Hispanic Americans are leading the adoption of smartphones and tablets as media devices, according to research conducted by Specific Media, a Viant company and SMG Multicultural. The research examines how Hispanic Americans – the second largest and fastest growing ethnic group in the US today – use the Internet, smartphones, tablets and TV in their daily lives.

Hispanic Americans are foreshadowing the future of media in the US, and for advertisers and marketers seeking to tap into the increasing spending power and cultural impact of this growing audience segment, digital media is the key. Hispanic Americans spend more time online and are more receptive to advertisements in general than non-Hispanic Americans.

Additional research findings include:
– Hispanic Americans are leading the adoption of smartphones and tablets as media devices. Hispanic Americans spend a greater amount of time engaged in online activities on their smartphones (26 per cent compared to 20 per cent of non-Hispanics) and tablets (16 per cent compared to 13 per cent of non-Hispanics), while non-Hispanic Americans spend a greater amount of time engaged in online activities on their desktops (67 per cent compared to 59 per cent of Hispanics). Hispanic are also more likely to perform purchase-related activities on their mobile devices.
– Hispanic Americans are more favourably pre-disposed to advertising in general. Across all three digital platforms – desktop, smartphones and tablets – Hispanics are far more likely to find ads useful, relevant, influential and informative. This discrepancy is greatest in the smartphone category, with Hispanic audiences reporting they find ads useful and relevant at more than double the rate of non-Hispanics (36 per cent compared to 17 per cent of non-Hispanics).
– Hispanic Americans multimedia-task while watching TV and engage more across platforms with programming and ads. Findings show that Hispanic audiences are not only more likely to engage in other digital activity while watching TV, but they are also twice as likely to engage with a brand based upon TV ad characteristics.
– Facebook is the most popular online site across the board for Hispanic and non-Hispanic audiences.
– Amazon gains the highest amount of unique visitors by English-preferred Hispanics, and YouTube has the highest amount of unique visitors by Spanish-preferred Hispanics. Bing is the favored search engine choice for Hispanics, however non-Hispanics prefer to use Google.

“This research comes at an important time in the industry when marketers are tasked with reaching highly targeted audiences across a wider variety of channels, specifically in the smartphone and tablet categories,” said Jon Schulz, Chief Marketing Officer at Viant, Specific Media’s parent company. “Our findings prove that there are many different consumer profiles, each multi-tasking simultaneously between TV, online channels and apps, presenting new opportunities for marketers. The Hispanic American audience is a unique one in that they are leading the market in mobile engagement.”

“It will be increasingly meaningful for marketers to consider Hispanic users as they develop online and app-centric calls to action,” saidMarla Skiko, EVP, Director of Digital Innovation, SMG Multicultural. “There is no longer a general market, and it is imperative for marketers to take a targeted and custom approach, one that goes outside traditional media and embraces multicultural consumers across every platform.”

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