• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, March 8, 2006

Comcast and Terra.com, the largest U.S. Spanish-language Web portal, announced a partnership Tuesday to produce "Comcast Latino," where Comcast's high-speed Internet subscribers can access news and video clips, plus a range of Web services like e-mail.

For Comcast, the biggest U.S. broadband provider, the goal is to increase its value for a surging demographic and grow its subscriber base. "Clearly, it's a fast-growing segment, so we have to figure out how to bring the right content to them," said Charlie Herrin, Comcast's senior vice president of Internet product development.

Approximately 15 million U.S. Hispanics went online in January, according to comScore MediaMetrix, and the demographic is all the more appealing to Internet companies because of its distinct consumption habits. ComScore finds, for example, that U.S. Hispanics viewed 122.5 pages per day on average, compared to the U.S. average of 120.5 pages a day.

Partnering with Comcast adds to Terra's cachet in the United States and abroad, said Jose Luis Carrete, director of business development at Terra.com. "The goal is to continue to increase awareness for Terra and reach bigger media outlets."

And greater popularity equals more traffic to Terra's ad-supported Web site, which reaches about 1.25 million of the roughly 14 Spanish-speaking consumers who go online every month, according to comScore.

There are five million Hispanic households in Comcast's service area of 35 states plus Washington, D.C., according to Herrin. He would not, however, say how many of them are Comcast subscribers. The company has 8.5 million high-speed Internet customers, 21.4 million cable customers, and 1.3 million voice customers, according to a company statement.

Tier one advertisers are devoting an ever-larger percentage of their ad budgets to target the increasingly affluent Spanish-speaking U.S. market.

In late February, for instance, MSN and Billboard magazine partnered to produce a co-branded Spanish-language music site, Billboard.Latino.MSN.com. Sponsors like Ford, which is promoting its 2006 Fusion mid-size sedan, and Warner Brothers, touting the new cop thriller, "16 Blocks," have already signed on to sponsor the site.

According to the latest available Census Bureau data, there are 41.3 million Latinos in the United States. Hispanics comprise around 14 percent of the U.S. population. The Census Bureau projects that between 2005 and 2010 the U.S. Hispanic population will grow by 14.2 percent, compared to overall growth of 4.5 percent. Latinos will be responsible for a formidable 44 percent of all U.S. population growth.