There is a major dichotomy between the viewing habits of US Hispanic consumers and the continued preference of TV to reach them. Ad Age recently reported that U.S. advertisers spent 64% of their Hispanic-targeted media budgets last year on Spanish language broadcast and cable TV networks, and only 5% on internet display ads. What makes this puzzling is that according to eMarketer, younger Hispanic consumers (under 35) are spending more time online than watching TV. Furthermore 96% of Hispanic internet users spend at least an hour/week online, compared to 91% who spend more than an hour watching TV.

While the incidence of surfing the internet and watching TV is almost identical among those Hispanic internet users who spend less than 13 hours per week doing either, the incidence of high internet usage is greater than heavy TV viewing – 30% vs. 23% spending 13+ hours/week. Clearly advertisers have yet to keep up with this growing trend for internet usage, but we expect their media purchases to start reflecting this reality. Other views from Lisa Phillips, senior analyst at eMarketer that support this prediction of greater digital spending to reach Hispanic consumers in the future include:

• “Hispanics embrace new technology more rapidly than non-Hispanic whites and share it very freely with friends and family”
• “Ownership and usage of several forms of portable media devices indicates this group of super-communicators will lead the uptake of mobile internet and video in the U.S.”
• “Savvy marketers won’t continue to ignore these trends much longer”

This dynamic growth of internet usage among Hispanic consumers in the U.S. and Mexico will provide important opportunities for both progressive advertisers and also research firms who have the capability to now study their attitudes and behavior over the internet.