• by Paul Gough , March 30, 2004

Digital cable/satellite services have reached 42 percent penetration in urban households and broadband Internet is now in about one out of every three urban households, according to a study officially unveiled at a conference on the multicultural marketplace.

That's phenomenal growth in the past five years of the "State of Cable and Broadband," which is conducted annually by Larchmont, N.Y.-based researchers Horowitz Associates. Digital penetration was only 11 percent five years ago. Horowitz organized Tuesday's conference, which was held at a midtown Manhattan hotel in the middle of the cable TV industry's weeklong events.

Six in 10 urban homes have access to the Internet, and 32 percent have high-speed connections. Asian Americans have the highest percentage of high-speed Internet subscribers with 46 percent, compared to 35 percent for whites, 32 percent for English-dominant Hispanics, 18 percent for Spanish-dominant Hispanics, and 22 percent for African Americans.

The study, which surveyed the media consumption habits of 2,000 urban residents, finds that they're loyal to major media brands and use premium channels and on-demand video heavily. Multicultural audiences-- primarily Hispanic and Asian--are, not surprisingly, interested in quality in-language programming that is culturally relevant.

"Urban Latino, African American, and Asian consumers are in fact some of cable and broadband's most valuable customers," said Adriana Waterston, director of marketing at Horowitz Associates. Horowitz organized Tuesday's conference, which was held at a midtown Manhattan hotel in the middle of the cable TV industry's weeklong events. Waterston and president Howard Horowitz presented the findings of the study to more than 200 people who attended the event.

Both black and Hispanic urban households watch more TV in general and more premium channels than Asian and white households, the study found. Whites were more likely to choose broadcast TV networks as their favorite channels, and NBC, ABC, and CBS were the ones cited most often in the survey. Spanish-dominant Hispanic Americans chose Univision, while African Americans and English-dominant Hispanics picked HBO as their favorite channel. Asians most likely picked NBC as their favorite channel, although Waterston said it was possibly because there aren't enough in-language or culturally relevant programming to meet their viewing needs.

That's a key takeaway in the study--how much culturally relevant programming is done by multicultural audiences. Thirty-seven percent of urban African Americans watch culturally relevant programming every day or almost every day; 48 percent of urban Hispanics watch Spanish-language programs. The rate is 81 percent among Spanish-dominant Hispanics and 20 percent among English-oriented Hispanics. Ten percent of urban Asians watch programming focused on Asian-Americans every day.

Eight percent of urban consumers who speak another language said they'd either pay or be willing to pay for programming in that language, the study found.

Waterston said that marketers need to look at urban audiences--not just because it's a glimpse of the country's future, but because of its value now.

"The audiences have to be looked at as individual audiences, and also as a general multicultural market," she said. "In the multicultural market, these audiences are not separate from the general market ... They are the general market, especially in urban America."