Multicultural Spending To Expand 6.3% In 2020, Matches General Market Growth

by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, December 18, 2019

Advertising and marketing spending targeted at multicultural audiences in the U.S. will expand 6.3% in 2020, exceeding recent levels of growth, according to the latest edition of an annual forecast being released today by media industry economists PQ Media.

That growth, however, will be the same that PQ Media projects for the overall expansion of advertising and marketing spending in the U.S. next year, indicating zero growth in the share being allocated to media targeting multicultural audiences.

Moreover, the report also reveals that a significant disparity already exists between the relative shares multicultural segments represent in the U.S. population, vs. the share of ad spending being allocated to them (see chart above).

While Hispanic Americans, African Americans, and Asian Americans now represent significant shares of the U.S. population, they attract relatively small shares of ad spending.

Hispanic Americans, which have the highest advertising-to-population representation (one-to-five), benefit more than other groups because of a relative abundance of Spanish-language media.

However, "all others" -- a segment mostly representing White Americans of European descent -- represent 94.8% of all ad-budget targeting, but only 62.7% of the population

The new report is based on research sponsored by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM).

"The primary objective of the U.S. Multicultural Media Forecast 2019 was to provide ANA and AIMM members with comprehensive strategic intelligence on the domestic multicultural media landscape segmented by key demographics, media platforms and media buying strategies," PQ Media notes in the report.

“The multicultural media market is fast becoming a critical consumer segment for brand marketers that want to accelerate growth and increase overall U.S. market share, as multiethnic consumers, including Hispanic, African and Asian Americans, constitute the fastest growing demographic in the country," notes PQ Media President & CEO Patrick Quinn, adding: "Nevertheless, multicultural media growth has slightly underperformed the broader U.S. media industry and it still accounts for a mere sliver of the American pie.

“To put this into context, consider that multicultural consumers comprise nearly 40% of the total U.S. population, yet multicultural media investments draw only 5.2% of overall U.S. media spending.”

ad spending, ad targeting, advertising, cmmr, digital, forecast, multicultural

2 comments about "Multicultural Spending To Expand 6.3% In 2020, Matches General Market Growth".

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Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, December 18, 2019 at 6:53 p.m.
Joe, while I agree that key and growing ethnic/cultural segments of the population need addressing by advertisers. This can be done in a number of ways. Most important is tailoring specific ad/promotional appeals to the various markets as part of the brand's overall marketing campaign---without causing confusion or departing from the basic selling proposition---whatever that is. This is usually done in media that reach primarily the target group involved---like "urban radio" formats to target Afro-American audiences or Spanish language TV. However many of those who are categorized as multicultural consumers are also reached---often very frequently----by mass media--TV, radio, digtal, OOH and print. Such exposures---even to broadly focused ads telling the same brand story---- can't be discounted as ineffective. What's needed is a real analysis of each brand's situation to determine what promotional mix is required and how the ads are to be fashioned so that general media exposures to generic brand ads are supported by more focused ads in multicultural media. Over time, most of the consumers so targeted will see or hear your ads in both kinds of media. I should add that this type of analysis is very rare----which is a mistake.
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Toya Mitchell from Kellogg's, January 6, 2020 at 5:37 p.m.

Multicultural consumers are exposed to “general market” creative and media, but exposure does not equal engagement, which directly impacts its effectiveness or lack thereof. No engagement = little to no believe that a product or service will deliver value. The new consortium shows data proving this.

“General market” (e.g. creative, media, etc.) is a catch-all phrase that should take into account consumer insights across all groups and find commonalities to communicate to consumers. What happens, in reality, is that “general market” ends up being a euphemism for White, which is also a stand-in for “the standard” with some advertisers shoehorning in Black, Hispanic, etc. talent to show diversity. I agree that each brand should be crystal clear to understand which consumer groups currently deliver sales or can in the future with the right marketing strategy. Problem is, that it takes time, money and buy in to figure it out and ensure that a plan is implemented. Either way, it’s a miss for advertisers to not speak directly to multicultural consumers with the right message in the right medium to show value, especially when these consumers clearly state the desire to see themselves in all forms of content.