There have been lots of articles written about how Hispanic consumers are major TV watchers and big users of digital media—and they are. Some marketers have run with this data and moved ad dollars into Hispanic media, often at the expense of African-American media.
However, the most recent Nielsen Cross-Platform Report, which examines media consumption habits during the second quarter of 2014 shows African-Americans of all ages are way ahead of the general population overall, and both Hispanic and Asian viewers specifically when it comes to time spent watching traditional TV and digital video.
Any marketer looking at the amount of time African-Americans spend on the various media platforms compared to anyone else, based on the data in this report, should be motivated to aggressively target this group if they aren’t already doing so.
On a weekly basis, the general population watches 33 hours, 35 minutes of traditional TV, while Hispanics watch 26 hours, 7 minutes, and Asians watch 16 hours, 42 minutes. But African-Americans watch a whopping average of 44 hours, 57 minutes. The average Black viewer spends nearly 3 hours more per day watching television than the average Hispanic viewer.
Head-to-head, African-American consumers spend more time each week on various platforms than Hispanics do. Here are a few examples:
• Watching time-shifted television: African-American viewers, 2 hours and 49 minutes per week; Hispanics, 2 hours and 8 minutes
• Watching video on the Internet: African-Americans, 1 hour and 32 minutes; Hispanics, 1 hour and 2 minutes
• Using any App on a smartphone: African-Americans, 9 hours and 51 minutes; Hispanics, 9 hours and 26 minutes
• Using the Internet on a smartphone: African-Americans, 4 hours and 51 minutes; Hispanics, 3 hours and 15 minutes
• Using a DVD or Blu-ray device: African-Americans, 1 hour and 13 minutes; Hispanics, 1 hour and 1 minute
• Using a game console: African-Americans, 1 hour and 49 minutes; Hispanics, 1 hour and 43 minutes
• Watching a video on a smartphone: African-Americans, 22 minutes; Hispanics, 21 minutes
• Listening to AM/FM radio: African-Americans, 13 hours and 3 minutes; Hispanics, 12 hours and 41 minutes.
The Nielsen report also breaks out monthly time spent by medium in hours and minutes for both Black viewers and Hispanics by age demographic groups.
Time spent watching traditional TV grows progressively with age for both groups ,with teens watching the least amount of TV and persons over 65 watching the most. But Black viewers in all demo groups watch significantly more traditional TV than Hispanics.
Here are the monthly TV viewing numbers by demo:
• Teens 12-17: African-Americans watch 147 hours and 41 minutes; Hispanics, 79 hours and 9 minutes
• Adults 18-24: African-Americans, 152 hours and 54 minutes; Hispanics, 87 hours and 45 minutes
• Adults 25-34: African-Americans, 178 hours and 9 minutes; Hispanics, 106 hours and 37 minutes
• Adults 35-49: African-Americans, 209 hours and 6 minutes; Hispanics, 119 hours and 54 minutes
• Adults 50-64: African-Americans, 276 hours and 46 minutes; Hispanics, 153 hours and 50 minutes
• Adults 65 plus: African-Americans, 206 hours and 3 minutes; Hispanics, 117 hours and 58 minutes
Here are the monthly numbers, by demo, of different groups watching a video on the Internet:
• Teens 12-17: African-Americans, 5 hours and 43 minutes; Hispanics, 6 hours and 10 minutes
• Adults 18-24: African-Americans, 26 hours and 55 minutes; Hispanics, 17 hours and 19 minutes
• Adults 25-34: African-Americans, 16 hours and 44 minutes; Hispanics, 13 hours and 45 minutes
• Adults 35-49: African-Americans, 13 hours and 25 minutes; Hispanics, 11 hours and 55 minutes
• Adults 50-64: African-Americans, 6 hours and 12 minutes; Hispanics, 3 hours and 39 minutes
• Adults 65 plus: African-Americans, 13 hours and 59 minutes; Hispanics, 11 hours and 43 minutes
Some other data gleaned from the report.
• Among the millennial (18-34) demo group, media consumption year over year is up 4% overall, with growth among Hispanics up by 2%, among African-Americans by 8% and among Asians by 10%
• 79% of Hispanics and 78% of African-Americans have smartphones, compared to 82% of Asians and 68% of White viewers
• 5.2 million Hispanic TV households also have a tablet, compared to 4.2 million African-American TV households and 2.19 million Asian TV households
• 8.9 million Hispanic households have cable and Internet, compared to 8.35 million African-American households and 3.39 million Asian households.
The Hispanic population in the U.S. has an annual buying power of over $1 trillion and both the population and spending power is growing. Marketers should be moving ad dollars into Hispanic media and trying to target this growing population.
However, the Black population in the U.S. also has an annual buying power of over $1 trillion and some marketers are shifting dollars out of Black media in order to target Hispanics.
In 2013, marketers spend $8.3 billion on advertising in Hispanic media, according to Kantar Media data. A Nielsen report on African-American consumers released last fall reported that just $2.3 billion was spent in 2013 on TV, magazines, radio and the Internet that specifically focused on African-American audiences.
Some of the data gleaned from this most recent Nielsen report indicates that perhaps marketers should be reevaluating, and taking a closer look at African-American consumers
