Channel Surfing In English & Spanish.

The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute measures the factors that spur switching between Spanish- and English-language television among Latino bilingual viewers. Approximately 75% of Latino adults routinely watch television in both Spanish and English.

The study, Latino Viewing Choices: Bilingual Television Viewers and the Language Choices They Make, is a result of a 2002 survey of 1,232 adult bilingual viewers in Los Angeles, Houston and New York who routinely watch programs in both languages. It finds that Latinos are avid television viewers: One-third of respondents watched more than four hours of television per day, while the average respondent reported watching between two and three hours of television daily.

“Many Latinos live in a bilingual world. Television is a part of that,” said Harry Pachon, Ph.D., president of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute. “This study shows that corporations and candidates trying to reach Latinos miss 25% of the community when they communicate in just one language.”

In understanding viewing decisions, the survey examines content and programming choices available to the bilingual viewer, household composition and viewing technologies.

Content and Programming Choices

The study finds bilingual Latinos select Spanish- and English-language media differently depending on the type of program. Among bilingual viewers, the majority of Latinos watched news in Spanish; just 16 percent reported watching news programming in English. Spanish was also the prevailing language of viewership for soap operas and variety programming. Movies, sports, and situation comedies, however, saw more of a language preference mix among bilingual viewers who watched these programs in English, Spanish or a combination of both languages.

Although survey respondents indicated that they were considerably more likely to view Spanish-language news programs than English-language new programs, their behaviors in the days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon suggest that specific news events can break these patterns. In the days after 9/11, the majority of respondents (56 percent) watched both English and Spanish media.

Respondents were split almost evenly on the importance of candidates for office or elected officials speaking to them in Spanish. 47% of bilingual viewers reported that they were more likely to pay attention when addressed in Spanish than when addressed in English, while 45% said it made no difference. Viewers aged 35 and older were more likely to report a positive response to candidates and elected officials speaking to them in Spanish.

“Given the large number of new citizen voters, this study shows addressing substantive issues in both Spanish and English is an asset for political leaders,” said Louis DeSipio, Ph.D., TRPI research fellow and author of the report.

The survey was designed to gauge viewing habit differences between younger Latino adult viewers –often the target of advertisers – and older Latino adult viewers. For example, Latinos aged 18 to 34 were more likely to watch comedies and to watch them in English.

Respondents aged 18 to 34 were also more likely to report finding offensive material on English-language stations, while respondents aged 35 or older were more likely to report that if they saw offensive material, it appeared on Spanish-language stations. The majority of respondents reported changing the channel when they see offensive material. Yet more than one-quarter of respondents react more strongly by discontinuing buying products advertised on programs with material they found offensive.

Household Composition

Household dynamics further influence the decision of what television language to view. Television viewing in Latino households is overwhelmingly a family affair. Two-thirds of respondents reported that they regularly watched television with other adults in the household, with their children, or with both.

The survey revealed that children in the household were much more likely to prefer English-language programming. Approximately two-thirds of respondents reported that children in the household preferred English-language programming while just 4 percent preferred Spanish-language programming. This reflects both the linguistic abilities of the children and the relative dearth of Spanish-language programming targeted at them.

Latino households often include individuals of various immigrant statuses and, consequently, linguistic abilities. This pattern appears among respondents to the survey. The survey shows 31% of conversations with adults and 34% of conversations with children were in Spanish. The remainder reported speaking bilingually in the household.

Of the survey’s respondents, 77 percent were born abroad. Although the survey did not ask length of residence, researchers concluded that the respondents are not the most recent immigrants to the United States. Previous TRPI research has demonstrated that Latinos who exclusively watch Spanish-language television are more likely to be recent immigrants.

Viewing Technologies

The majority of bilingual Latinos have access to both Spanish- and English-language programming in their home; just 12% of households reported no such programming at home. The most common mode of receiving Spanish-language programming is through cable. Cable access is reported in approximately 70% of the households under study and just 11% receive Spanish-language programming by satellite. Respondents aged 35 years and older were more likely than younger viewers to rely on the airwaves for their television programming.

Another technology that offers a resource for viewers is Secondary Audio Programming (SAP). Approximately 42% of the respondents reported owning televisions or VCRs equipped with the technology that allows Spanish to be substituted for English and one out of six respondents report utilizing SAP often.