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Hispanic interest in the Internet has peaked in specific areas.
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Chatting, Home Repair Are Hot Spots for Latinos Online
July 14, 2005
By Cara Marcano
Hispanic consumers with Internet access at home are more likely than their general-market counterparts to use instant messaging and chat rooms, and are increasingly using the Web to print out coupons for not only big-ticket items but also for basic household consumer goods.
That is according to the not-yet-released AOL Latino/Roper Public Affairs 2005 U.S. Hispanic Cyberstudy, which will be available on Monday.
Moreover, Hispanics online, it seems, love any and every bit of information on home repair. Some 41 percent of Hispanics planning on home improvements said they go online first and print out what they want to do and take that into the store with them, rather than going into the store cold, the study says.
"Having a home is part of the American dream, and the Internet is allowing Hispanic consumers to not only find their homes but also remodel it and build it to suit their expectations," says Peter Blacker, vice president of international and multicultural for AOL Media Networks.
In addition, Hispanics interviewed for the study also were also more likely not just to study and research mortgages and interest rates online, but to actually apply for a mortgage or home equity loan over the Internet.
"For Hispanics, you feel like if you go into the bank and ask someone to run the numbers, you feel committed," says Gary Bonilla vice president of strategy for New York-based Hispanic advertising agency winglatino. "We Hispanics feel sometimes like if we talk to someone at the Gap for 10 minutes, we have to buy that shirt. I think it's a way for Hispanics to get the information without feeling committed," he says.
Some 59 percent of the 615 Hispanics surveyed via telephone for the study, conducted from Jan. 10, 2004, to Feb. 14, 2005, said they engage in instant messaging, compared with only 48 percent of general-market consumers online who say they tap into that technology.
The same proved true for chat rooms and message boards, with 28 percent of Hispanics surveyed saying they visit chat rooms and message boards regularly or occasionally, 12 percentage points higher than the 16 percent of general-market consumers who reported doing so.
Hispanics are as likely as non-Hispanics to access the Internet through a broadband connection, the survey says. Sixty percent of Hispanics use a high-speed connection versus 50 percent of general-market Web surfers. That may be because many Hispanics have international calling needs and other specific consumer characteristics that make broadband a more necessary and attractive option for them, Blacker says.
According to the study, which was commissioned by AOL Latino and conducted by Roper Public Affairs, a research company owned by NOP World, Hispanics are more likely to listen to music online and download music files, information marketers should be taking into account when planning campaigns, Blacker says.
Fifty-five percent of Hispanics surveyed said they listen to music online, compared with 41 percent of the general-market population. Approximately 37 percent are downloading music, compared with 25 percent of the general market.
But the Internet outlook isn't so rosy for all industries, other non-AOL research shows. Companies seeking to reach the sector might be interested to know that just 10 percent of Hispanics say they use the Internet as a media source, according to a study of 780 Hispanics conducted for The California Endowment in April and May.
In contrast, 35 percent of Asian Americans visit ethnic media sites, while 76 percent of Hispanics said they do not use the Internet for media consumption at all.
"I don't like to compare us to the Asian market, where technology is such an ingrained part of the culture," counters Bonilla. "You have to look at where we were even three years ago, and that growth is undeniable."
But marketers still can take advantage of the Internet as a space that's not reaching out to Hispanic consumers as extensively as it could be.
"We also see some gaps," says Diana Pollich, associate vice president of Roper public affairs. "Hispanics have told us they would spend more time online if there was more info available to them."
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