• by Masha Geller , September 12, 2003

Hispanics are the fastest growing ethnic group online, but most advertisers would agree that there is a dearth of data about the segment's online behavior. Recent analysis from Nielsen//NetRatings reveals that the gender breakdown of the Hispanic online community is similar to the overall online population, but differences in age demographics, shopping habits and income levels highlight the importance of having a media quality research panel devoted to Hispanic Internet users.

To that end, YupiMSN -- part of the MSN global network of Internet sites that delivers Spanish-language content and services to the U.S. and Latin America -- last week tapped the services of NetRatings to provide media quality Internet audience measurement data for YupiMSN as well as other companies.

Jacqueline O'Brien, Director of Marketing for YupiMSN, said high quality data on Hispanics is "mission-critical to making efficient, effective marketing and advertising decisions for MSN and for our clients." She added that partnering with Nielsen//NetRatings was a natural choice to obtain that data, based in their rigorous approach to constructing high quality, representative online panels.

As for Hispanics' offline characteristics, the younger members of this population segment are quickly becoming "Advertising's Holy Grail," according to a new study conducted by the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) in conjunction with Simmons Market Research Bureau.

According to the study, Hispanics age 18-34 amount to nearly 12 million consumers, a buying power increasing 14 times the rate of the traditional market, a high propensity to spend, a willingness to try new products, the tendency to be early-adopters of new trends and products and high media consumption.

AHAA says that corporations looking to reach these consumers need to have messages that are not only in English but in Spanish, are to the point and are culturally relevant, use new and contemporary images that speak to the image-conscious nature of this demographic. Further, because young Hispanics consumers are early adopters and often set the trends for other groups, it is strategically important for corporations to target them early in a product life cycle.