about the author...
by Rockie Thomas
It was once thought that the Internet catered only to geeky white young males with retainers and overzealous hair gel. Just recently, a study showed more women online then their male counterparts. Even more interesting, non-white Internet users are the highest demographic segment of social networking websites.
(sfx: turntable record scratch. remember those?) Excuse me?
Yes, you read correctly, the online world is not as exclusive as it has been in the past. We are seeing a diverse multicultural audience forming online, which represents a cornucopia of opportunity-especially in Hispanic segment.
A recent October 2007 eMarketer study estimates there are 18.8 million Hispanic American Internet users. That number will grow to nearly 25 million in 2011, representing 11.6% of the entire US internet population.
A critical voice inside your head may be saying, "Well, sure Hispanics are online, but they are not transactional or creating dollars." Actually, among Hispanics, 41.8% shop online (up from 27.7% in 2002). In addition, 23.5% of Hispanic Internet users make five or more purchases per year, and 12.3% make a dozen or more purchases annually.
Hispanics also talk more on their mobile devices than any other population segment. Hispanics average more than 33% more voice minutes per month than non-Hispanics.
Further building the case for an online revenue boom is the evidence of growth we've seen among Hispanic radio, television, and mobile media.
How should terrestrial broadcaster take advantage of this opportunity?
Mobile Programs, Social Networking and Side Channels are the low hanging fruit for Hispanic radio growth in digital media.
In a recent Pew Study, Hispanics text message more than any other population segment. 42% of Hispanic thumbs are texting annually! (bad text joke, sorry)
Only 28% of Caucasian mobile phone owners are text messaging. This is a huge opportunity for stations in regards to SMS contesting and creative SMS sales promotions.
Hispanics also talk more on their mobile devices than any other population segment. Hispanics average more than 33% more voice minutes per month than non-Hispanics.
In addition, average incoming and outgoing calls per day for Hispanics are 40% higher than non-Hispanics, according to a recent Telephia study. The major takeaway point: If you have a large Hispanic population in your area, you have an opportunity to incorporate strategies online and on-air, where your station can harness this higher than normal digital-media user.
A recent eMarketer report indicates that that 84% of marketers believe multicultural marketing was crucial to their business.
Digital Media opens new opportunities for stations in the News/Talk, Country, and Rock formats, which have traditionally had difficulty maintaining a high percentage of Hispanic AQH. This is where online programs can offer high reward with lower capital investment to reach Hispanic listeners. It is possible to create a version of your brand online which targets Hispanic audience.
Hispanics are also heavy users of Social Networks. If you are in an area with a high Hispanic population, consider employing social networking tactics on your website, which target this segment.
Non-radio companies have started to focus their efforts on this exploding social networking niche through sites like cyloop.com and mygrito.com, which are like the MySpace for Hispanic population segment, Vostu.com, a Hispanic centric Facebook.
One visit to Batanga.com will show you the strength of Hispanic online marketing, which started in 1999 with streaming internet-only radio stations. These stations specialized in niche Hispanic formats. A terrestrial station can translate Batanga's success locally through internet-only side channels.
A typical oldies station can program a Spanish-leaning oldies station for online distribution as well as mobile distribution. This can also offer a new revenue stream to Hispanic advertisers normally not on the station client list.
What are some of the major Hispanic Group strategies for new media?
Many of the larger Hispanic radio groups like Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) have been using a centralized website or portal which powers their local stations. In SBS' case, its LaMusica portal provides many of the content feeds for their local station websites, as well as national adverting opportunities. This is very similar to other large non-Hispanic broadcaster models.
While there is a tremendous amount of assimilated Spanish-speaking population in the United States, 51% of online Hispanics in the US prefer to be offered Spanish-language Web sites. In addition, 23% must have Spanish online, according to Forrester Research.
Show me the Peso.
Buyers and marketers want to spend money to reach Spanish speaking population, but they need help navigating the waters of how to reach this market. A recent eMarketer report indicates that that 84% of marketers believe multicultural marketing was crucial to their business. Still, 40% are unaware of the value that multicultural groups represent to their companies. Marketers surveyed were also asked which minority segment was most important to their business. The majority selected Hispanics first at 65%, followed by African Americans at 30% and Asian Americans at 24%.
This is an exciting opportunity for radio stations to offer advertising solutions for marketing to the Hispanic demographic. The Tan Tiger has awoken in the United States. The Hispanic market segment will only continue to grow. Now is radio's time to embrace this growing trend on-air and online.