Hispanic Consumers’ reaction to today’s recession.

Univision Communications Inc. and Experian Simmons unveiled the latest data revealing consumers’ reaction to today’s economic climate from a total market and Hispanic consumer perspective. With custom week-by-week data from Experian Simmons, marketers for the first time are able to take an in-depth look at real time information that allows for a better understanding of the impact on consumers.

Using the week of September 29th, 2008 as the start of the economic meltdown, the results from the past 65 weeks indicate that while the overall consumer mindset is increasingly negative, Hispanics are more optimistic in the period following the meltdown versus prior to September 29th, 2008:

· 12% of U.S. consumers feel better off financially today than a year ago (down from 21% pre-meltdown)

· 34% of Hispanics are optimistic about their finances in the coming year (vs 25% of non-Hispanics)

· 29% of Hispanics are more positive about the U.S. economy in the coming 12 months (vs 21% of non-Hispanics)

· Hispanics average consumer confidence rating is 11% higher than non-Hispanics, and has remained constant since 2005, while non-Hispanics confidence rating has declined.

The results also show contributing factors to why Hispanics are less affected by today’s economic climate:

· Only 45% of Hispanics have/use credit cards (vs 71% of non-Hispanics)

· Hispanics are 44% more likely to use cash to pay bills than non-Hispanics (Index 156 to 91)

· Hispanics are almost 2x as likely to rent their home as non-Hispanics (44% vs 23%), and are therefore less likely to be impacted by the high percent of mortgage foreclosures

The findings highlight Hispanics as a key target consumer for advertisers – even today:

· Hispanics are consistently more frequent shoppers than non-Hispanics (34% vs 29%)

· Twice as many Hispanics are willing to pay for branded prescriptions as non-Hispanics (31% vs 15%)

· Hispanics are 38% more likely to buy from an advertiser than non-Hispanics (Index 131 to 95)

Source: Experian Simmons Proprietary Research Study, 2009