Hispanic Heavy Radio Users Are Influential, 'Possess Enormous Buying Power'

While upscale Hispanic millennials command wealth with their heavy Internet and social media usage, the Hispanic 39-year-old heavy radio user is still quite influential.

"State of the Media: Audio Today, A Focus on Black & Hispanic Audiences," a study from Nielsen, was recently published, and the report draws attention to the growing influence of Hispanic radio consumers in the American mainstream media. Approximately 93 percent of all Hispanics are reached by radio each week, listening during mid-day (10 a.m to 3 p.m.) for an average of more than 12 hours each week.

The report looked at data from the second quarter of 2015 and found that there are 245 million Americans, 12 or older, listening to the radio each week. Together, African-Americans and Hispanics represent a record 71.7 million audio consumers, which is a third of national audiences (29.3 percent). Hispanics claim a greater percentage of those numbers, accounting for 16.5 percent, with African-Americans accounting for the other 12.8 percent of audiences.

Over the last five years, weekly reach has increased among the two audience groups. In 2011, Hispanics accounted for 36.5 million weekly national radio listeners. That number has grown by 11 percent and now rests at 40.4 million. Listenership has also increased from 29.8 million to 31.3 million since 2011 for African-Americans. Also, 9 out of 10 Hispanics listen to the radio each week, listening to the radio an average of 12 hours, 35 minutes a week.

"Because radio reaches more than 90 percent of both of these audiences, the footprint of where that listening is highest mirrors the larger population trends taking place in the U.S. today," the report stated.

Los Angeles, New York, Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Houston/Galveston and Chicago serve the Latino communities with a number of stations. Also, California and Texas hold a high number of Spanish-language radio listeners, far above the national average, which can be attributed to the fact that both states boast a huge number of Spanish-dominant immigrants.

Hispanic heavy audio users, on average, are 39-years-old, male (52 percent male versus 48 percent female), full-time workers (72 percent), with an average yearly household income of $58,600, and they listen to the radio about 18 hours and 45 minutes each week (compared to seven hours and 23 minutes spent online).

"These black and Hispanic consumers spend more time with radio each week than any other group, and possess enormous buying power for advertisers looking to reach a qualified audience when they are away from home and in the marketplace ready to purchase," said the report.

However, Hispanic heavy Internet users tend to be younger (35-years old), evenly split male/female, with an average household income of $64,400. They spend 11 hours, 30 minutes listening to radio each week (as opposed to the 15 hours, 52 minutes they spend online). Also, heavy television users tend to be the oldest of the Hispanic heavy media users, with an average age of 44 years.