Market News

2006 AD AGE HISPANIC FACT PACK

The U.S. Hispanic population continues to grow in numbers and influence, fueling another year of anticipated double-digit growth in spending by marketers.

For 2006, TNS Media Intelligence is forecasting 12.9% growth in Spanish-language media, compared to 4.9% for all U.S. media (TNS doesn't yet measure the fast-growing English-language Hispanic media targeting bilingual and English-speaking Hispanics). Validating this optimistic outlook, TNS reported 14.2% growth in first quarter 2006 spending in Spanish-language media.

Vigorous growth
Among the top 50 Hispanic ad agencies, 28 posted double-digit growth in 2005. And of the top 50 advertisers to Hispanics, 26 increased their ad budgets by double-digit amounts for the year. Marketers aren't just spending more. They are also looking at new ways to sell more to Hispanic consumers. Home Depot, for example, successfully introduced a paint palette called Colores Origenes with vibrant colors and names that are not just in Spanish but evoke familiar Latin foods and images.

Advertising Age's third annual Hispanic Fact Pack presents data about marketers' ad spending by category and company, demographic trends, language usage and rankings for the leading TV, radio, newspaper, magazine and online media. Ad Age has also compiled an exclusive ranking of the top 50 U.S. Hispanic ad agencies, and a first-ever ranking of the top Hispanic media buying agencies. And from Ad Age's Hispanic Market Survey, there are charts on marketers' own spending forecasts.

Hispanic TV industry changes
In big changes for Spanish-language television, Univision Communications was put up for sale in February 2006 and in June announced a $13 billion deal, scheduled to close in 2007. Spanish-language TV networks Univision, NBC Universal-owned Telemundo and Azteca America joined the Nielsen Television Index (NTI) in December 2005 after participating in a separate Hispanic TV service. The move allows more direct comparison with the English-language networks that Univision in particular is trying to pry viewers and ad dollars away from. The separate Nielsen Hispanic Television Index (NHTI) will be phased out by September 2007.

The biggest categories for Hispanic advertisers continue to be automotive and retail. Spending by the seven auto marketers among the top 50 grew 9.5% with Ford, Toyota, Hyundai and Honda showing growth in the double digits. Media spending by the top 50's retail category grew 4.3%, a tally weighed down by a 22.7% decline in outlays at Sears Holdings Corp. Without Sears in the mix, retail advanced 26.6%.

By Laurel Wentz Mailed 2006-08-29

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