Chris Ryan | Ojo Images | Getty Images
Audiences for Spanish-language television are growing, and advertisers are taking notice.
Experts say the television viewership of the U.S. Hispanic population has increased significantly over the past few years, making them one of the most valuable demographics for media companies and advertisers. And as these consumers diversify the ways they consume programming and other content, specialized advertising targeting them is on the rise, with top networks like Telemundo and Univision attracting more attention and ad spend.
Hispanic consumers now make up about 20% of the U.S. population and have more than $4.1 trillion in purchasing power, according to Nielsen. The Hispanic population accounted for about 70% of the overall increase in the U.S. population from 2022 to 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Population growth is “leading and defining” modern media consumption, said Stacey de Armas, senior vice president of inclusive insights at Nielsen.
“Hispanics are an audience that is moving beyond or outside of the linear TV model,” de Armas told CNBC. “But this transition isn’t about moving away from television or TV content. It’s about where it’s distributed and where it’s consumed.”
According to the Nielsen report, Hispanic consumers lead in streaming consumption, accounting for nearly 56% of total TV viewing time, compared to just 46% for consumers in other regions. While Nielsen notes that traditional terrestrial TV viewership is declining overall, streaming and other distribution platforms are far surpassing broadcast and cable, and de Armas said Hispanic consumers are at the forefront.
As the population tends to get younger, he said, Latino viewers often consume content on the go while maintaining strong loyalty to the brands and networks that provide their favorite content.
“Hispanic television viewers overall, and Spanish-dominant viewers in particular, still have a strong connection to broadcast television, but they also have a very strong connection to streaming content overall,” de Armas said.
The report found that Hispanic viewers spend more time. YouTube, Netflix and disney than the rest of the population.
New data from iSpot shows that the top Spanish-language networks in the third quarter were Univision, which saw a 10.2% year-over-year increase in household ad impressions, and Telemundo, which saw a 7.6% year-over-year increase in impressions.
Telemundo reported in a report released Monday in collaboration with McKinsey & Company that Latinos have much higher-than-average spending power and are 14% more interested in digital media and streaming indexes.
And when it comes to spending on sports, which remains a big driver for media companies and advertisers, Latino fans spend 50% more than non-Latinx fans, adjusting for income.
“On the field, in the stands and on every screen, Latinos are an integral part of the future of American sports fans,” said Monica Gil, Telemundo’s chief administrative and marketing officer. “As the McKinsey report confirms, Latinos are driving one-third of the industry’s growth, spending more, streaming more, and engaging more than ever before.”
The NFL, the most valuable and profitable sports league in the United States, is also chasing Spanish-speaking audiences, as part of bringing a wider range of streamers into the sport and tapping into Hispanic viewers. The league expanded on those efforts late last month when it announced Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny would headline next year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
According to the Latino Donor Collaborative, Bad Bunny has been the most streamed artist in the world for the past three years, and this year’s Super Bowl could see a significant increase in streaming numbers.
Brands are also noticing that growth. On Wednesday, ad-supported streaming platform Fawesome announced it is expanding its Spanish-language content partnerships to reflect demand from the public.
“This initiative marks a major milestone in improving our content offering to one of the fastest growing streaming demographics across our platforms,” ​​said David Di Lorenzo, senior vice president of content acquisitions and partnerships at Fawesome’s parent company Future Today.
Expand your advertising reach
As the population has grown and interacted with different forms of media, advertisers have also become involved.
According to iSpot, Spanish-language programming now accounts for 4.7% of TV ad reach, up from 4.4% in the third quarter of last year, driven by Univision’s growth. Univision announced that its streaming platform ViX has experienced double-digit year-over-year growth, reaching more than 10 million global subscribers. However, the network is currently in a contract dispute with YouTube TV, which dropped its Spanish-language network earlier this month.
A report from advertising data firm EDO found similar growth, noting that Spanish-language TV had 30% higher ad engagement than English-language TV with more than 1 million ad airings and more than $2 billion in spending.
Its growth spanned all genres, from entertainment to news to live sports.
“Our data shows how powerful Spanish-language television can drive engagement and consideration, and help brands grow with this important audience,” EDO CEO Kevin Krim said in a statement.
Experts say growing with your audience will be crucial. EDO’s report points to the strength of culturally resonant campaigns, including: walmartThe back-to-school ad featuring Stephanie Beatriz outperformed the department store prime-time average by 96%.
Nielsen’s de Armas said Hispanic viewers are also leaning into content production, creating an environment in which they are not represented.
“Latinos don’t see themselves in these spaces and they don’t hear the conversations they want to hear, so they’re creating content that reflects a lot of that,” de Armas said. “It’s actually a bit of a white space, but it’s a huge opportunity for brands that want to interact with Hispanic consumers about their products and services.”
But increased advertising and media consumption by Hispanic consumers is also not new, de Armas said. Although their numbers have recently hit record highs, the population has been at the forefront of transforming the broader environment for much longer, she said.
“We have to look at this audience through the lens of just being a trendsetter, where this community is consistently leading the way in digital adoption and new ways of consuming content,” de Armas said.
This opinion was echoed by Christopher Chavez, director of the Center for Latin American Studies and advertising professor at the University of Oregon.
Chavez said he feels like this market is “constantly being discovered” with similar conversations throughout the past few decades.
“Every time there’s a big demographic change in terms of the census, people seem to start looking at the purchasing power side of it,” he says. “But I think a lot of advertisers are interested in that market.”
Still, he said he was surprised that the lack of representation in mainstream media and politics did not reflect the rapid growth of the population.
Chavez said the “strong antipathy” toward Latinos in the political environment is in stark contrast to their economic growth, compounded by political uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and recent raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Advertising is, at best, a distortion of reality, but there is also a consensus that the world we see in advertising reflects, to some extent, the outside world,” Chavez said. “I think we’re getting closer to that moment, and we probably always have been, but especially for Latin Americans, the world of advertising is not quite aligned with the real world. The lived experiences of many Latin Americans are not reflected in advertising.”
