• by Lee Vann , Columnist, August 9, 2012

For this post I thought it would be interesting to provide a digital perspective on the recently published Ad Age Hispanic Fact Pack. From a high level, investment in the Hispanic digital medium continues to outpace investment in traditional media; however, compared to the general market, we still have a long way to go.

Hispanic display advertising jumped 25% in 2011

In 2011, total investment in Hispanic measured media hit $7 billion, a jump of 4.2% over the previous year. During the same time period, advertisers invested $420 million in Hispanic display advertising, representing a solid 25% increase from 2010. At first glance these figures tell a positive story for the Hispanic digital market, but looking deeper it sheds some light on where this market really is today. According to Ad Age, total U.S. spending on display advertising reached $11 billion in 2011, which means that spending on Hispanic display represents only 3.8% of the total. With Hispanics currently making up nearly 16% of the total US market there is clearly a gap that I believe represents an opportunity for marketers looking to build long term relationships with Hispanics. 

Ford prioritizing Hispanic digital

Ford is one marketer that is taking advantage of this Hispanic digital opportunity. The Fact Pack ranks the company 15th in terms of their total investment in Hispanic measured-media spending, but 2^nd in when it comes to spending on digital display advertising, a clear indication that digital is a priority to them. Ford has invested in a robust Hispanic digital communication platforms that leverages digital trends highlighted by the 2012 Hispanic Fact Pack.

An overwhelming majority of Hispanics continue to use mainstream sites

The most popular web properties among online Hispanics include Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Yahoo each reaching more than 70% of all online Hispanics. To put things in perspective, the leading Hispanic website, Univision.com reached only 17% of online Hispanics. Savvy marketers use both mainstream and Hispanic themed sites to reach the online Hispanic market.

It is not surprising that Facebook is the third most popular website among Hispanics, reaching 72% of them in May 2012. The next most popular social media site among Hispanics is Twitter with 16.5% reach, followed by MySpace, LinkedIn and Tumblr. Not only have Hispanics embraced social media in large numbers, they also have positive attitudes towards it, whether they use it in English or Spanish. Ford has taken note of the fact that Hispanics are more likely to follow brands they like and spread the word about them via social media by investing in two Facebook pages, Ford en Español and Ready Pa’ Tu Mundo.

Mobile is the next frontier in Hispanic marketing

Similar to countless other reports of the Hispanic market, the Fact Pack also confirms that Hispanics are active mobile users. Most interesting to me was findings that indicate that Hispanics, regardless of language preference, over-index the general market in their usage of smartphones. 

That said, connecting with Hispanics via mobile represents a unique set of challenges that savvy marketers are thinking about today. These include traditional Hispanic marketing questions such as segmentation, coupled with fast moving technology implications from mobile optimized websites, native applications for multiple platforms, location based technologies and whatever comes next. 

Ford has taken a strong first step with a mobile optimized version and it will be interesting to see how they take advantage of this trend moving forward. 

I am already looking forward to the2013 Hispanic Fact Pack!