How Radio Advertisers Can Reach Latino Listeners

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spanish-dominant-chartSome 97% of the Hispanic population in the U.S. tunes into radio each week.


Since 2011, the weekly national Hispanic radio audience has grown 11%, according to Nielsen, from 36.5 million to 40.4 million.

This increase in radio listening likely reflects the overall increase in Hispanic consumers in the U.S. In the last 15 years, the Hispanic population has more than doubled, and growth shouldn’t stop any time soon. In the next five years, Hispanics are projected to account for 53% of the U.S. population growth.

But Hispanics are diverse — from birthplace and country of origin to generation and language preference. These differences play a role in how Hispanics consume media, including radio listening.

64% of Hispanics today are U.S. born, and of those, 75% are between 2 to 34 years old.

These young Hispanics are listening in different ways than their older counterparts. Radio reaches almost 15 million Hispanic millennials, significantly more than just 6.3 million of their boomer counterparts. However, older Latinos listen longer — by more than three minutes each week.

Language also plays a role in how Hispanics listen. Spanish-dominant radio listeners spend the most time tuning in among all U.S. adults 18-49. These super listeners spent 13 hours and 12 minutes listening a week in 2015, compared with 11 hours and 48 minutes for English-dominant listeners.

So how can radio programmers and advertisers best reach these diverse Latino listeners?

Radio reaches nearly all Hispanic adults each week, but mobile use is growing and smartphones reach 83% of the Hispanic population weekly — greater than any other multicultural segment in the U.S., according to Nielsen.

With the increased popularity of smartphones among this demographic, online media consumption has also grown significantly between 2006 and 2014.

Those looking to reach Hispanic consumers need to consider who they’re trying to reach in this diverse population. Differences in birthplace, country of origin, generation, language preference, music orientation and culture are all factors in media consumption, according to Nielsen.