By now it’s no secret that the Hispanic population of the U.S. is growing rapidly. According to the most recent census, there are more than 62 million Latinos in this country, representing nearly one in five Americans.
But there’s an important change within the Hispanic market that not many may know about.
More than half (55%) are now English dominant, preferring to consume content not in Spanish but in English. They’re bilingual and bicultural, proud of their Hispanic culture and roots. They just prefer English.
That group consists of Latinos who were born in the U.S., plus those who were brought here as children, at age 10 or younger.
Another 17% of Latinos in this country do not speak Spanish at all. These are the children of immigrants to the U.S. So, the English-dominant and English-only groups make up 72% of U.S. Hispanics.
Because of this trend, our client Mundo Hispanico, the largest certified-minority-owned bilingual and bicultural digital media platform in the country, announced it’s rebranding to MundoNow, to address that segment within the Latin market.
If you’re publishing stories, podcasts and video like MundoNow does, this is pretty important. Up until last year, Mundo, then known as Mundo Hispanico, published only in Spanish. Last year they added English language content, and it already makes up 20% of its page views.
With 72% of Latinos now preferring content in English, that leaves just 28% who prefer content in Spanish, and that number is shrinking. That trend poses a particular challenge to U.S. media outlets such as Univision and Telemundo, which are Spanish-only. The challenge is to grow their businesses while holding onto their Spanish-dominant audience.
For businesses that want to connect to the 62 million U.S. Hispanics — and if they want to grow, why would they not? — this shift is very important. It means their outreach and messaging must be in both English and Spanish, culturally friendly and appropriate.
Think about that. How many of your customers are Hispanic? How many of your employees? How many of the small businesses you work with are Hispanic-owned? You may not even know the answers, but it’s likely a sizable and growing number for each.
Let’s start a conversation about this. And let’s discuss how I and our team here at HBI can help you with your marketing and communications. You can reach me at: gespinosa@hopebeckham.com, or at 404-229-4540.