Hispanics appear to be more responsive to digital advertising than non-Hispanics, per results [pdf] of a July 2012 study from Terra, conducted by comScore. This responsiveness ranges from brand recall to action: they are 80% more likely to say that they usually remember the brands they see advertised online, across all devices (20% vs. 16%), and 73% more likely to report having been motivated by an online ad to visit a retail store for the product or service advertised.
Online ads also spur visits to brand websites: 38% of Hispanics said that they are inclined to visit the website of a brand if its online advertising speaks to them, compared to 24% of the non-Hispanics surveyed.
Hispanics Take Notice of Mobile Ads
Data from Terra’s “2012 Hispanic Digital Consumer Study” indicates that 46% of Hispanics believe they are more likely to remember the brands they see advertised on their tablet than on offline media – compared to just 37% of non-Hispanics. Similarly, 38% of Hispanics believe they are more likely to remember the brands they see advertised on their smartphones, compared to 27% of non-Hispanics.
This engagement with ads on mobile devices comes amid other results from the study revealing that Hispanic adoption of smartphones has jumped from 43% in 2010 to 57% this year, while non-Hispanic adoption has risen by a relatively more modest 10% points, from 36% to 46%. According to recent Nielsen figures, though, 55% of US mobile subscribers own a smartphone, as of June 2012, with 2 in 3 new mobile phone purchases by Americans in the last 3 months being a smartphone instead of a feature phone.
Hispanic More Likely to Engage in Mobile Activities In-Store
Further data from the Terra and comScore report indicates that Hispanics are bringing their mobiles in-store and using them to make shopping a more social experience. One-quarter of the Hispanic survey respondents said they have texted or called friends and family about a product, compared to 18% of non-Hispanic respondents. Hispanic survey respondents were also more likely than their non-Hispanic counterparts to say they have sent a picture of a product to friends or family (23% vs. 17%), and shared information about a product via a social network (14% vs. 6%).
This preference for social retail experiences aligns with data released in April 2012 by Sensis and White Horse, which found that Hispanic smartphone owners who use their devices to help them shop in brick-and-mortar venues (“Hispanic mobile shoppers”) like to have company when they do so: almost 7 in 10 respondents to the survey said they prefer to shop with family members or friends when buying expensive items, while about half said they prefer to have companions when purchasing everyday items.
Other Findings:
- According to the Terra and comScore report, a greater proportion of Hispanics than non-Hispanics conducted research online in the past 6 months in 10 categories, including books and magazines, consumer electronics, jewelry and watches, and appliance and furniture.
- 36% of Hispanic respondents believe that brands that advertise on digital platforms are more innovative than those that advertise offline, compared to 20% of non-Hispanic respondents.
- 31% of the Hispanic respondents remember brands advertised on viral videos, almost twice the proportion of non-Hispanic respondents (16%).
- Hispanics spend less time on a weekly basis than non-Hispanics watching TV (8.3 hours vs. 10.9 hours), but more time on mobiles (4.1 hours vs. 3.6 hours). They also spend more time on the internet across all screens than watching TV (8.7 hours vs. 8.3 hours).
About the Data: The Terra data comes from a nationally representative sample of Hispanic and non-Hispanic consumers recruited from comScore’s online panel via email and pop-up survey invitations. The survey was fielded from February 29-March 14, 2012. The total sample size was 3,048, divided into 1,514 Hispanics and 1,534 non-Hispanics.
