• by May 12, 2006

Earlier this week, Yahoo and GE's Telemundo Network announced plans to merge their U.S. Spanish language Web sites in an attempt to expand their reach and presence. This was a smart move on the part of two savvy companies.

The Yahoo en Espanol and Telemundo.com Web sites will be rebranded as Yahoo Telemundo and be eventually combined into one. The combined Yahoo Telemundo site will include Telemundo's shows, sports, and message boards, as well as Yahoo's search engine, e-mail services, instant messenger, and Yahoo Music. The deal also means that Yahoo en Espanol and Telemundo will merge personnel and share advertising revenue.

The importance of the Hispanic market cannot be underestimated. The U.S. Census Bureau says that Hispanics are the youngest, fastest-growing segment of the American population. In fact, Hispanics comprised 14 percent of the population in 2004, but made up nearly half of U.S. growth from 2000 to 2004. They're also young; their median age is 27, younger than the overall population. The median age is a hair over 31 for African-Americans, and a little more than 40 for white non-Hispanics.

Another striking fact is that Hispanics tend to have larger households and more children, according to ACNielsen. So it makes sense for the E.W. Scripps Co., which owns and operates the Home & Garden Television Network and HGTV.com, to stock HGTVpro.com with a new collection of broadband video content targeting Spanish-speaking professionals.

HGTV.com launched the online network for homebuilders a year ago, but now it says that half of the existing Best Practices library of videos and articles will be accessible to Spanish-speaking homebuilders. The 50 new Spanish-language video versions will be incorporated into the online network's existing Best Practices section of industry-vetted standards. The videos address all aspects of residential construction, from how to properly install a French drain, to tips on improving customer satisfaction.

This effort makes a lot of sense. A recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center indicated that 40 percent of the 571,000 construction jobs created in the U.S. in 2004 were filled by Hispanics. Pew says this is a trend that is likely to continue. Too, Hispanic-Americans tend to have larger families, so updating and remodeling homes is a priority to them. This market can't be ignored--and ought to be a growing part of any media plan.