According to preliminary figures released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus, advertising spending for the year's first quarter rose 2.4% over the same period last year. The gains were reported across major media, led by Spanish-language TV, which was up 19%, followed by cable, which saw a 12.4% gain.

At the same time, new statistics emerged last week that show a continuous increase of ad expenditure on Spanish-language television. The news comes on the heels of a new U.S. Census report that states that the U.S. Hispanic population, which now stands at 41.3 million, is growing three times faster than the general population.

* U.S. Hispanic population growth +300%

* Ad spending on Spanish-language TV +19%

Meanwhile, the U.S. Census reported last week that Hispanics accounted for about half of the overall population growth of 2.9 million people from 2003 to 2004.

According to the Census, one of every seven people in the U.S. is Hispanic. Half of all U.S. Hispanics are under age 27. And one out of every five children under age 18 in the United States is Hispanic.

Finally, TNS Media Intelligence released first-quarter 2005 ad-spend figures, which estimated that total U.S. ad spend grew 4.4% over the same time last year, with Hispanic media rising 5.8%, from 865.30 million in the first quarter of 2004 to 915.60 million in the same period this year. TNS did not break out numbers for Hispanic TV, which is lumped together in the report with Latino magazines and newspapers.

Q1 2005 vs. Q1 2004 % Change in Advertising Spending
Spanish language TV	19.3%
Cable TV	12.4
Local magazines	12.1
National magazines	7.7
Outdoor	4.4
Network TV	4.2
Spot TV DMA's 101-210	3.4
Local newspaper	2.5
B2B Magazines	1.5
Network radio	0.4
National magazines	0.1
Coupons	- 3.0
Spot TV DMA's 0-100	-4.3
Total	2.4
Source: Nielsen Monitor-Plus