Hispanic consumers spend a lot of time listening to radio
Hispanic consumers are heavy users of radio, spending significant time, in particular with Spanish-language radio, according to a new study from Arbitron.
The U.S. Hispanic population is growing rapidly and is now the biggest minority in the country. Arbitron's new study - Hispanic Radio Today 2006 - shows that radio reaches over 95% of all Hispanic Americans over the age of 12. While the average Non-Hispanic consumer listens to an average of 19 hours and 15 minutes of radio per week, the average Hispanic consumer listens to over 22 hours and 15 minutes.
"No other medium comes close to radio for reaching Hispanic consumers," said Stacie de Armas, Director of Hispanic Media Services, Arbitron. "Hispanics connect with radio on a deep level. It binds Hispanics to their culture, music of home and provides a sense of belonging within their communities.
"Our study shows the loyalty and steady consumption of radio by Hispanics in the United States. Advertisers have an opportunity to get their key messages to the Hispanic communities, whose spending power totaled $736 billion in 2005."
Additional highlights from the Hispanic Radio Today 2006 study include:
• In fact, there has been a 34% increase in Spanish-language radio stations in the past seven years, which illustrates the popularity of radio amongst these loyal listeners.
• The most popular Spanish-language radio formats are Mexican Regional (20%) and Spanish Contemporary (13%). In addition, two new formats - Spanish Oldies and Spanish Religious - debuted this year and are growing in popularity.
• Hispanic American listening patterns tend to follow the established general-market trend, however it appears that they are on the move earlier in the morning causing higher listening rates between the hours of 4AM and 7AM.
• More than half of Hispanic radio listening during the hours of 6AM -10AM occurs in cars or at work, with the same pattern being repeated during the hours of 3PM-7PM. On weekends, 53% of listening takes place at home between 10AM-7PM, while listening in a car accounts for more than a quarter (28%) during this time.
• Radio listening among working-age Hispanics typically peaks in morning drive (6AM-10AM) among both genders, however the next strongest time slot for men is during the afternoon commute (3PM-7PM) while midday (10AM-3PM) is the runner-up for women.
• Hispanic teenagers have peak listening hours after school (3PM-7PM), while adults 65 and older peak during the morning drive, although they tend to listen at home, which suggests that older Hispanics may simply be early risers.
