Commentary

Black American Consumers Are Powerful Digital Users

 According to Marketing Charts, and Nielsen’s latest Cross-Platform Report, Black Americans are consistently the second-highest US consumers of mobile data services by ethnic demographic. And, they are highly active on the Internet and on their mobile devices, watching video, networking with their social connections, and making purchases.

Mobile Services Used (Last 30 Days, Q4 2011)

Mobile Service

Asian

Black

White

Hispanic

Text messaging

73%

79%

68%

78

Mobile internet

56

58

41

57

Email

50

48

36

48

Picture downloads

27

30

19

34

Mobile video

24

20

11

22

Full track music downloads

16

18

9

21

Source: Nielsen, May 2012

Nielsen examined the media habits of the digital black consumer in the US, says the report, a segment with significant buying power. In some key online activities, black Americans track far higher than the average. For example, black American men are 19% more likely than the average US adult to monitor investments and stocks online, and 16% more likely to read technology news online. As a demographic, black adults are 16% more likely than the average US adult to buy children’s clothes, shoes or accessories online.

Ecommerce (Q4, 2011)

Black Adults Online:

   63% made a purchase on line

   21% download online coupons

   16% are more likely than average US adult online to buy children’s shoes/clothes/accessories online

   22% are more likely than average US adult online to look up personal care info online

Black Women Online:

   5% are more likely than average US adult online to purchase groceries online

   67% more likely than average US adult online to purchase hair care products online

   54% are more likely than average US adult online to purchase skin care products online

Black Men Online:

   19% are more likely than average US adult online to monitor their investments/stocks online

   16% more likely than average US adult online to reach tech news online

Source: Nielsen, May 2012

And, additional key findings on black consumers’ online activities include:

  • Black Internet users spent 22% of their time online visiting Social Networks/Blogs in December 2011
  • Black leading consumers in video watching on television, at an average 209 hours per month versus 150 hours per month for white viewers (the second highest demographic)
  • Black consumers are the second-highest consumers of video over the Internet (not on mobile phones), at 6.19 hours per month. Only Asian Americans ranked higher, at 8.43 hours per month
  • YouTube accounted for 48% of black viewers’ online video time during December 2011, and 31% of black adults online watched consumer-generated video across the Web

Finally, Black consumers are the heaviest users of TV

Use of TV (2011)

 

 

 

 

Black (P2+)

White (P2+)

Hispanic (P2+)

Total use per week (HH:MM)

57:11

42:15

36:21

% total minutes per day

 

 

 

   Traditional TV

88.6%

84.9%

85.2%

   VCR

0.2

0.2

0.2

   Video games

4.1

4.2

5.5

   DVR

3.7

6.9

4.5

   DVD

3.4

3.8

4.6

Source: Nielsen, May 2012

 

 

 

For additional information please visit Marketing Charts here, or download the Nielsen Cross Platform Report here.

 

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