- Author: Lisa M. Rawleigh
The statistics have prompted many Midwestern stations to switch to Spanish or bilingual programming, according to NBC.
"[Latinos are] the only growing population that exists in those markets, and there was nothing for them," Murray Hill Broadcasting director of advertising Josh Guttman said.
Cleveland was one of the most recent to convert a station, and as of Jan. 1, 87.7 FM La Mega WLFM-LV began playing Latino music. The Hispanic population has increased by 63 percent to about 10 percent of Cleveland's total population in Cleveland.
And a majority of that population includes radio-listeners, according to Nielsen statistics. Over 93 percent of the U.S.' Hispanic population, about 40 million people, listen to the radio for more than 12 hours a week, according to the Nielsen data.
But they aren't the only ones listening to the music on Spanish language stations.
"I honestly think music has no language," said Daniel Melendez, programming director of La Mega's parent company, TSJ Media, told NBC.
He said that a large portion of the audience may not understand Spanish, but that doesn't deter them from tuning in.
"We want everybody to listen and appreciate the station and be part of it, and that's very hard to do when you're talking about so many different types of music and cultures," Guttman said.
Even states like Wisconsin are seeing a growth in their Hispanic population.
"It's such a good way to be in touch with a high [portion] of the population," said Romilia Schlueter, an El Salvador native living in Madison, Wisconsin, who works at La Movida radio station.
The number of Spanish stations grew from about 500 to more than 800 in 2012, but some reports as recently as May estimate more than 1,000, according to NBC.
Source: Published originally on LatinPost as More FM Radio Stations Broadcast in Spanish in Response to Growing Latino Populations,July 20, 2014.
- Author: AllAccess.com
Additionally, the survey found that 29.8 percent of Hispanics listened to Internet radio in the past week, suggesting nearly the same amount are logging on weekly as they are in a typical 30 day period. While some terrestrial radio stations do better than others in terms of converting weekly listeners to loyal frequent listeners, it would appear that Internet radio is headed in a positive direction. With 91 percent of Hispanic monthly Internet radio visitors listening on a weekly basis, the preliminary data suggests that many Hispanics are becoming loyal to Internet radio listening.
Among all adults in the same top ten markets, 22.8 percent reported having listened to Internet radio within the past week, making Hispanics 35 percent more likely to be listening to Internet radio when compared to the general population.
The findings reflect the growing importance of Hispanics who now total 50.5 million or 16 percent of the total U.S. population.
Year-Over-Year Growth in Internet Radio
The figures represent a dramatic change in Hispanic Internet radio listening behavior from a year ago, when only 13.5 percent of Hispanics listened to PANDORA. As a result, the year over year growth rate is 142 percent for Hispanics accessing PANDORA.
Internet Radio Competitive In Top Hispanic Markets
The study further found that among top Hispanic radio markets, PANDORA and iHEARTRADIO remain competitive when compared to Hispanic-programmed local radio stations that heavily focus on the Hispanic market. In LOS ANGELES, 25.9 percent of the metro area's 3.9 million Hispanics reported having listened to PANDORA within the past week, a figure that represents more than 1 million weekly listeners and topping weekly listening of all Hispanic-programmed stations or radio clusters.
Combined with the fact that more than half of Hispanic consumers are now accessing web content via a smart phone or a connected device such as an iPAD, the findings suggest a narrowing digital divide between Hispanics and Caucasian consumers, thus making them more attractive to mobile and digital marketers.
It is estimated that by 2050, the number of Hispanics in the U.S. will grow to 132.8 million, thus strengthening the group's collective purchasing power, which is estimated to reach $1.4 trillion in 2013.
- Posted By: Myriam Grajales-Hall
- Written by: Felipe Korzenny
In Spring 2011 a Multicultural Marketing study at Florida State University asked consumers of different cultural backgrounds to tell us “In an average week about how many hours do you spend listening to Internet radio like Pandora or Last.fm in English” and also “in another language.”
We found that those consumers who are online are listening to Internet radio to a surprising extent. In English, African Americans and Hispanics who prefer to communicate in English are the most avid listeners. But when it comes to listening in another language the picture is interesting if not surprising.
Those who are more likely to use a language besides English seem to have some attachment to Internet radio in their native language. Hispanics who prefer Spanish are particularly keener on listening to Internet radio in Spanish. And remember, that besides Pandora, Last.fm, and others, there are radio outlets like Batanga.com that specialize in Spanish language and Latin music.
It is interesting to notice that there is a noticeable predilection for Internet radio among emerging minorities.
Online Latinos who prefer Spanish spend almost six hours per week listening to Internet radio, compared with about four hours for Hispanics who prefer English and African Americans. Asians spend about two and a half hours, and non-Hispanic Whites spend the least amount of time in this endeavor.
Internet radio as an emerging medium and a promising advertising vehicle, is being favored by Hispanics and emerging minorities to a larger extent than by the shrinking non-Hispanic White population.
Source: Marketing Trends in a New Multicultural Society, “The Multicultural Opportunity of Internet Radio” blog by Felipe Korzenny, Wednesday, August 31, 2011.