impreMedia impressions: U.S. Latinos Online: A Driving Force - Mary Zerafa - MediaBizBloggers

Welcome Mary Zerafa our newest MediaBizBlogger

There are various reports about how many Hispanics are online, who they are and what they do. We marketers all crave information but in some instances it can lead to confusion, particularly when reports cite various numbers and contradict each other.

The IAB Hispanic Committee, part of the Multicultural Committee, recently put together a presentation, "US Latinos Online: A Driving Force," that is a compilation of sources in order to provide a clear picture about the size, growth, activities and how to effectively reach this market in-culture and in-language.

The key points of the report are:

· 30M Latinos are online and growing

· The gap between Hispanics and non-Hispanics in household income, online usage and spending, education and finance is closing

· Unique and relevant content drives engagement

· Spanish-preferred and Bilingual Hispanics are "influential" and "brand-socializers"

· Hispanic sites deliver on engagement and hard to move persuasion metrics

The report was put together by the IAB's Hispanic Research Working Group. Participating members were impreMedia, Terra Networks, Telemundo, Univision, AOL Latino, StarMedia, AOL Latino, Batanga and Scarborough. Research partners included eMarketer, Forrester, comScore, Simmons, Dynamic Logic, Scarborough and Mintel. Data was also incorporated from the Pew Research and the Census.

In this blog post, I look deeper into the first two key points and in my next blog post I will focus on the remaining three points.

30M Latinos are online and growing

There are more than ten different sources on how many Hispanics use the Internet and each cite different numbers due to different methodologies and age groups that were measured. The IAB Hispanic Research Working Group reviewed all of these sources and determined that eMarketer had the most accurate and reliable number. Firstly, because they are an aggregator of sources. Secondly, it is a stable number since projections are done on an annual basis rather than on a monthly basis which can wildly fluctuate. The age group measured was 2+ years old.

What is very striking is not only is this market segment large but also it is growing. Over the past year, from 2009 to 2010 it grew 9%, a rate that is three times that of non‐Hispanic Caucasians. Furthermore, it is expected to grow 32%, to 39 million, between now and 2014, a rate that is four times that of non-Hispanic Caucasians.

The gap between Hispanics and non-Hispanics in household income, online usage and spending, education and finance is closing.

The profile of the adult Hispanic Internet user is as follows:
· 50% Male/50% Female
· 36 years old
· 51% married
· Hhld size of 4 (36% 5+ persons)
· 64% have children and 20% 3 or more
· Household income of $77K
· 69% are employed (23% live in hhlds with 3+ employed adults)
· 41% have at least 1 year of college (19% graduated College+)
· 58% own a home
· 48% were born outside the U.S.
· 59% Mexican
· 33% U.S. residents for 10+ years
· 80% speak Spanish at home

The interesting point in this profile is the average household income is large, $77K annually. Several years ago this number was significantly lower which means that the income gap is closing.

Another interesting take away from this profile is that although 50% were born in the US, 80% speak Spanish at home, signifying a close connection to culture that is demonstrated through language usage.

Compared to non-Hispanics, adult Hispanic Internet users are younger, on average eight years younger. They live in larger households, they are three times as likely to live in households of five people or more. They are twice as likely to live in households with three or more children, and are 77% more likely to live in households with three or more employed adults. This means that this is an important segment for marketers because they have large households that buy across multiple categories.

Hispanics outpace the average Internet user in BPI (buying power index) across a variety of online activities. Almost two-thirds of all Hispanic Internet users made a purchase online last year and on average spent $746. That is almost on par with the total Internet population of which 72% made purchases on average totaling $851.

The top category is shipping, yes, shipping. The IAB Hispanic Research Working Group purports that Hispanics often make purchases which they then ship to their families back home. Other top categories included travel, consumer goods, personal finance and banking. In addition, Online Hispanics wield strong influence over many of their households' purchases from food to insurance to electronics and to entertainment.

Top activities included:
· Email: 72%
· News/weather: 50%
· Banking: 46%
· Music downloads: 32%
· Travel information: 29%

The Internet has become part of Latinos daily lives. It is an important source for news and information. 61% of Hispanics said "When I need information the first place I look is the Internet"

60% said "I get more and more news from the Internet ".They indexed 109 vs. non-Hispanics.

They also turn to the web for entertainment, 29% said "The Internet has become a primary source of entertainment for me personally", a 121 index vs. non-Hispanics.

Hispanic Internet users are very social online,29% said "The Internet has become a new way for me to socialize or meet people".They indexed 132 index vs. non-Hispanics.

What is also noteworthy is Latinos' participation in social networks. 48% have a social network profile, which is 55% more likely than White and 12% more than African Americans.

In my next blog post I will explore the remainder of the report which can be found here.

Mary Zerafa is VP of Strategy and Integrated Marketing for impreMedia. Mary can be reached at Mary.Zerafa@impremedia.com. She also blogs at www.hispanicmarketinfo.com where you can learn more about the US Hispanic market.

Read all Mary's MediaBizBloggers commentaries at impreMedia impressions - MediaBizBloggers.

Check us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggers.com
Follow our Twitter updates @MediaBizBlogger