Looking Towards 2050: Ethnic Trends In Media

Population trends have clear implications for those involved in the media and advertising industries. There are now more than 114 million U.S. TV households, with immigration continuing to play a major role in population growth. U.S. Census estimates predict that by the year 2050 more than half of the U.S.
population will be non-white.

Nielsen’s “Ethnic Trends In Media,” is a comprehensive report profiling African-American, Asian, Hispanic and White households in the U.S.  This report examines household characteristics, television usage, timeshifted viewing and popular programming genres for each group.

Key findings include:

• Household characteristics are quite different across each ethnic break.  Size, geographic territory and media ownership, such as video game consoles and DVRs, are just some of the notable differences

• TV usage is different: Persons age 18-49 in African-American households view more TV than Total U.S., while Hispanic and Asian persons in the same age group was less.

• The median age of a TV viewer is 45, but African-American, Asian and Hispanic viewers tend to be younger (40, 39, 32, respectively).

• Participation variety shows, such as Dancing with the Stars and Biggest Loser 6, are the most popular genre for total U.S. viewers, and are near the top for all ethnic breaks.  Fox NFL Sunday Football was the top or near-top program for all ethnic breaks except for Hispanics, who favored “Fuego En La Sangre” on Univision.

Download a PDF of the full report here.

As Hispanics’ Online Use Surges, Telemundo Responds

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 and Emerging Businesses, Telemundo, told the Herald.

“The audience is demanding it,” Blacker noted.  “Our audience wants to consume content wherever and however they can get their hands on it, so we need to make our content available to them whether you live in Latin America and are watching a novela or are looking at your cellphone and you want to see last night’s episode.”

More U.S. Viewers, Households For 2008-09 TV Season

The total number of U.S. television households for the 2008-2009 TV season has grown to 114.5 million — up 1.5% from last year, Nielsen reported Thursday.

U.S. television viewers also increased by 1.3%, to a total of nearly 290 million people (age two and older), with older viewers (age 55+) showing the fastest growth rate (+2.7%).

The new figures, Nielsen’s TV Universe Estimate for the 2008-2009 TV season, will be reflected in Nielsen’s national TV ratings as of September 1, 2008. 

Nationally, in comparison to the total number of TV households, the number of Hispanic and Asian television households increased by 4.4% and 4.3%, respectively. African American TV households grew by 2.2% during the same time period.

Locally, the top 20 television markets held onto their 2007-2008 TV season ranks. Movement among lower-ranked markets reflected recent population growth in the Southern and Western United States — of the 58 markets that moved up in rank, more than half are in the Southeast or Mountain regions.

Local market estimates are projected to January 1, 2009 and will be used in metered market samples as of September 27, 2008.

View the full press release.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in Mediaweek and Media Daily News.