The U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent reporting (2014 figures) shows that Hispanics now make up 17% of the population, and projections show that this demographic is expected to almost double with 86% growth between 2015 and 2050.
In last week’s installment we covered the challenges of reaching a Spanish-speaking audience online. This update on the Latino market coinciding with National Hispanic Heritage Month, explores how to navigate Hispanic media channels in selecting a promotional mix that is right for your business.
According to Advertising Age’s Hispanic Fact Pack (August 2016), $7.8 billion will be spent on broadcast and print reaching Latinos in 2015 with print ranking 3rd after network television and spot television investments.
RADIO
According to the 2015 Nielsen report Mapping Radio’s Reach With Black and Hispanic Consumers, the Hispanic radio audience has grown 11% since 2011 alone, but those numbers change the more we drill down locally.
The same Nielsen report revealed that while the national average for all Spanish-language radio formats combined draws a 6.1 % audience share, the same measurement for Nebraska is significantly lower at 1.7%, which is a statewide figure.
No public data exists for the metro area alone. But even if we doubled that number to account for how the state’s Hispanic population is skewed to the Omaha metro area, the audience share would still hover under 4%.
TELEVISION
Univision, launched in 1962, currently has the largest audience of any Hispanic-oriented TV viewership in the U.S., followed closely by Telemundo. While 2015 was not as bad as 2014, when all of its news programs saw audience declines, the year showed more losses than gains. But that’s a national picture. Unlike larger metros that also have independent Spanish-language television stations, Omaha has none.
Nationally, Hispanic consumers spend almost twice as much time reading newspapers and magazines as the general population, according to Simmons research in the Hispanic Fact Pack. Almost all of the key newspapers in the top Latino markets are weekly.
Local Hispanic newspapers, those like our own weekly El Perico where stories are printed in both Spanish and English, are often the primary source of information for the Hispanic community.
Local papers like El Perico connect the reader to local businesses, leaders and organizations and should be an integral part of any marketing mix aimed at this market.
Newspaper readers also tend to have higher education levels and household incomes. A 2016 report published by the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) found that the average household income in the state’s Hispanic homes was $21, 566, but the National Association of Hispanic Publications pegs that same number to be $66,542 among newspaper readers.
U.S. PRINT CONSUMER DEMOGRAPHICS
2.5 Average Readers per Copy
40 Average Age
51%/49% Male/Female
52% Married
$66,542 Household Income
57% Households With Children
48% College Graduate or more
39% Bilingual
(Source: National Association of Hispanic Publications)
The association also reports that 64% of the Hispanic population agrees that newspapers keep them informed about the latest styles and trends (we publish a good mix of such stories in El Perico) and one in five shopped or purchased a product after seeing it in a print ad.
Rounding out our print offers is Directorio Latino, our annual Spanish-language directory that will be published for the 17th year in December. The days of finding a Yellow Pages directory in every kitchen junk drawer may be gone, but Directorio Latino continues to grow in its importance in the Hispanic community.
According to the National Association of Hispanic Publications, 47% of Hispanic households do not have a broadband connection and 39% are not interested in “going online” at home.
While a growing share of shopping/directory search habits have shifted online in the broader population, print – both in newspapers and directories – remains a vital part of your marketing mix if you wish to maximize your reach in the Hispanic community.
