Source: www.marketingcharts.com, September 2020

Hispanics currently make up one-fifth (19%) of the total US population, yet this demographic often feels ignored by advertisers. But, how do advertisers reach this population of Americans? A report [download page] from Nielsen shows that streaming media is one such place.

In almost every instance, Hispanics over-index when it comes to ownership of tech devices. In Q1 2020, 6 in 10 (62%) owned an internet-connected device, making them 29% more likely than the general population to own such a device. Likewise, with two-thirds of Hispanics owning an enabled Smart TV, they are 25% more likely than the total US population to own one. They are also 15% more likely to own a game console, 13% more likely to own a computer and 4% more likely to own a smartphone.

Streaming Households Higher Than Average

With Hispanic Americans over-indexing in ownership of connected devices, it’s not surprising that video streaming penetration is above-average among Hispanic households. Nielsen reports that in 2020, some 78% of Hispanic households have at least one video streaming service, compared to 74% of total US households.

Considered the network streamers are hard-pressed to do without, three-fourths (76%) of total consumers say they use Netflix on at least a monthly basis. That percentage is even higher among Hispanics, with 81% self-reporting that they use the streaming service monthly. Another service that Hispanics are more likely to use than the general population is Disney+. Half of Hispanics say they use the service on a monthly basis, compared to 42% of the total population. Nielsen attributes this to a higher number of children in Hispanic households.

The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in even more people spending time with streaming services. This is especially true for Hispanic Americans. Seven in 10 report they have increased the amount of time spent watching movies or shows using a streaming service, while only 55% of non-Hispanics report doing the same. The report finds that Hispanics increased their weekly viewing time by about 8 hours in the month of March.

It’s Not Just About Streaming Video

It’s also worth noting that streaming video isn’t the only streaming medium that Hispanics appear to be gravitating towards. Research from Q4 2019 by H Code found that two-fifths (42%) of the Hispanics they surveyed spent at least 6 hours a week listening to music online. And, Marketing Charts’ own research shows that Hispanic adults are 21% more likely to listen to internet radio than the general online population.

COVID-19 has also increased the amount of time Hispanics spend with radio, too: more than one-third (37%) say they are spending more time with radio as a result of the pandemic. And, while they appear to be spending less time listening in their cars, they are spending more time listening at home, on their mobiles, computers or Smart Speakers.

As far as genres are concerned, Mexican Regional stations are the most popular, followed by Spanish Contemporary + Spanish HotAC and Adult Contemporary (8.2%). Hispanic Teens (ages 12-17) on the other hand prefer Pop Contemporary Hit Radio, Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio and Mexican Regional.

Separately, Hispanic Americans report spending 18% more time listening to podcasts since the start of COVID-19. Additionally, 16% of Hispanic podcast listeners listen daily, which makes them 9% more likely to do so than the total population.

With respect to podcast genres, Hispanics are 61% more likely to listen to Music podcasts than the total population. They also are more likely to gravitate towards Health and Fitness (52% more likely), Science (38%) and True Crime (29%) than the general population.

To read more, the full report can be found here.

About the Data: Findings are based on Niesen’s Total Audience Report.