Posted by Elena del Valle on June 7, 2010
Click on image to enlarge
Photo: Tomas Rivera Policy Institute
In the past ten years the Hispanic vote has increased 64 percent from 5.9 million to 9.7 million voters. Compared to the overall population of over 300 million that may not seem like much. On the other hand, the vote of the general population has only increased 16 percent in that same time period. If that growth pattern continues in the decades to come Hispanic voters will have an increasingly loud voice in political matters.
What impact will Hispanic voters have on future elections? For years political candidates, seers, and pundits have speculated and tried to curry favor among Latinos. As the Latino population grows, especially United States born Hispanics and naturalized citizens and their children who are able to vote, this question will become more relevant. Lately, given the increasingly controversial immigration and immigration enforcement issues facing the nation and Latino’s strong stance on them Latino voter participation may be more noticeable than ever.
Last week, the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California (TRPI) released new data that addresses the potential importance of the Latino vote in some states. The Institute researchers examined data from the United States Census for the 2008 elections to estimate the percent of the Hispanic vote it would take to cause a 1 percent shift in the statewide election in the eight states with the largest Hispanic population. According to their analysis, a shift of 2.3 percent of Hispanic voters in California to another statewide party or candidate “results in that candidate increasing their percent of the overall vote and conversely decreasing the percentage of the vote for the opposing candidate.”
Harry Pachon, president, Tomas Rivera Policy Institute
“Various national surveys indicate that while sixty plus percent of the general electorate favor local immigration enforcement, close to three out of four Hispanics oppose such policies due to fear of discrimination,” said Harry Pachon, PhD, president, Tomás Rivera Policy Institute. “Will Hispanic voters remember this issue in the fall and associate it with parties or candidates when general elections are held in November?”
Founded in 1985, the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) mission is to advance informed policy on “key issues affecting Latino communities through objective and timely research contributing to the betterment of the nation.” TRPI is an affiliated research unit of the University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning, and Development, and is associated with the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University.
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 19, 2010
New York City is among the major cities drawing new white residents
Photos: New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Wikimedia
Many Americans may be surprised to know that since 2000 most of the growth in our country, 83 percent, has been driven by minorities. Researchers estimate that by the middle of this century today’s minorities will be the majority of the country’s population. Already the majority of children in large cities is from minorities. At the same time, there are significant changes in the demographic breakdown of our 100 largest urban and suburban areas. Although during the recession fewer people are moving than during normal times in the last years there have been population shifts worth noting.
I first heard about the trend toward urban center renewal during a podcast interview with Steve Bergsman, author, After The Fall: Opportunities and Strategies for Real Estate Investing in the Coming Decade earlier this year (see Listen to interview with Author Steve Bergsman) One of the changes in America’s demographic distribution in the coming years, he said, would be a renewed interest in urban centers and a falling out of favor of suburbs. According to Steve, this urban regrowth would be driven in part by the high price of gasoline. He has been proven right, at least in the major metropolitan areas of our country where many people are being drawn to live.
A recent Brookings Institution analysis of census data between 2000 and 2008 indicates many young whites are heading to the cities in search of employment, public transportation and city ambiance while Asians, Hispanics and blacks are increasingly found in the country’s suburbs. Although the suburbs are still identified as white for the first time a majority of racial and ethnic groups in large metropolitan areas lives outside the cities.
Washington D.C.’s white resident population grew 5 percentage points
The suburbs continue to be the home of Baby Boomers aged 55 to 64 and now claim a large percent of a less desirable demographic for marketers, the poor. Surprisingly, the suburbs are where the largest poor population in the country can be found. Of course, the changes do not affect all cities. According to May 9, 2010 The Associated Press article, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta gained the most whites (5 percentage points each) followed by New York, San Francisco, and Boston. Other cities in the white flight scope include Portland, Oregon, Raleigh, North Carolina and Austin, Texas.
The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., is dedicated to conducting research to advance three goals: “Strengthen American democracy; foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans and; secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system.”
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 17, 2010
Staff cuts not withstanding many media outlets have survived the transition from traditional formats to today’s multimedia mix. It may be that the new formats brought some changes for the better such as increased efficiency. For example, at some media outlets a single enterprising young journalist reports, produces and captures video footage for his or her story. And newspaper editors express satisfaction with the new technology oriented staff that have been brought on board in recent years and their willingness to try new things.
In spite of that future funding is a source of concern for many news executives when it comes to the long term viability of their media outlets, according to a recent study. Alternative funding options, including government financing, are not appealing for them and they worry about their outlet’s survival over the next decade unless they are able to figure out a viable source of funding to replace the old business model.
Two thirds of survey respondents had serious reservations about receiving government subsidies and 78 percent were not interested in accepting funding from interest groups. About 50 percent were worried about funds from government tax credits and more 33 percent had doubts about private donations.
Online most of the media efforts are focused, according to the participants in the survey, on traditional sources of revenue such as display and banner ads. These remain the main area of effort and the one survey respondents had the highest hopes would yield results. Another area under consideration was revenue from products outside of news.
The results of the survey, conducted by Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism in association with the American Society of News Editors (ASNE) and the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), were released last month.
“Our mantra this year is experiment and fail quickly,” said a newspaper news executive who participated in the survey. “Don’t be afraid of change and don’t stick with something too long if it doesn’t work.”
“Outside funding options are a bad idea overall,” said a broadcast news executive survey respondent. “They are being used to ‘save’ old models of journalism that are no longer economically viable and will die out over time no matter what.”
Interestingly, there were significant differences between the attitudes of survey respondents from newspaper-based newsrooms and those of broadcast outlets including their view of journalism’s future. Broadcast news executives were more pessimistic with almost twice as many respondents who viewed journalism as headed in the wrong direction compared to those who thought it is headed in the right direction. Newspaper news executives were slightly more optimistic.
Many executives in marketing, advertising and public relations may believe the future of media is closely linked to their career future and seek an understanding of the possible direction of print and broadcast media to better serve their clients and their professional futures.
The researchers received responses from 353 journalism executives from the ASNE or RTDNA membership lists after inviting them to participate in the online survey by email between December 2009 through January 2010. Of the 353 news executives 36 percent were ASNE members and 24 percent were RTDNA members.
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 5, 2010
An iPhone
Photos: Apple, Motorola
Once upon a time there was print media. Then came radio and television. The Internet changed our world and marketing along with it. Now we can listen to some radio programs and watch television shows online whenever we want. The media have fragmented.
That’s before even mentioning ethnic media outlets. Or, dare I say it, the newly available and much anticipated iPad which threatens to change book and magazine publishing, among other things. At the same time, there is a device nearly everyone has and carries with them most of the time, cellphones. Mobile phones have become ubiquitous in our country and in many parts of the world, presenting a wide open marketing window of opportunity.
By the end of this year, there will be 5 billion mobile phone subscriptions world wide, according to a February 18, 2010 The Economist online article. Many mobile phone conversations are lasting longer than they did in the past. Ten years ago cellphone users spoke for an average 174 minutes a month, according to the GSM Association, an industry group. That average had reached 288 minutes by September 2009.
A Motorola Droid
Some places have chattier users that others. For example, people in Puerto Rico talk the most, 1,866 minutes according the GSM Association. This may be because cheap plans include unlimited calls to the American mainland where family and friends are often based. On the continent, Americans are using 835 minutes (including incoming minutes paid for by the subscriber). Others among at the top of the list of heavy users are Hong Kong, China, Uzbekistan, Singapore, India, Canada, Israel, and Belarus. The three lowest users? Sao Tome and Principe, Cambodia and Philippines.
Who is using mobile phones in America? It seems everyone old enough to use one has a phone or some people have more than one. In the three month average ending in February 2010, 234 million Americans 13 years of age and older were mobile subscribers, according to comScore MobiLens data released last month. Since there are just over 300 million people living in the United States including babies and children, 234 million is a high percentage of the population that is capable and old enough to have a phone.
Although the comScore study does not breakdown use by ethnic group, US Hispanic Use of Telecommunication Services 2006 – 2011, a market research report by The Insight Research Corporation, examines mobile phone use by blacks, Hispanics and Asians in the United States. That organization’s researchers estimated that one out of every three dollars spent on telecommunications services in 2009 would be purchased by domestic ethic communities.
A March 2009 Scarborough Research report indicates Hispanics like cellphones, are more likely than the average person to have a cellphone, and outspend many others on cellular usage. Members of this market segment also tend to use the phone’s functions beyond talking, often taking advantage of picture taking, text messaging, email, Internet access and downloading applications.
Posted by Elena del Valle on April 21, 2010
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Photo, chart: comScore
According to a study released last month, people who watch television online are young (54 percent are 35 years old and under), likely to watch programs where and when they choose and more tolerant of ads than regular television viewers. Study participants were asked questions designed to assess their tolerance of advertising (based on one minute increments from 0-15 minutes) when watching one hour of TV programming on the Internet. Analysts determined the highest tolerance for online TV watchers was between six and seven minutes per hour which is much higher than the four minutes per hour of ads delivered online as part of TV content.
Although survey respondents thought sound and picture quality were better on television, most participants in the study, 75 percent, said they choose to watch TV programming online because it is possible to watch it wherever they want (within the United States as many televisions programs are not available online in foreign countries); 74 percent said they do so because they can watch the shows whenever they want; 70 percent preferred watching television programs online because of the stop and play option; and 67 because there is less commercial interference.
Tania Yuki, director, online video and cross-platform product at comScore
“As cross-platform TV viewing becomes more widely adopted, it is important to understand the driving forces behind this shift in consumer behavior if we are to effectively monetize this emerging medium,” said Tania Yuki, comScore director of online video and cross-platform product, in a press release. “While some analysts have suggested that the shift to online video reflects a consumer desire to view fewer ads, our research suggests that in many cases online TV viewers actually have a higher tolerance for advertising messages than they are currently receiving. This finding, of course, suggests there’s advertising revenue being left on the table and that media companies have not yet extracted full value out of the online medium.”
Young TV viewers among the survey respondents said they are most likely to watch television programs at the time of their choosing; only 35 percent of viewers age 18-24 (25-34 year olds behaved similarly) said they watched episodes live; 42 percent said they watched programs at a different time within one week of the original air date and 23 percent said they watched the programs more than one week after the original air date.
Researchers in the comScore study distinguished three segments of television programming viewers. Those who only watched television, TV-only viewers, (65 percent); those that watched television programs on television and online, cross-platform viewers (29 percent); and those who watched televisions programs only online, online-only viewers (6 percent). Study analysts compared the attitude differences between the three groups. The study, based on a survey of more than 1,800 U.S. Internet users who watch originally scripted TV content, was first presented by Tania Yuki at the ARF Re:think conference on March 23, 2010.
According to a comScore spokesperson the study did not include ethnic profiling. However, independent data suggests Hispanics skew young as a demographic group and over index in the use of the internet, making it possible, even likely, the findings of the study apply to Hispanics who watch television programs online.
Posted by Elena del Valle on April 7, 2010
Photo: AdAge
For six weeks Laura Rich researched early adopters of digital technology focusing on their use and purchase of mobile devices, software, computers and televisions. She believes they play a pivotal role for companies introducing new products into the marketplace and highlights that this group of white men, mostly, “can be identified by what they do, not who they are.” Although she identified studies that indicate Latinos often take advantage of digital technologies at rates higher than the general market; what matters more than their race and gender and where they work (often technology companies), she points out in a white paper, is their use of information, and the way they buy products and share their opinions with like minded others.
These opinions can affect the acceptance or rejection of a new product into the market. Aware that their opinions matter these first users of technology products want to be heard by marketers and product makers, she says. Win their favor and you gain an advantage; risk their displeasure and prepare for the consequences, she points out illustrating with examples from well known companies such as Apple, Google, and AT&T.
The staff writer at AdAge shared her findings in Shiny New Things: What Digital Adopters Want, How to Reach Them, and Why Every Marketer Should Pay Attention, a white paper about what would be “most relevant to marketers wanting to reach this crowd.” She concluded early adopters are “opinion leaders” who play a key role in marketing. They are highly educated, have a higher social status and earn higher incomes than traditional consumers. They are often risk takers with high standards for products and companies and are more critical than regular consumers. Many are status seekers who value information more than most other consumers.
Based on her research, she concluded that thanks to the boom in social media, early adopters have a high potential to influence products, especially gadgets and online brands, she describes as “screen power.” Their influence is, she believes, is becoming evident in mega social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
According to her findings, 62 percent of early adopters will consider upgrading their mobile phone when a new model is released; 68 percent may have purchased three or more computers in the past two years; and 58 percent are more likely to have purchased three or more flat-screen TV’s in the past two years.
In the white paper, she quoted findings from Pew Internet and American Life and Yahoo! studies that outline digital technology use by ethnic groups. A Yahoo! study indicates Hispanics over index in their adoption of technology and media consumption compared to the general population.
A study by Yahoo!, Telemundo and Experian Simmons Research, she mentions, indicates more than two thirds of respondents had been online for more than five years; 90 percent have a cell phone (compared to 79 percent of the general population); 66 like to send text messages (compared to 38 percent of the general population; although only 61 percent had taken photos with a cell phone (compared to 79 percent of the general population.
Posted by Elena del Valle on March 31, 2010
Marketing Doesn’t Get More Direct than This
By Ricardo Quayat
Executive Creative Director, Rauxa Roja
Ricardo Quayat, executive creative director, Rauxa Roja
Photos: Rauxa Roja
Hispanic culture has always centered on “conversation and community” – that sense of belonging to something bigger than oneself. Combine this with the fact that more than 23 million Hispanics are online (more than half the Hispanic population)1, and it’s easy to see why social networking, as an extension of this community-centric way of thinking, is experiencing its largest audience boon within this segment. Ethnic minorities in fact visit social networking sites more frequently than non-Hispanic Whites 2, with Hispanics leading the way. Younger than the general population, and on the move in socioeconomic terms, this emerging market has the potential to redefine mainstream products and services through a viable and rapidly growing connection to social media.
Click here to read the complete article Reshaping Hispanic Marketing through Social Media
Posted by Elena del Valle on March 24, 2010
Food product labels include a list of ingredients
Photo: HispanicMPR.com
Can you tell which of the following four sweeteners, fructose, dextrose, sucralose and acesulfame potassium, is natural and which is artificial? If you know that the first two are natural sugars and the other two are artificial sugars you may be among 4 percent of surveyed respondents who knew the answer. The other 96 percent were not be able to identify the difference. Knowing what ingredients are contained in a product only helps, some advocates of enhanced food products labeling argue, if consumers know what the ingredients are.
If, like in this artificial versus natural sweeteners example, they don’t know a natural sweeter from any other ingredient listing the ingredients may offer few insights when consumers are making purchasing decisions based on nutritional content. Experts point out that often consumers have heard of the brand names like Equal but do not know the generic name like aspartame.
The confusion may be aggravated by the significant increase in sweeteners since labeling regulations began. Where there used to be five sweeteners there are now 27, according to a recent The Palm Post article. In 2005, the Sugar Association filed a petition with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requesting a labeling change to make it clear to buyers when there are artificial sweeteners in a product. A study, conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by the Sugar Association, indicates most parents of children 18 and younger prefer to avoid artificial sweeteners for their children.
With the high incidence of diabetes, obesity and chronic diseases related to dieting some believe truth and clarity in labeling are more important than ever. Among Latinos many of whom are at high risk of diabetes (see Exercise specialist, researcher explore diabetes issues relevant to Latinos) the issue may be aggravated by cultural practices and preferences and labeling, especially of chemical sounding and unfamiliar ingredients, may do little to help. That is not even taking into account Spanish dominant Latinos who have difficulty reading labels in English.
Executives at the Center for Science in the Public Interest are so convinced of the public confusion about labels that in December 2009 they sent a 150-page report, Food Labeling Chaos: the Case for Reform, to the FDA about false and misleading food labels. The report emphasizes three problem areas: the Nutrition Facts Panel, ingredient labels and false and misleading health-related claims.
They highlight a cereal (Kashi, owned by Kellogg) that promises “healthy arteries” from green tea ingredients although there is no FDA approval of such a relationship (between green tea and healthy arteries); an English muffin brand (Thomas’ Hearty Grains English Muffins) that touts whole grain although the main ingredient is “unbleached enriched wheat flower;” and fruit juices (Gerber Graduates Juice Treats) with pictures of fruits on the labels that are not contained in the juices.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest dual missions are to “conduct innovative research and advocacy programs in health and nutrition, and to provide consumers with current, useful information about their health and well-being.”
Posted by Elena del Valle on March 10, 2010
In the last few years, Americans (and others abroad) have witnessed the slow and painful breakdown of traditional print and broadcast media as the financial model that held up the media outlets became obsolete and a new one was not embraced well, quickly, efficiently, replaced with a better one or all of the above. While we wait for the dust to settle we rely on the media outlets and the journalists that remain to fill the large shoes of the many that are gutted or gone. That is a tall order. Now that they are teetering on the edge of disappearing, at least in some ways, many people have begun to realize how much they had come to rely on that news reporting in their daily lives.
Newspaper ad revenue took a nose dive a long time ago and doesn’t seem to be coming up for air any anytime soon. The industry had a 23 percent drop in ad revenue in the last two years, according to the State of the News Media 2009, a report about media in the United States. The researchers who prepared the report concluded that 20 percent or one of every five journalists working for newspapers in 2001 was no longer around by the end of 2008. They anticipated that journalist losses would be the worst in 2009. Other sources indicate this was the case.
In the newspaper segment alone more than 40,000 newspaper jobs were lost in 2009 and 21,000 were lost in 2008, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics quoted in a December 2009 article by Joe Strupp of Editorandpublisher.com. That loss was more than any single year in the past 10 years. The experience and contacts of dozens upon dozens of senior journalists may be disappearing before our very eyes. As of the end of 2009 many senior newspaper editors were no longer at their jobs, and in most cases no longer in the newspaper industry. Last year lone some of the losses included senior men and women from well known national and local publications such as USA Today, Newsday, The Star-Ledger, The Oregonian, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and The Washington Times.
As media became fragmented and media executives searched for ad revenue to survive many lost touch with their audience. Local television stations shed news staff, saw falling, or for the lucky ones, flat ratings; and lost more revenue, 7 percent in an election year, according to the 2009 media report. Network news ad revenue fell and ratings dropped as well. Ethnic media too, which had shown signs of growth in the past, is now floundering. In 2008, the only shining light was cable news and many of those ratings increases dropped after the elections.
Meanwhile, in spite of the traditional media’s past disdain for online venues the audience has embraced new media and online media sources with a vengeance. In 2008, traffic to the top 50 news sites increased 27 percent and the number of people seeking news online went up 19 percent in two years. That could be the solution, some thought, except that the ad revenue did not follow the audience. Although two years ago ad revenue online grew about 30 percent per year two years in a row the ad revenue on online news sites stopped growing and continued declining in print.
Although nobody seems to know for sure some estimates place the revenue decline in the news industry at double previous numbers in 2008, the most recent year for which data seems available. There are those who believe the loss in revenue was even worse in network television. Last year was expected to be by far the worst all around.
The State of the News Media 2009 was the sixth edition of the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism annual report on the state of the news media in the United States. Among the more than three dozen readers and several researchers the 2008 analysis covered 69,942 stories in an effort to find out what news media covered that year. The total was divided into 7,350 newspaper stories, 6,539 online stories, 19,796 network television stories, 21,892 cable news stories, and 14,365 radio stories.
Posted by Elena del Valle on March 1, 2010
Click on image to enlarge
Photo: Census Bureau
Hoping to count every man, woman and child, including many whose first language is not English, in the country in its decennial tally the Census Bureau will mail out 120 million forms starting in March. The 2010 Census questionnaire will be available in six languages: English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. For the first time, the government entity will mail out 13 million bilingual, English-Spanish forms as part of the census taking effort mandated by the U.S. Constitution.
In an effort to allay the fears and overcome the language barrier for Spanish speakers living in the United States, the Census Bureau recently announced 2010.census.gov/espanol/, a Spanish language section of the census website. According to a spokesperson at the Census Bureau, the organization’s website is in English and Spanish is the only other language. The Spanish language pages are designed to inform “the more than 34 million Spanish-speaking people about the 2010 Census and to demonstrate to the Hispanic community that participation is easy, important and safe,” according to a press release distributed last month.
Robert M. Groves, director, Census Bureau
“Every decade, the census has to adjust how it reaches out to a diverse and growing population. These new and interactive Web pages are just such an example of how the Census Bureau is continuing to respond to new challenges,” said Robert M. Groves, director, Census Bureau. “Our hope is that visitors can relate and understand the importance of their participation in the 2010 Census and how they personally can have an impact on the well-being of their communities. Our Spanish language 2010 Census Web site demonstrates the Census Bureau’s commitment to ensuring a fair and accurate count of the Hispanic population. The 2010 Census is easy, important and safe, and we urge everyone to make sure they are counted.”
In addition to the Spanish version of the 2010 website, the Census Bureau plans a one-page description and a user guide explaining how to answer the census questionnaire in 59 languages. While the 2000 Census paid advertising campaign was in 17 languages, the 2010 Census plans to include 28 languages in its advertising campaign.
