Radio is Still King in Reaching Hispanics

There’s no denying the growing influence of multicultural consumers in the U.S. – especially the growing numbers and purchasing power of Hispanic consumers. Early on in the “how to market to Hispanics era,” radio was the go-to-market tactic. Although many strategies have changed in the few two decades on how to reach the Hispanic community – the power of radio has not weakened. Radio is still king when engaging with Hispanics.

According to Nielsen, 97% of all Hispanics are reached by radio every week, the highest penetration across all demographics, ethnicities and platforms, making radio the top media platform for reaching Hispanics each week. When breaking the statistics down even further into age groups, Millennials (adults ages 18-34) that identify themselves as multicultural stated listening to the radio on average 11+ hours on a weekly basis.

• The fastest growing audience segment for radio is Hispanic consumers, with a 97% reach number (higher than the overall population of 93%).
• Millennials make up roughly a quarter of Hispanics in the U.S. and spend more than 11.5 hours each week tuning in. Radio reaches almost 15 million Hispanic Millennials. Source: Nielsen
• For Hispanic adults, midday is the most popular day part with regional Mexican as the most popular format with 70% of listening occurring out-of-home. Regional Mexican is overwhelmingly the most popular format among Hispanics, ranking no. 1 among adults ages 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54. Source: Nielsen
• Language can also play a role in how Hispanics listen and tune in to radio. Spanish-dominant radio listeners spend the most time tuning in among all U.S. adults ages 18-49. These super listeners spend 13 hours and 12 minutes listening a week, compared with 11 hours and 48 minutes for English-dominant listeners.
• Hispanics also over-index significantly in online radio. Hispanic adults 18-34 years-old are: 25% more likely than non-Hispanic whites to have listened to internet radio in the past 30 days; 42% most likely to have listened to a local radio station online in the past 30 days; and 26% more likely to have listened to any radio online in the prior 30 days.

Although a lot of radio’s success is attributed to its traditional AM/FM form, it has been expanding to include online streaming of these traditional radio stations and other radio platforms such as Pandora, which allows listeners to tailor their stations to their specific entertainment needs and provide a unique targeted advertising approach.

With overwhelming statistics like these, it is clear why radio is still an effective and relevant media tool for reaching Hispanic consumers, which is music to the ears of brands seeking to target this high-growth segment.