The U.S. Hispanic community, with over $3.4 trillion in purchasing power, represents a significant yet complex market. Their media consumption habits are dynamic, making a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy ineffective.
Engaging with Hispanics goes beyond simply setting up target audiences or creating assets in Spanish. To engage with this demographic, you need to adopt a cross-media approach that balances both traditional and digital channels, maximizing your campaign’s reach while ensuring cultural resonance and relevance.
According to the 2024 Nielsen Annual Marketing Report, while digital platforms continue to dominate ad spend, there is clear evidence that relying solely on these channels can limit your ability to engage Hispanic audiences fully. Many still interact with traditional media, like radio and TV, making a diverse media strategy critical for success.
Understanding Hispanic Media Consumption
U.S. Hispanics spend nearly nine hours a day on a media platform, according to Nielsen. While younger generations gravitate toward digital content and streaming services, Spanish-dominant audiences remain loyal to traditional media like broadcast TV and radio. This variance in behavior requires a careful balance between traditional and digital media to reach all Latino subgroups effectively.
For example, Culturati’s 2020 study found that 74% of Hispanics increased their use of streaming services during the pandemic, but 68% also reported consuming more live television. With this in mind, marketers need to integrate their digital campaigns with traditional touchpoints to cover all bases.
Traditional vs Digital Media
This balance between traditional and digital media is crucial for effective engagement. Relying only on one channel is not always effective, and that’s especially true with Hispanics. Consider incorporating new channels and platforms. Spanish radio, for instance, is very popular among Hispanics.
Digital media is an attractive option for marketers due to its ability to track audiences, measurability and precision. Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are heavily used by Hispanic audiences. In fact, Hispanic adults are 12% more likely to engage on Instagram daily compared to their non-Hispanic counterparts, per Civic Science data. Moreover, social media acts as a significant touchpoint for product discovery, with 31% of Hispanic adults spending more than two hours on these platforms daily.
Nielsen’s 2024 report also warns against over-reliance on digital media alone. While 75% of those exposed to social ads report increased purchase consideration, solely focusing on digital may alienate Spanish-dominant or older segments who still rely heavily on traditional platforms like TV and radio.
Radio and TV remain highly relevant among Hispanic audiences, especially those in Spanish-dominant households. Spanish-language TV networks and radio continue to have high engagement rates. 40% of Hispanic viewers feel that Spanish-language programming is an essential factor when selecting their preferred media. Additionally, streaming services with a strong catalog of Spanish-language content, such as Netflix and Pantaya, are highly valued.
This demonstrates that even within digital strategies, language and cultural relevance matter. Brands must integrate messaging that resonates across platforms while accounting for the preferences of different Hispanic segments. Consider adopting a holistic approach to ensure audience reach and engagement across different channels. Consumers are technically everywhere, so finding them shouldn’t be an issue, right? Implementing a plan with refined audience segmentation based on appropriately researched demographic data will significantly improve engagement.
ROI: Choosing the Right Channels to Reach Hispanics
With 75% of people stating that social media ads influenced their direct purchasing decision, social media advertising remains a very important medium for marketers. Additionally, ROI on social media spending is 36% higher than the average across all media channels.
Social, digital display and linear TV are the top 3 performing channels in a full funnel strategy. Digital and social allow marketers to hyper target and create a more tailored funnel strategy for audiences, as it’s possible to apply retargeting tactics from super brief consumer actions, such as viewing a video or reel for just 3 seconds.
Why a Cross-Media Strategy Works
The most effective campaigns utilize a combination of traditional and digital media, often yielding better outcomes. For example, a brand that incorporates digital, TV, and radio sees significantly higher returns than one relying solely on digital. Civic Science also highlights that Hispanic consumers are 19% more likely to engage with a brand represented on trusted platforms, like radio and community TV.
A cross-media approach ensures you’re not only targeting the highly connected younger audience but also reaching older, Spanish-dominant Hispanics who are still consuming traditional media. This balance helps brands achieve a full-funnel strategy—building awareness via mass media and driving conversions through hyper-targeted digital ads.
When building a cross-media strategy, ask these questions:
- Where is my audience?
- How confident I am about the digital channels I’m using?
- How am I reaching those that are not connected?
- How am I building word of mouth?
The Hispanic market is not a monolith, there’s significant diversity and complexity, comprised of language, acculturation, and generational dynamics to name a few. To capture the growing Hispanic market, it’s time to rethink your media strategy. Consider leveraging a balanced mix of digital and traditional channels that speak to the cultural and linguistic diversity of this group. Focus on where your audience consumes media: whether it’s Spanish-language TV or Instagram stories, for instance?
It’s rather complicated… But we can help. As Latinos ourselves, with extensive experience engaging Latinos, from the young Latinx Gen-Z to the older abuelita, connect with us, we can help.
Image: Popular social media influencer recording daily vlog with smartphone while telling stories by @Dragos Condrea from Getty Images
Graphics: 2024 Nielsen Annual Marketing Report
