For the last Smart Marketer of 2007, as we take a break for the holidays during December, age range by category usage is examined and its implications for marketers. In addition to language preference, country of origin, foreign or domestic born, number of years in USA, acculturation models and the slew of other variables to consider when advertising to Hispanics, actually age is a worthwhile variable to leverage as many differences exist between the older and younger crowd online.

Almost certainly, most readers had a ‘where were you when…’ moment when the news broke that Yahoo’s former CEO, Terry Semel, had email issues. A self avowed technophobe who barely knew how to use e-mail, Mr Semel suddenly found himself in “meetings with a bunch of 23-year-olds”. 1 Not knowing your core product aside, Semel’s experience clearly articulates a usage divide that is very real between generations.

Much ado has been made about the digital divide (to have or not have online access) but in addition, a usage divide has also emerged. Hopefully, the eMarketer projection that 50.3% of the US Hispanic population is US Hispanic Internet users, or 24.4 million by 2011 indicates that Hispanics have made great strides to surpass the digital divide. 2 A usage divide is not only which sites or content categories are visited online, but the amount of engagement, or usage, employed by the visitor.

For example, my 21 year old colleague proudly showed me his social networking profile page, favorite widgets, number of friends in his network, all of which indicated that he is a heavy user of social networking and has incorporated it within his lifestyle, actually as an extension of his social life. This level of involvement online is very different from setting up a rudimentary profile page and abandoning the site soon after.

Now that differences by age group have been established, there are specific content categories where differences are pronounced.

Chart #1

Top 10 Categories among US Hispanics, Age 2-17 Years Old, Reach by Age Group

comScore Media Metrix, US Hispanic Service, Oct 2007

Chart #1 shows the top 10 categories by % Reach among US Hispanics, age 2-17 years old, and the reach for these categories across the additional age groups of 18-24 years old, 25-34 years old, 35-44 years old, 45-54 years old, 55-64 years old, and 65 plus years old. The top 10 categories among US Hispanics age 2-17 years old are: services (98.8% reach), portals (98.7% reach), corporate presence (98% reach), search/navigation (89.4% reach), entertainment (82.1% reach), conversational media (81.1% reach), social networking (79.9% reach), retail (79.7% reach), email (79.7% reach), and multimedia (69.3% reach).

As evident in Chart #1, a precipitous decline in reach between the younger and older users commences with the entertainment category, continuing through conversational media and social networking with a regrouping in the retail and email category. 81.1% of 2-17 years old visit sites categorized within the conversational media category, while the age group with the lowest reach is age 65+ with 57.5% reach, resulting in a 23.6% difference between 2-17 years old reach and 65+ years old reach within the conversational media category. Likewise, 79.9% of 2-17 years old visit sites within the social networking category, versus 55.5% of the 65 plus years old, result in a 24.4% difference in reach between the 2-17 years old and 65+ years old within the social networking category.

For sake of definition, the conversational media category is defined by comScore as social media sites where the creation and consumption of content is user generated, and consists of the blog and social networking subcategories. Social networking, a subcategory of the conversational media category, is defined by comScore as providing a virtual community within Internet web sites and applications to help connect people interested in a subject. Social networking sites offer a way for members to communicate by voice, chat, instant message, videoconference and blogs. These groups of people use a variety of tools such as email, messaging, photo sharing, etc. to connect.

To recap, the younger crowd age 2-17 years old is plugged into UGC content parlayed into social networking more so than subsequent generations. However, youth does not steal the show online, and there is more to this story. There are plenty of older folks as plugged into social networking and the latest widgets as the younger crowd.

Chart #2

Key Metrics by Age Range

comScore Media Metrix, US Hispanic Service, Oct 2007

Yes, 2-17 years old age range has the most % composition unique visitors (26.9%) according to Chart #2. However, the 65+’s have the highest average usage days per visitor (22.8), the 18-24’s have the highest avg. minutes per visitor (1,986.6), the 35-44’s win with total visits (236,604), the 25-34’s come up first with avg. minutes per visit, and finally the 18-24’s have the highest avg. visits per visitor of 70.6.

There are many interesting findings in Chart #2, but for sake of brevity we will explore one. Although the 65+’s have nearly twice as many avg. usage days per visitor during the month of Oct 07 (22.8) than the 2-17’s (11.3), the 2-17’s have 14 times as many visits (184,714 / 13,265 – 13.9) which clearly indicates that the 2-17’s have incorporated the Internet into their lives, or actually it can also be viewed as their lives with the Internet.

Be a Smart Marketer. Pay attention to the usage divide, which may determine the success of your campaign. Online usage by age across categories or key metrics is transparent with the help of syndicated sources. Leverage learnings for your competitive advantage.

Regardless of the target age range, portals have a distinct advantage over sites that depend on one angle or source of traffic (e.g. UGC, Search) since portals are a one stop shop with best in class content as well as services. Portals centered on content want their visitors to stay and play, not search and leave. The latest specials on Terra.com cater to all, such as the Juanes special (http://www.terra.com/musica/lavidaesunratico/) to family summer vacation planning in English (http://www.terra.com/travel/) or Spanish (http://www.terra.com/turismo/).

Terra wishes all Smart Marketer readers a happy and safe holiday season. For previous editions of Smart Marketer, please visit (http://www.terra.com/advertise/research.htm). We want to hear from you! Please send an email with any questions or comments that you would like to share with us to smartmarketer@terra.com, thank you.

1.) So what is a media company? Economist.com. Apr 20, 2006

2.) eMarketer. Key eMarketer Numbers – Hispanic Internet Users. Oct 2007

Watch for even more exciting Terra initiatives in 2008! 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.terraknows.com.

By Natasha Funk Published November 29, 2007. 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.