (GM) which grew by 33% between Dec 05 and May 06 1.US Hispanics may also be segmented by language preference in the home, of which blog content visited by the Spanish preferred (USH.SP) segment grew an impressive 82%, English preferred (USH.EP) increased 35%, and Bilingual segment (USH.Both) incremented 80% between Dec 05 and May 06 2.

Perhaps to compensate for the minimal amount of Spanish content on the worldwide web, US Hispanics have decided to generate their own.

1. comScore Media Metrix US Hispanic Service, Demographic Report, Blog Category, May 2006

2. comScore Media Metrix US Hispanic Service, Demographic Report, Blog Category, May 2006

There are 2 ways to participate in the blogosphere: 1) read blogs, 2) write blogs.

Chart #2:

Blog readers cite exclusive, up-to-the-minute news coverage as top reasons to read blogs and major news portals have already responded. Washingtonpost.com, NYTimes.com and others rely on blog services to publish their news, sometimes dedicating internal staff to maintain their own blogs.

Chart #3:

The reasons why visitors maintain blogs are similar to why blogs are read, which leans towards exclusive, up-to-date content not found in the mainstream. Regardless, publishers, readers and bloggers are leveraging the benefits that this new service provides. In its basic form, a blog is identified by its unique URL, providing a digital identity for its evolving content. It allows the inclusion of other links, which extend the experience to cyberspace.

Perhaps because bloggers live and sense the excitement and potential of the medium, or because they are actively engaged in publishing their own content or reading others, it appears that they are a particularly attractive audience for marketers.

Chart #4 indicates that the majority of US visitors find blog content useful in making a purchasing decision.

Chart #4:

According to Patrick Quinn, president of PQ Media, “Blog, podcast and RSS advertising have demonstrated an ability to reach younger demographics as well as influentials, and the media tend to be highly engaging. These are attractive trends to brand marketers that are focused on return on investment.” Blog advertising at $16.6 million claimed 81% of user-generated online media in 2005. 3

3. Kivijarv, Leo Ph.D., ‘Podcast Advertising Gaining on Blogs’, April 18, 2006 <imediaconnection.com>

Chart #5:

As seen in Chart #5, US Hispanics visiting content within the Blog category are slightly younger and may earn more when compared to US Hispanics online, overall. It is also interesting to note the almost 50/50 split between genders for US Hispanic bloggers. 4

The Internet audience is now consuming, as well as producing, content. The potential outcomes are enormous. News and world events can now be reported by anyone with an Internet connection, literally obliterating the requirement of dedicating one’s career to journalism. The Internet is a level playing field in that anyone can read and actively post content, regardless of age, race, location, language or education. It’s no surprise, then, that Terra’s US Hispanic audience is actively involved in blogging. Terra’s Blogs product is ranked #24 within the US Hispanic blog category with 89,000 unique visitors in May 2006 5. And this is only one of the Terra platforms that allow users to generate their own editorial, photo and video content. No other medium comes close to this level of interactivity and engagement between content and audience. Its high rate of adoption is an indication that we are only beginning to see the impact to the Internet and our lives, overall.

4.comScore Media Metrix US Hispanic Service, Demographic Report, Total Internet & Blog Category, May 2006

5. comScore Media Metrix US Hispanic Service, Key Measures Report, Blog Category, Media Sets with Duplication, May 2006

Be a Smart Marketer. US Hispanics are already far outpacing the rest when it comes to adoption of user generated content tools. Consider involving your brand in this fast growing communication platform.

To learn more about how you can reach Terra.com's quality audience with your marketing message, call us at 212-354-2700. Visit http://www.terra.com/advertise/ and http://www.terra.com/terraenlaprensa/.

By Natasha Funk Published June 26, 2006. If you missed past issues of Terra’s Smart Marketer Series and would like to obtain them, please send an email to: smartmarketer@terra.com.