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RSSYep, you guessed it. Latinos are one of the fastest-growing demographics online.
According to the PEW Hispanic Center/PEW Internet and American Life Study:
So what does this mean to us? We need to take a look at what seems to be a generation gap. The study revealed that 75% of U.S.-born Hispanics were online, as opposed to 43% that were born outside the U.S. One key to predicting online usage seems to be language: Those who speak English fluently tend to go online, while only a third of Latinos who just speak Spanish go online.
The younger U.S.-born Latinos tend to really embrace the Web and all it has to offer. They consume and embrace online video and audio, mobile applications, and forms of social media. Sites like QuePasa.com and MiGente.com have remained popular and shifted with the times to provide users with a more modern approach. QuePasa offers bilingual content. Both seek "members." Go on to either, and it looks something like a MySpace or Facebook hybrid with a Latin twist.
Of course the 800-pound gorillas AOL, MSN and Yahoo have Spanish versions, whereas Terra.com and Starmedia.com have both been around for 10 or so years. Now we are seeing new sites like Barrio305.com and Voy TV. Both play in the broadband video space. Users can build profiles, chat and post messages online, upload personal videos... the list goes on. I encourage you to go to the sites and check them out for yourself if you haven't already. Within five minutes, you'll see how this demographic represents everything new and hot online.
These newer sites seem to focus their content in English, as they are geared to second- or third-generation Latinos. For years, specialists in Hispanic marketing told us only to advertise and market to this audience in Spanish. This study shows us that times have changed. The younger generation speaks English fluently online and offline.
My guess is that we'll see a lot of the big agencies finally embracing Latino marketing and advertising online. I think it's still safe to stick with the Latino sites and TV spinoff properties that have led the pack for years now. However, I'd encourage you to test some of these newer English-only sites against MySpace, Facebook, Friendster and YouTube.
Besides the fact that Hispanic Americans are the fastest-growing minority group in the U.S., they are an attractive demographic for another reason. EMarketer estimated greater growth for Hispanic online ad spending (32%) than general-market online ad spending (25%) in 2006.
"Even though many Hispanic Internet users speak English, they still want advertising and online content that speaks to them in a culturally relevant way," said eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson in reference to a recent eMarketer paid report. "Marketers will reach some Hispanic people by advertising on general-market sites, but they should also consider sites that are in English but are specifically aimed at the Hispanic population."
The bottom line, according to eMarketer, is that when targeting Latinos on the Internet, we must seek environments that are in line with their culture and values. It might not be a bad thing to consider those sites that offer bilingual content as well. What do you think? Post to the Spin blog and share with us. Gracias.
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The numbers speak for themselves. U.S. Latinos have the youngest median age of all demo's. With that comes a large amount of 2nd and 3rd generation Latinos, growing in the U.S. school system and being completely fluent in English.
What are they going to be interested in? English language websites that the general market consumes, but also English language websites that cater to Latinos.
I believe that as these 2nd and 3rd generation Latinos get older and have more and more children growing up in the U.S., we'll see even greater numbers of:
1) Total U.S. Online Latinos 2) English and bilingual websites catering to Latinos 3) Ad budgets targeting this audience
As an online media company targeting this audience, we are building a network of online communities that will enable us to reach the different niches within this market. Our first property is http://LatinsOnline.com
- the dropout rate is very high among Hispanics - more need to attend college - there are huge health issues that need dealing with - and don't get me started on politics and immigration
I guess I am getting sick of reading about Hispanics as a big meaty fish to try and catch. Let me put it another way. What happens to that big meaty fish when 30% or 50% don't complete high school especially considering how large a percentage of students they are and will be? How does that effect business, the economy and marketers? I run HispanicTips a blog/site dedicated to Hispanic and Latino news in English. Trust me you haven't seen anything as comprehensive. I am just a 3rd gen Hispanic learning about my culture/people and in the year and a half I have been doing this I am shocked by:
a. the lack of Hispanic media/news coverage (albeit I have collect over 23,000 posts but they were scattered across the net) b. the state of the state of Hispanics in every darn state in this country.
Sorry for the rant. I hardly every comment on other blogs for the simple reason that I am busy on my own and because I tend to rant. However I agree that the online segment is exciting and probably one of our best tools.
Now, having worked in the US hispanic space for a while, I agree with Luis. Content needs to be culturally relevant to promote a good user experience. Translation alone will not work.
This online segment is an exciting one to be in and around.
Quote The most dangerous people are the ignorant. Henry Ward Beecher