Multiethnic TV Awards: Dish’s Shull Believes in Connecting Consumers to Their ‘Home’.

Exec Says Top 5 Non-Hispanic, Non-English Groups Represent 15 Million Americans

By: Tim Baysinger

Dave Shull, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Dish Network, believes in a primary marketing strategy for the No. 2 DBS provider when it comes to reaching many multiethnic consumers.

“Connect your family to your own country,” he said. “It’s [about] how you reach them when they come together as a community.”

Shull’s remarks came during his keynote conversation with Multichannel News editor-in-chief Mark Robichaux at B&C/Multichannel News’ first annual Multiethnic TV Awards held here Wednesday.

“It’s not just the shows, it’s also the branded channels,” continued Shull. “The one thing that cuts across all these different demographics is: connect yourself back to your home”

Shull said that millions of Dish’s customers are primarily non-English-speaking. He said Dish offers 268 different channels in 29 different language groups. “The 2010 Census opened a lot of people’s eyes,” said Shull. “There is tremendous growth in the non-English speaking market.”

He listed the top 5 non-Hispanic, non-English groups in the U.S. as: Chinese, South Asian, Arabic, Filipino and Vietnamese. Those make up about 4.2 million households, which represent 15 million Americans.

While Dish boasts a large multiethnic customer base, Shull pointed out that “roughly half” of it is either “second-generation” or in a place where English is common.

“There’s a lot of money in the market,” he said. “We remain very bullish [about it].”

Shull said that the influx of immigrants into the U.S. has shifted Dish’s consumer base younger, and like the youth demos in America, these customers have adapted to being able to watch TV wherever and whenever they want.

“We want to make sure we’re reaching these customers on the ITV products they’re used to,” he said, before noting that most of its international content is available on the DishWorld platform.

“From an international base, it’s the same thing [as Americans],” he said.

Courtesy of Broadcasting & Cable / Multichannel News