Hispanics Prefer English or Spanish?

Feb 17, 2009 by Mark Maier

Great question for Radio, Television, and Interactive properties looking to serve this growing population that is also growing in market influence.  Luckily The Center For Media Research has given us some insight into the market with research titled "Bi-Lingual Hispanics Live With Ease In Both Worlds".  The study answers some questions  but maybe not the way some of us would have hoped.  As marketers I think we would like to know do we offer our marketing in Spanish or in English and the answer is both as households that prefer English total 43% while those that prefer Spanish total 52%, does it hold true for TV Viewing?....

"Younger viewers are not the dominating presence in front of the English language small screen. Hispanics, aged 18-34, are actually less likely (54%) than older Hispanics, aged 55+, to prefer English language television (61%). And:

• 52% of Hispanics aged 35-54  prefer English language television.
• 45% percent of Hispanics with children in the household say that they prefer Spanish language television.
• 63% of Hispanic households without children are highly likely to prefer English television
• 80% of College educated Hispanics prefer English language television"

How do the figures shake out for Radio or Interactive properties?....

"The person playing that Spanish beats music on radio is most likely to be a Hispanic female (51%), as they are more likely than Hispanic males (38%) to tune into Spanish radio. Among radio preferences overall, Hispanics are practically split as 49% stated that they listen to English language radio while 45% percent listen to Spanish language radio.

• Hispanics aged 55+ are more likely to prefer radio in English than in Spanish (56% vs. 38%)
• Among those 35-54, half (50%) prefer radio in English.
• Hispanics, aged 18-34, are practically split among preference as 46% prefer English and 47% prefer Spanish radio.
• 55% of all Hispanics said that their language preference for the Internet is English.
• 39% of Hispanics age 18-34 prefer Spanish language internet sites
• 42% of Hispanic females prefer Spanish when surfing the web compared to just twenty nine percent (29%) of Hispanic men

53% of Hispanics read the news and they are looking for information in both languages:

• 53% in English to find out the current affairs in their local U.S. city
• 33% in Spanish to follow up with the news in their home country
• 44% read Spanish newspapers that cover news in their community in the United States. 57%, with an annual household income under $50,000, do so "

 

Related Categories