• by Danielle Oster , October 7, 2024

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A new report timed for National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15) sheds some light on an important and growing demographic for marketers.

The ANA’s AIMM (Alliance For Inclusion and Multicultural Marketing), the Cultural Inclusion Accelerator, data company Nielsen and its Gracenote Inclusion Analytics platform teamed up for a study analyzing the role inclusivity and cultural resonance play in Hispanic viewership and engagement.

This demographic is an important one, with significant spending power. Accordion to a recent report by the nonprofit Latino Donor Collaborative, Latinos represent 19.5% of the U.S. population and were responsible for $3.6 trillion in economic output in 2022 -- a number projected to grow to $5.7 trillion by 2029, surpassing the GDP of Japan and Germany.

The report surveyed 1,932 Hispanic consumers in August to determine how cultural relevance (as measured by the Cultural Insights Impact Measure (CIIM) measure) in programming impacts ad performance, including purchase intent, with Hispanic audiences. Participants rated cultural relevance for top shows for each audience segment, from a list provided by Nielsen, which also measured these shows’ inclusivity via its GIA metric, and then measured ad effectiveness in the context of playing during these shows.

The report emphasizes the importance of developing distinct strategies to reach different groups of Hispanic consumers. It  breaks down cultural impact across  three audience segments defined by the study: “Futboleros,” Hispanic audiences aged 18-34 who have previously watched soccer programming; “Zetas,” young professional Latinas with at least some college education and household incomes of $75,000 or more; and “Sabios,” homeowners aged 50 or older who are currently working, have at least some college education, and no children under 12 within their household. Speaking at least some Spanish was a prerequisite for each audience segment, and the study included ads and programming in both English and Spanish.

Unsurprisingly, the study found a high correlation between Hispanic representation in content tested and cultural relevance as measured by CIIM. It also found that representation and cultural relevance independently correlated with higher purchase intent, brand trust, and brand affinity, with the effect more pronounced with programming scoring high in both metrics -- which contributed to an average 1.23x lift in purchase intent across groups.

Among the biggest takeaways was the finding that cultural relevance had the potential to boost purchase intent up to 25%, and brand opinion by up to 50%. Ads placed with content scoring high in the CIIM metric contributed to a 25% boost in purchase intent, compared to those with low CIIM scores among the older “Sabios” audience segment, which rated the Spanish-language melodrama “Between Lands” as the most culturally relevant programming among shows tested. Culturally relevant programming also contributed to a 44% increase in brand trust and 39% boost to brand opinion among the group.

Among “Zetas,” who rated Spanish-language melodrama “Vuelve a mí” as most culturally relevant, the relevance of programming contributed to a 21% increase in purchase intent, and increases of 42% and 43% to brand trust and brand opinion, respectively. “

Futboleros” proved the toughest group to reach, with culturally relevant programming contributing to lifts of 19% to purchase intent, 21% to brand trust, and 27% to brand opinion, according to the study. Among the programming tested, the group ranked Univision’s Primer Impacto, Mexican telenovela “Cuando Me Enamoro,” and Univision’s Spanish-language morning show “¡Despierta América!” as most relevant.

The study also stressed the importance of recognizing and representing diversity within Hispanic culture and  tailoring approaches to reach specific demographics, proclaiming “Generic approaches are dead,” and brands need to “tailor or fail.”

The report also shared that while Spanish-language content performed better for inclusivity and cultural relevance (with CIIM scores averaging 163, compared to English-language content at 150), “language isn’t everything,” recommending brands take a bilingual approach to “reach all segments” and “double” their impact.