Radio reaches more U.S. Hispanics than any other medium. According to a 2019 Audio Today report from Nielsen, more than 43 million Hispanics tune in each week — which means a higher percentage of Hispanics listen to the radio than any other American ethic group.
And according to the new Claritas 2020 Hispanic Market Report, “annual aggregate Hispanic household spending is projected to reach $978 billion in 2020, making Hispanics the single largest and highest-spending minority group in the United States. On the income side, the aggregate annual household income of the U.S. Hispanic market now tops $1.28 trillion.”
Hispanic consumers now make up 19% of the U.S. population with nearly 63 million members — making it one of the nation’s fastest-growing population segments and accounting for 56% of U.S. population growth over the past two decades. (Asians, the second fastest-growing group, accounted for 19%.)
Claritas says that fast growth is expected to continue. “In fact, Hispanics are projected to drive 62% of the total U.S. population growth through 2025,” Claritas says. “This makes them an important population segment — one with spending power that marketers cannot afford to ignore.”
For marketers, the U.S. Hispanic market is a challenging one because it’s far from monolithic. It includes immigrants from Mexico and Cuba, as well as Puerto Ricans (who are U.S. citizens). Each group comes with its own linguistic and cultural complexities.
“Companies that wish to appeal to members of this highly diverse group of consumers must be aware of differences in dialects, cultures, behaviors, interests and values in order to successfully create targeted marketing campaigns,” the Claritas report says.
Claritas also notes that Hispanics are 34% more likely than average to watch live TV on their mobile phone, 18% more likely to stream video on Amazon Prime, and 14% more likely to stream via Netflix.
They also happen to love the radio. “Radio not only provides the largest reach gateway to [these] audiences,” the Nielsen report says, “but connects with them at key moments, such as when driving in their cars just before a potential purchase. And new technologies (including smart speakers, voice assistants and podcasts) are making the bond between audio and these listeners even stronger.”
Nielsen’s numbers show both Black and Hispanic listenership trending up, but there’s been a steeper rise among Hispanics. The audience (age 12 and older) grew from 40.3 million (2015) to 43.2 million last year, making Hispanics 17.4% of the total U.S. radio audience.
Radio reaches a higher percentage of Hispanics — 96% of the total population — than it does of any other ethnic group. In terms of reach, it outperforms TV (85%).
“Radio is an integral part of the daily lifestyle,” Nielsen says, “peaking near the end of the workday or during the commute home.”
Between 6am and 6 pm, the report shows listenership among Hispanics between 4 million and 5 million before falling off steeply by 8pm. “On weekends, listening peaks around noon [at just under 4 million] as audiences aren’t influenced by their weekday routines,” Nielsen adds.