NEW YORK — When it comes to reaching many multiethnic consumers, Dave Shull, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Dish Network, believes in a primary marketing strategy for the No. 2 satellite- TV provider.
“Connect your family to your own country,” he said.
“It’s not just the shows, it’s also the branded channels,” Shull added. “The one thing that cuts across all these different demographics is, connect yourself back to your home.”
Shull said millions of Dish’s customers are primarily non-English-speaking. He said Dish offers 268 different channels in 29 different language groups.
“The 2010 Census opened a lot of people’s eyes,” Shull said. “There is tremendous growth in the non-English-speaking market.”
The top five non-Hispanic, non-English groups in the U.S., he said, are Chinese, South Asians, Arabs, Filipinos and Vietnamese. Those populations account for about 4.2 million households, or roughly 15 million people.
While Dish boasts a large multiethnic customer base, Shull pointed out that “roughly half” of it is either “second- generation” or in a place where English is common.
“There’s a lot of money in the market,” he said. “We remain very bullish [about it].”
Shull said the influx of immigrants into the U.S. has skewed Dish’s consumer base younger, and like the youth demos in America, these customers have adapted to being able to watch TV wherever and whenever they want.
“We want to make sure we’re reaching these customers on the ITV products they’re used to,” he said, before noting that most of its international content is available on the DishWorld platform.
“From an international base, it’s the same thing,” he said.
