MediaBuyerPlanner: Hispanic magazine readers are highly fragmented. Consumers who speak Spanish predominantly tend to be foreign-born, while English-dominant consumers are most often second-generation Americans. Then there are the bi-cultural consumers, who speak Spanish at home but who were educated in English, and prefer English when reading magazines.
This fragmentation makes the Hispanic magazine market challenging for publishers. “There aren’t enough publications to go after the demos that we want,” says Oswald Mendez, managing partner, director of integrated communications at Hispanic marketing and advertising agency Vidal Partnership, in Mediaweek.
According to Mendez, it’s a matter of, “Do I want to spend the production dollars on a print ad for two publications, or do I want to spend it on something else?”
That “something else,” very often, is Spanish-language television, namely Univision.
Hispanic magazines received only 2 percent of total Hispanic media spending in 2006, according to TNS Media Intelligence, representing a 4.4 percent drop from the previous year. Hispanic network TV snagged 64 percent of total Hispanic spend, while general market consumer magazines took 18 percent of the spending.
So while the Hispanic population grows, Hispanic magazines such as Men’s Health en Espanol, Shape en Espanol, Fuego and Cristina La Revista are being shuttered, and ad pages for the entire category have been flat for 2006.
But not all Hispanic publications are struggling. People en Espanol, the category leader, has seen steady growth, with paid and verified circ for the second half of 2006 growing 3.6 percent (newsstand sales, however, dropped 3.5 percent). The magazine also issued a number of specials that yielded high returns. For example, the February special 100 Most Influential Hispanics included an internet component that brought its highest-ever number of page views.
Meredith Corporation’s Hispanic magazines such as Siempre Mujer, Ser Padres, Espera and Healthy Kids en Espanol are also doing well. Siempre Mujer, which launched in the fall of 2005 with a rate base of 350,000, now has a guaranteed circ of 375,000.
Meredith is different from the competition because it has a Hispanic Ventures unit, which conducts research and branding consultation. The publisher did not “jump into the Hispanic market very quickly,” says Ruth Gaviria, director of Hispanic Ventures. “It was very methodical.”
Related stories:
- Hispanic User Growth Dramatically Outpaces General Market
- Hispanic Ad Spend to Continue to Grow Speedily
- Hispanic Mag Market Holding Steady
- Latino Teens Represent 20 Percent of U.S. Teen Population
- Hispanic Men’s Magazine ‘Fuego’ Shutters
- Cristina La Revista Publishes Final Issue
- Hispanic Mags Snare Paltry 2.9 Percent Hispanic Media Spend
