Hispanic Americans are not only the second-largest ethnic population in the United States, but also the fastest growing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, they account for 17 percent of the overall population and 25 percent of Americans under the age of 15.
Andrew Speyer, executive director of planning at agency The Community, said that this trend — along with advances in technology — will lead to a greater representation of Hispanic culture in mainstream media. Brands will also want to take note. The Hispanic community’s purchasing power clocks in at a whopping $1.3 trillion annually according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth’s 2014 data.
“With such micro segments, brands have had to really change and adapt with how they communicate with people,” said Joe Gutierrez, managing director and head of strategic planning at Hispanic agency Pinta. “They have to have a point of view, they can’t be everything to everyone.”
For those brands seeking to tap into the increasing spending power and cultural impact of this growing demographic, here are five things to keep in mind.
Hispanics own and use smartphones and tablets more than other Americans
While non-Hispanics own more desktops, Hispanics have a higher rate of ownership of smartphones and tablets as opposed to non-Hispanics, according to a survey of 1,027 respondents for Specific Media and SMG Multicultural’s Millward Brown survey. Three quarters (77 percent) of the Hispanics surveyed owned a smartphone versus 70 percent of non-Hispanics and 54 percent owned a tablet as opposed to 49 percent of non-Hispanics.
Hispanics spend more time online and in apps on smartphones
Owning more smartphones means that Hispanics tend to spend more time downloading apps and surfing the Web on their phones: Hispanics spend 49 hours and 9 minutes a month on apps and the Web through their smartphones versus 43 hours and 31 minutes of an average member of the population, according to Nielsen’s Q2 2014’s Cross-Platform Report.
Hispanics spend more time consuming digital video
Hispanics also consume more digital video on their smartphones — 5 minutes more than the rest of the U.S., according to the Nielsen report.
Hispanics shop more online
Hispanics spend roughly 21 percent of their time surfing the Web shopping — which dwarfs the time spent by non-Hispanics doing the same. Hispanics spent 6.4 hours per month on average compared with 1.1 hours per month for non-Hispanics. This number is particularly pronounced on smartphones and tablets, as this chart shows.
Hispanics are more influenced by advertising across all channels and device
According to Specific Media and SMG Multicultural, Hispanics have more favorable attitudes towards advertising, and find it to be useful, relevant, influential and informative at a much higher rate than non-Hispanics. This is even more true for smartphones.
Image courtesy Shutterstock.com
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