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Hispanic Television Viewing Trends
"Television is the medium of choice for Hispanics, regardless of the language they learned first" according to American Demographics. Hispanics make media choices based on demographic and life style considerations. Additional components affecting media choices include:
- Spanish language proficiency and preference.
- Level of acculturation into the general market lifestyle.
- Television viewing patterns vary greatly by the three main language differences: English Dominant/Spanish Dominant/Bilingual.
The table below outlines two of the key types of television viewing households and their respective language stratifications as compared to the total population:
HOUSEHOLD DISTRIBUTION BY LANGUAGE: |
Langauge |
Total Hispanic |
Cable Plus |
Non-Cable |
Only/Mostly Spanish |
37.8 |
34.5 |
46.3 |
Spanish/English Equal |
27.8 |
28.9 |
24.9 |
Only/Mostly English |
34.4 |
36.6 |
28.8 |
Source: Nielsen Media Research
SHARE OF TOTAL TV VIEWING:
When looking at total share of television viewing, the various media vehicles are:
English Language Broadcast, English Language Cable, English Language Independents, Spanish Language Cable, Spanish Language Independents and Spanish Language Broadcast. Viewing shares vary by demo and language preference. The three key viewing universes are:
- Total Hispanic TV HH’s – All Hispanic households including Bi-lingual, Spanish Dominant and English Dominant.
- Hispanic Cable Households – Hispanic households that subscribe to cable programming via analog, digital or DBS distribution systems.
- Spanish Dominant Households – Households where Spanish is the language of preference.
Outlined below are the viewing shares within the Hispanic audience by demo,
segmented by these three key viewing universes:
TOTAL HISPANIC HOUSEHOLD HIGHLIGHTS: |
Total Households |
K2-11 |
T12-17 |
W18-49 |
M18-49 |
A18+ |
HH |
English Language Broadcast |
18.3% |
30.3% |
26.7% |
22.5% |
24.4% |
25.0% |
English Language Cable |
43.5% |
39.0% |
21.7% |
28.3% |
25.5% |
31.3% |
English Language Independents |
2.1% |
2.0% |
2.1% |
2.7% |
2.2% |
2.3% |
Spanish Language Cable |
2.2% |
1.8% |
1.8% |
2.8% |
2.1% |
2.0% |
Spanish Language Independents |
3.6% |
2.8% |
4.1% |
5.6% |
4.5% |
3.7% |
Spanish Language Broadcast |
30.4% |
24.0% |
43.5% |
38.1% |
41.3% |
35.6% |
HISPANIC CABLE HIGHLIGHTS: |
Cable Households |
K2-11 |
T12-17 |
W18-49 |
M18-49 |
A18+ |
HH |
English Language Broadcast |
9.9% |
20.1% |
21.2% |
19.2% |
21.0% |
20.1% |
English Language Cable |
60.3% |
54.6% |
33.4% |
40.8% |
36.4% |
42.9% |
English Language Independents |
1.1% |
.9% |
1.3% |
1.5% |
1.5% |
1.5% |
Spanish Language Cable |
3.1% |
2.4% |
2.7% |
4.0% |
3.0% |
2.7% |
Spanish Language Independents |
1.8% |
1.8% |
2.1% |
3.2% |
2.6% |
2.4% |
Spanish Language Broadcast |
23.8% |
20.4% |
39.3% |
31.4% |
35.5% |
30.4% |
SPANISH DOMINANT HOUSEOLD HIGHLIGHTS: |
|
K2-11 |
T12-17 |
W18-49 |
M18-49 |
A18+ |
HH |
English Language Broadcast |
11.4% |
16.9% |
9.5% |
9.0% |
8.4% |
10.6% |
English Language Cable |
32.6% |
25.6% |
11.6% |
15.8% |
13.6% |
18.5% |
English Language Independents |
2.2% |
1.8% |
1.9% |
2.7% |
2.1% |
2.4% |
Spanish Language Cable |
3.4% |
4.1% |
2.9% |
4.2% |
3.3% |
3.3% |
Spanish Language Independents |
4.9% |
4.6% |
6.7% |
8.1% |
7.2% |
6.2% |
Spanish Language Broadcast |
45.5% |
47.0% |
67.5% |
60.2% |
65.3% |
58.9% |
Source: Nielsen Media Research Custom Analysis (01/26/04 – 2/29/04)
English Broadcast: ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX,P AX , UPN, WB
English Language Cable: All measured ad-supported English language cable networks
Spanish Broadcast: Telemundo, Univision, Telefutura
Spanish Language Cable: Discovery en Espanol, Galavision, mun2, CNN Espanol, Fox Sports en Espanol and MTV Espanol, Canal Sur, Gol TV and VHUno.
ABOUT SPANISH LANGUAGE CABLE VIEWING:
There is a direct correlation between language and television viewing.
LANGUAGE STRATIFICATION AND CABLE TELEVISION VIEWING:
- English Dominants and Bilinguals are above average for watching any Cable Television or English Language Cable.
- Spanish Dominants and Bilinguals are above average for watching Spanish Language Cable.
- English Dominants are above average for watching Only English Language Cable and not Spanish Language Cable.
Spanish Language Cable has more hours of programming targeted for men, kids and youth than Spanish Language Broadcast.
Within all three universes (Spanish Dominant, Total and Cable), the W18-49 demo, has the lowest level of viewing to this medium as alternative programming has captured their attention. As current programming continues to evolve and new, more relevant programming outlets emerge, so will viewership to this demo.
Although in many cases, these networks are not fully distributed, they are still able to have viewing shares that range between 2 – 4 points against the total viewing options that are available to Hispanics. This number is considerably higher when you look at their share of Spanish language viewing options.
There is a very clear pattern of viewership to this medium:
The strongest level of viewing to Spanish Language Cable is within the Spanish Dominant households because this is considered another in-language viewing option. Share of viewing within this universe is higher by an average of 1.5 – 3 share points than those in Total Hispanic and Hispanic Cable Households. The second strongest viewing is found in Cable Households where they are looking for diversified viewing opportunities. Since 35% of this audience is Spanish Dominant coupled with 29% that is Bi-lingual, Spanish Language Cable is a viable option. The lowest share of viewing to Spanish Language Cable is within the Total Hispanic Household, this is due to the impact of English Dominants into this universe, which has the highest level of viewing to English language options. Currently, Hispanic Cable penetration is at 72.6%,as this number continues to reach critical mass, viewing shares will accelerate as well.
Viewership is tied to penetration and individual Spanish language cable network penetration numbers are increasing at a steady pace:
CABLE COVERAGE BY PERCENT OF HISPANIC HOUSEHOLDS: |
Network |
% of Hispanic Pop.
Quarter 4, 2002 |
% of Hispanic Pop.
Quarter 1, 2004 |
Growth |
Canal Sur |
9.1 |
12.7 |
39.6% |
Cine Latino |
9.7 |
13,9 |
43.3% |
CNN en Español |
10.2 |
13.7 |
34.3% |
Discovery en Español |
10.7 |
13.7 |
28.0% |
Fox Sports en Español |
20.7 |
26.6 |
28.5% |
Galavisión |
49.1 |
53.7 |
9.4% |
HBO Latino |
13.2 |
16.6 |
25.8% |
MTV en Español |
11.7 |
16.2 |
38.5% |
mun2 |
26.1 |
32.0 |
22.6% |
VH1 Uno |
0.0 |
4.0 |
n/a |
Gol TV |
0.0 |
7.0 |
n/a |
Source: Nielsen Media Research
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