About Advertising / Trends

More and more advertising is now taking place electronically. Electronic advertising is attractive to marketers for two reasons:

• Potential customers use electronic communications.
• Electronic communications often cost much less than traditional methods that require buying ad space and paying for printing.

Several studies illuminate Hispanic use of the Internet and cell phones. You may use these findings to indicate a trend in media habits. To find the latest information on media habits among Hispanics, you are encouraged to do your own secondary research.

 

“Latinos Online” Study

Some recent statistics come from a March 2007 report from The Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Internet Project. “Latinos Online” was based on telephone surveys in Spanish and English of 6,016 Latino adults aged 18 and older. Conducted from June to October 2006, the survey yielded these findings:

Internet

• 56 percent of Latinos in the United States use the Internet.
  
  • 79 percent have a home Internet connection.
    
  • 71 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 60 percent of non-Hispanic blacks use the Internet.
    
• Just one in three Hispanics who speak only Spanish use the Internet.
  
  • 78 percent of English-dominant Latinos go online.
    
  • 76 percent of bilingual Hispanics go online.
    
  • 32 percent of Spanish-dominant Hispanic adults use the Internet.
    
• Differences in education levels and English proficiency explain this gap.
  
  • 31 percent of Hispanics who have not completed high school use the Internet.
    
  • About 90 percent of college-educated Hispanics do.
    
• U.S.-born Latinos are much more likely to use the Internet (76 percent) than foreign-born Latinos (43 percent).
  
  • 80 percent of second-generation Latinos use the Internet.
    
  • 71 percent of third-generation Latinos do.
    
• Age matters.
  
  • 67 percent of Hispanics aged 18-29 use the Internet.
    
  • 61 percent of Hispanics aged 30-41 go online.

Cell Phones

• 59 percent of Latino adults have a cell phone.
  • 49 percent of them send and receive text messages on their phones.
    
  • 18 percent of Latino adults who do not use the Internet do use cell phones.

 

 

“Conexion Cultural/Connected Culture” Study

Another survey focused on online Hispanics who regularly use Spanish-language media. In 2006, “Conexion Cultural/Connected Culture” polled more than 2,600 online Hispanics aged 18-55 who consume some Spanish-language media weekly. It also studied in-home interviews and media usage diaries from 24 Hispanic families in three major U.S. markets to identify the role that the Internet and TV play in their lives.

Yahoo! Telemundo and Experian Simmons Research released these results:

 

Internet

• Hispanics with Internet access outpace the general population in reported hours of daily media and technology use:
  
  • 27 percent of each day (14 hours) spent with technology.
    
  • Hispanics spend more than half of each day engaged with television,
    Internet, and technology gadgets.
    
• Spanish-dominant respondents said they consume two-thirds of their online content in English because of the lack of Spanish options.
  
• Many combine TV and the Internet.
  
  • 50 percent go online while watching TV.
    
  • More than a third agrees that TV is more fun with Internet access.

Cell Phones

• Online Hispanics are early adopters and users of media, devices, and their features compared to the general population:
  
  • 90 percent have a cell phone (79 percent in general population do).
    
  • 66 percent use text messaging (38 percent of general population).
    
  • 61 percent have taken photos on a cell phone (79 percent of general population).
    
  • Two-thirds have been online for more than five years.

Terra Networks Study

A third study, from Terra Networks and comScore Media Metrix, said U.S. Hispanics’ use of the Internet is growing rapidly. This study said the U.S. Hispanic online audience increased 13 percent between December 2005 and December 2006, during which time the general market increased only 2 percent. This study also found that Hispanics spend an average of 88.1 minutes online each day in December 2006, and the general population spent only 81.7 minutes.

Again, it is important to ask what devices your audience uses and tailor your campaign to meet their needs. And keep an eye on new technology. The field is changing quickly, and communications strategies involving new media are beginning to replace traditional methods.