Forrester Research: Hispanics represent "dream segment" for advertisers

Forrester Research released a report entitled "Hispanic Consumers Offer Opportunities in a Recession." This report, as well as comments from Gisela Girard, chairman Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA), were cited in an article where Forrester Research Analyst Tamara Barber called the Hispanic population a "dream segment" for advertisers.

Why a "dream segment?"

Because of their growing buying power, their "economic optimism," and their loyalty to companies that woo them, she said. And, in a down economy, smart advertisers use ads "to build and maintain brand loyalty through relevance."

Number of Hispanic TV homes continues to outpace general market

Hispanic TV homes will show a 2.3% increase for the 2009-2010 TV season, to 12.95 million, according to Nielsen Co. in a MediaPost article. The entire U.S. TV home population will grow 0.3%, African-American TV homes grow 0.3% , and Asian TV homes show a 0.8% increase.

Total Hispanic TV viewers will climb 2.4% to 44.3 million; African-American viewers will be at 37.5 million, a 1.3% gain; and Asian TV viewers will stay the same versus a year ago, at 14.5 million, the article reports.

With the exception Hispanic TV and cable, all 19 media segments monitored by the ad-tracking research service posted declines

So, says an article in MediaWeek. With advertisers collectively cutting budgets by more than $10 billion the first 6 months of the year, the only bright spots were Hispanic TV and cable, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. Specifically, Spanish-language cable TV inched up 0.6 percent to $140 million, the article reports.