Hispanic consumers are not only the fastest-growing demographic in the U.S., they’re also trendsetters in digital, leading the growth in device ownership and online usage. Nearly three out of four Hispanics (72%) already owned smartphones as of Q3 2013, and according to Nielsen’s Digital Consumer Report, about half (49%) planned to upgrade or replace their mobile handset in the next six months, compared with just 30 percent of consumers overall. Hispanics are also twice as likely to plan to buy tablets (15%) in the next six months, showing that this demographic is poised to continue expanding its digital influence in the next few years.
Hispanics own more gadgets and spend a longer amount of time using their digital devices on average. With Hispanics owning smartphones at a higher rate overall, their data usage is 16 percent higher than the average mobile consumer. In fact, they use nearly a gigabyte (962 MBs) of 3G/4G data per month on their mobile bills.
At least part of this higher usage comes from social media, as 95 percent of Hispanic smartphone owners used social sites and apps in July 2013 (23 million Hispanics). Hispanics also make up a growing share of mobile shoppers, accounting for nearly one in eight U.S. consumers who use their smartphones and tablets to shop. And with smartphones becoming the primary screen for many young adults, it’s little surprise that 10 million Hispanics watch video on their mobile phones.
In addition to growing their mobile usage, Hispanics have rapidly adopted multi-screen video viewing into their daily routines. While Hispanics account for 47 million of the traditional TV viewers in the U.S., they’re increasingly spending time watching video on digital devices, having added two more hours on average of online and mobile video viewing since 2011. The average Latino spends more than eight hours viewing online videos each month, which is more than 1.5 hours longer than the U.S. average in Q3 2013. Add the higher rates of mobile video viewing and time spent using game consoles, and it’s easy to see how this demographic is driving growth in digital media already and for the foreseeable future.
