Hispanic media remains a powerful tool for reaching Spanish speakers, despite declining immigration to the U.S. from Spanish-speaking countries since the start of the Great Recession, and the
subsequent reverse migration by Mexican-born Hispanics who are returning to Mexico.
A recent example of Hispanic media’s power proves that point. The University of Texas
Extended Campus (disclosure: a client) is launching a new medical translator certification course in Houston. Part of its earned media campaign included issuing a press release in English, as
participants must be bilingual. Houston has one of the largest Hispanic populations in the country at 38% , with Spanish-language/bilingual preference at 60% among Hispanics over the age of five.
Hispanic media was missing from that initial strategy. Statistics show that 45% of Houston Hispanics ages 18-49 are consuming Spanish broadcast media on a weekly basis. On
average, Hispanics in Houston watch 1,566 minutes of Spanish-language television, compared to just 515 minutes of English-language television. (Sources for stats: Geoscape and Pew
Research
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By adapting the press release to Spanish and disseminating it to the print and broadcast Hispanic media, interest was generated with the right target: bilingual Hispanics who
would be among those best qualified to be bilingual translators.
When the UT instructor was interviewed in Spanish on Univision’s KLXN Channel 45 5 p.m. news show the
day before the course information session, her two-minute interview reached a potential audience of nearly 45,000 Hispanic households. That in turn generated 100 signups for the information session.
The resulting class has 40 participants —10 more than initially planned.
There are over 35 million U.S. Hispanics who are bilingual. The insight is that even bilingual
Hispanics are still consuming Spanish media because they are connected culturally, and broadcast Hispanic media continues to deliver winning entertainment options. Media companies like mitú are
very popular with bilingual Hispanics because their content is in Spanish and very relevant to any Hispanic growing up in the U.S.
Hispanic media ratings continue to perform very
well in many major markets. It comes down to knowing your Hispanic target’s acculturation level and media habits.