Terra’s Research Points to Hispanics as Largest Mobile Content Viewers

Soizic Sacrez – Director of Marketing / Terra

Soizic Sacrez, director of marketing for Terra, a global digital media company, discussed with eMarketer the findings in Terra’s latest round of research into US Hispanics’ media usage, revealing insights into why Hispanics are more likely to access video content via mobile and pay for video content.

eMarketer: Terra’s research shows that Hispanics are accessing entertainment content on mobile at a much higher rate than non-Hispanics. Did the research give you some idea of why this is?

Soizic Sacrez: We’ve been seeing this trend over the course of the past few studies—Hispanics overindex on everything mobile. Specifically for entertainment, Hispanics are passionate about music, entertainment and sports, and they like to be up to date on what is going on with artists and athletes they are following. Overall, it’s a cultural point.

eMarketer: Are you seeing this behavior across all ages? Or is it more likely to be a millennial behavior?

Sacrez: We are seeing some differences through the generations. For instance, looking at the data for listening to music on smartphones, 76% of millennials said that they were listening to music on their smartphones, vs. 68% of Gen X and 43% of baby boomers. And some of this has to do with technology adoption [since younger generations are more likely to use digital technology]. But if we look at the whole group of Hispanics, in general, they are going to listen more to music [than non-Hispanics].

eMarketer: The research also showed that Hispanics are more likely to pay for access to entertainment content. When there is so much free content, why are Hispanics paying for content?

Sacrez: It depends on the category, but much of it has to do with watching a program live rather than after the fact. Sports, especially, are a passion point. Boxing and soccer are key sports among Hispanics, and they are willing to pay to experience the game live. Especially if they follow a specific boxer or a specific team, they are more likely to pay.

eMarketer: The research also shows that Hispanics are more likely to access this content on smaller screens—smartphones, tablets—than non-Hispanics. Did you get some indication as to why this is?

Sacrez: Hispanics overindex in everything mobile, and we have seen that throughout our studies. We’re seeing a lot of consumption on the go. It’s primarily a comfort level [they have with mobile devices]. In Latin America, too, there is a lot of mobile consumption. They are more connected to their families and friends through their smartphones; for instance, when they are in a retail store they will send a picture of the product to their family, more so than the non-Hispanics. So, mobile consumption of video is comfortable for them.

eMarketer: Is the content they are consuming more likely to be in Spanish or English?

Sacrez: We’ve seen that millennials are more likely than Gen X to favor some online content in Spanish. And that’s interesting, because that shows an attachment among the younger generation to their culture and to the Spanish language. I think it has to do with pride in their heritage. We do see also that Spanish-preferred Hispanics tend to be a bit more engaged, for instance, in commenting, sharing and participating than the English-preferred Hispanics, and that’s true in particular for live events around sports entertainment and music.

Courtesy of eMarketer