In 2011 with our national online
data set we summed the number of hours per week that different cultural groups
spend on different communication activities in English and in another language.
These included:
●
Listening to CD’s
●
Listening to the radio
●
Listening to MP’3’s on any device including an iPod or
mobile phone
●
Listening to music on television
●
Using social media like Facebook or Twitter
●
Listening to Internet radio like Pandora or Last.fm
●
Talking with friends
While these are not all the communication activities a
person can engage in, the list should be a good indicator of overall
communication activities by different cultural groups. The graph below reports
the total number of hours per week reported in the average by each of the
cultural groups in English and in another language. Clearly, the other language
used would be almost universally Spanish in the case of Hispanics.
The results are quite striking. Hispanics in general spend
more time per week in the communication activities measured, and those Latinos
who answered in Spanish (HS) reported spending more than 60 hours in media and
communication per week, almost double the amount of time than non-Hispanic
Whites (NHW). What is particularly salient is that the amount of time Latinos
who prefer Spanish engage in English language communication is almost the same
as non-Hispanic Whites. These Latinos are on “double communication duty.”
It is also important to emphasize that while Hispanics who
prefer Spanish spend at least half of their time with English media and
communication activities, they still spend the other half with English language
communications. So it is not one language that is dominant for these online
consumers, they split their communication world in two.
The sheer amount of time spent on communication by Latinos
in general should be of interest to marketers as these consumers should be
especially available to receive commercial messages. We have known for some
time that Hispanics are more welcoming of marketing messages, but this analysis
substantiates the amazing communication openness of Hispanic consumers.
Further, marketers that produce entertainment content should
find here substantiation of the enormous potential of this Latino audience.
Social media use and personal interactions not only serve for the reinforcement
of social ties but they also spread the word about marketing efforts.
In this case as in others we have reported earlier, we find
that Hispanics and minorities in general tend to be more communicative than
their non-Hispanic White counterparts. This should give some food for thought
to marketers who think that their future still resides in the so called
“general market.”
The data for this study was collected during March 2011.
This online sample was comprised of 500 respondents per segment, for a total of
2,500, based on quotas by gender, age, and geographic location. DMS Insights
managed the sample and data collection and they graciously contributed their
effort to the academic program of the Center for Hispanic Marketing
Communication at Florida State University. Melanie Courtright, previously with
DMS Insights championed this effort. She is now with Research Now and continues
to support our research. This study was conducted by the faculty and students
of the graduate Multicultural Marketing Communication course offered by FSU.