New Americanos Poll Study Captures Hispanic Television Habits and Opinions

    /24-7PressRelease/ - MIAMI, FL, July 21, 2006 - Hispanics in the U.S. watch Spanish-language TV, right?
Wrong!
In a new study, some 55% of Hispanics reported watching television in both English and Spanish, compared to the smaller percentages who reported watching TV in either language alone (12% only in English and 31% only in Spanish, while 2% said they do not watch television), regardless of whether they were raised in the U.S. or abroad. In fact, according to the study by Miami-based Encuesta, Inc. - a leading U.S. Hispanic marketing research and public opinion polling specialist - over half (57%) of Hispanics born abroad watch TV in English, while almost three-quarters (73%) of those born in the U.S. watch Spanish-language broadcasts.

Another surprising finding shows that news and political programs - and not telenovelas - are the TV genre that U.S. Hispanics watch most.

"This study shows that it's not a good idea to pigeonhole Hispanics into two distinct groups that watch either Spanish-language television or English-language programming intended for the general market, which has long been the general approach," says Lourdes Prado, Project Director at Encuesta, Inc. Instead, she suggests, there is a great deal of cross-over occuring. "On the one hand, there is a continuing emergence of options in English-language TV that are being well received by unacculturated, Spanish-dominant Hispanics. On the other hand, plenty of U.S.-born, English-dominant Hispanics are holding on to their Latin culture, and one way this is reflected is in their choice of TV programming and the language in which they choose to see it. This phenomenon is something important for marketers to keep in mind if they want to avoid talking past the Hispanic audience instead of engaging it."

When it comes to Hispanic-oriented changes in programming for the general market, among those who watch English-language television, two-thirds of Hispanics (66%) said there has been an increase in the television programming in English that is meant for Hispanics. Another 68% among that same group of viewers reported noticing the use of Spanish or "Spanglish" or the presence of more Hispanic actors or characters in programs and commercials aimed at the general population and not at Hispanics specifically.

The study, which is part of the Americanos Poll series, explored the television viewing habits of Hispanics, including time spent watching specific program formats. It also gathered opinions on 13 English- and Spanish-language television networks and on different aspects of programming in each language.

Among the study's key findings:

• News programs/political talk shows are the format more Hispanics reported watching (68%), followed by drama series and soap operas, or telenovelas (43%). Game shows were least popular (11%). Hispanics spend the most time on average watching drama series, soap operas, or telenovelas, in both English (5.9 hours) and Spanish (7.2 hours).

• U.S.-born Hispanics are significantly more likely than their foreign-born counterparts to watch reality shows (28% versus 18%), shows on home improvement, cooking, crafts or travel (31% versus 20%), and sitcoms (25% versus 16%).

• In terms of amount and variety, as well as quality, only about half of Hispanics (53% and 52% respectively) say English-language TV programming is "excellent" or "good." The same proportion (53%) rated the amount and variety of Spanish-language programming as "excellent" or "good," but a greater percentage (62%) spoke highly of its quality.

• Univision ranked first in the percentage of Hispanics overall (67%) assigning the network's programming an "excellent" or "good" rating on a 4-point scale. Among U.S.-born Hispanics, Univision ranked highest (63%), tying with ABC, FOX, and NBC.

The findings are based on telephone interviews conducted by Encuesta, Inc., between April 6 and 13, 2006, with a representative national sample of n=335 Hispanic adults, in their choice of English or Spanish. The sample mirrors that population's known distribution of demographic, acculturation, and media usage characteristics. The margin of error for the entire sample is approximately +/- 5.7%, with a higher margin of error for subgroups.

Encuesta, Inc., sponsors the Americanos Poll series to compare the U.S. Hispanic and general populations across a range of topics.

About Encuesta, Inc.
Encuesta, Inc. is a leading U.S. Hispanic marketing research and public opinion polling firm that provides customized research, objective analysis, and proven insights to reach the Hispanic community since 1989. Specializing in quantitative research - including project design, data collection, and analysis - Encuesta, Inc. assists clients in all key phases of marketing. Encuesta, Inc. is based in Miami, Florida. For more information, please visit http://www.encuesta.com.

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