TikTok and YouTube Key to Reaching the U.S. Hispanic Audience

Variety
Written By Gavin Bridge
Published June 16, 2023

Yet treating this diverse group as homogenous for strategic purposes will backfire immediately. There are many nuances to consider, including primary language spoken (English or Spanish), what generation American they are and region of origin (Latin America or the Caribbean)

New research from Chemistry Cultura, an ad agency specializing in this market, shows key strategies brands can employ to reach Hispanics — and a key one is to employ TikTok.

The “Latino Mosaic Study” found that one in five Hispanics say TikTok is where they most often learn about new products and services, close to double that for the general population. Once YouTube is included, the number swells to over a third of U.S. Hispanics using the two digital media platforms as their primary discovery source.

Changing content tastes also play a role in how to reach consumers, with different strategies necessary by generation. Chemistry Cultura’s findings reveal that Gen Z and Millennial Hispanics are most passionate about music, with sports the greatest for older Boomers and TV or movies for the generations in between.

Thus, if you’re looking for Gen Z Hispanics, running ads during music content on social media will likely be a smart strategy to maximize both attention and reach.

There’s a greater preference for content in English across entertainment formats, but this almost halves for music. In other words, Hispanic consumers generally are happy to watch TV shows and YouTube videos and read content in English, but this declines when it comes to music. Music can be seen as a key expression of keeping Hispanic culture alive, with the mainstream success of artists like Bad Bunny and J Balvin — who perform exclusively in Spanish — no doubt helping to solidify this.

While English is the preferred language for advertising, 41% said they’d prefer to hear ads in both English and Spanish or Spanglish. The advent of more precise targeting, especially in conjunction with algorithms studying user history and profile information, will help advertisers reach consumers with their language of choice.

Viewership of Spanish TV content wanes the longer one’s family has lived in the U.S., with 42% of firstgeneration Latinos saying they watch Spanish TV daily, contrasted with 19% of those who are third generation. That is also likely a function of age, as third generations will skew a little younger (and thus watch less TV in general).

FAST is another area where Spanish-speaking consumers can be served. In May 2023, VIP+ calculated there were 267 distinct channels available across the major 13 FAST platforms in the U.S., meaning Hispanic viewers preferring Spanish content have a huge pool of offerings available.

This will generally skew older — music video channels from the likes of Vevo aside — but means marketers that are employing campaigns on TV and FAST, TikTok and YouTube can reach older and younger Hispanics alike.