While national TV advertising as a whole grew at a slower rate last year than in the past, Spanish-language TV advertising posted a 3 percent gain in 2008, with growth in every major product category other than those related to the automotive sector. Satellite communication services showed the most growth – up 124 percent in 2008 — followed by car insurance and pharmaceuticals.  Overall, the top 10 categories recorded growth of 8 percent over the prior year, reaching $2.9 billion in 2008.

The dollar shift accompanies a rise in audience size …

Hispanics comprise a growing 15% of today’s American moviegoers and amounted to over 128 million of U.S. box office admissions in 2008. Latinos not only represent an opportunity to positively impact overall box office success, but they are an influential segment with the power to build brand awareness.

According to Nielsen Online, 9.8% of active U.S. Internet users are Hispanic, The Miami Herald reported Monday.  In total, 16.9 million Hispanics were part of the active U.S. online population in July — up from 14.9 million users in July 2007 and 13.7 million users in July 2006.  
To take advantage of this burgeoning online Hispanic population, Telemundo will begin delivering its programming on websites and mobile phones globally, the Herald noted. 
The move reveals the growing importance of digital media in the Hispanic market, Peter Blacker, executive vice president Digital Media …

In 2007, U.S. advertisers placed $5.78 billion of advertising in Spanish-language media, according to a report issued Thursday by Nielsen’s Monitor-Plus advertising service.
That’s a 3% increase over the $5.63 billion spent on Spanish-language media in 2006.  Overall in 2007, U.S. advertising spending rose 0.6% over 2006.
Broadcast Media Partners Inc. (Univision’s parent company), which spent $205.9 million on advertising in 2007, was the largest advertiser across all Spanish-language media.  Lexicon marketing, which increased its ad spending by 38% from 2006 to 2007, showed the largest percentage increase.
The Automotive category, which spent just over $659.4 million …