Total political ad spending on Spanish-language media accounted
for only 6.2% of the total political ad spend pie in 10 key states, or $47.2
million out of a total of $763 million, although Hispanic voters made up over
10% of the electorate.
That was among the findings of a study of political ad
spending in those states by Kantar Media for a report, Speak Our Language,
issued by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) on Friday.
The chamber was not happy with the disparity, pointing that
that came "despite the pivotal role Hispanic voters played in the 2012
election."
The study looked at political spending from Jan. 1 through
Nov. 6, 2012, in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico,
Nevada, New York, Texas and Virginia. It did not break out the spending by
category -- TV, radio, online, print, etc.
The winner and still-President Barack Obama and his
supporters did spend more than there opponent on Spanish-language media, $12.5
million or over 20% more than the $10.3 million Mitt Romney and his supporters
invested in the space. The overwhelming majority of that spending came in five
markets -- Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, Orlando and Tampa -- with Miami alone
getting over $8 million of that spending.
The president also got more bang for his buck, getting
15,355 ads almost twice those of Romney at 8,697.
Javier Palomarez, president and CEO of the USHCC, said in
announcing the study that there is no right
level of spending on Spanish-language, media, but suggested this was the wrong
one. "From the beginning it was clear Hispanic voters would play a pivotal role
this election. Indeed, Time Magazine
ran its first ever Spanish-language cover to emphasize how important the
Hispanic voter would be," he said, "yet neither party seems to have
fully gotten the message. Investment in Spanish-language advertising is a mere
fraction of what it should be."
