Hispanic Online Users Adopt Broadband
Half of Hispanic online users have home broadband, 14 percent installed it in the past six months.
The U.S. Hispanic population is adopting broadband at home. According to the third annual AOL/Roper U.S. Hispanic Cyberstudy commissioned by America Online and conducted by Roper Public Affairs, half of online Hispanics use high-speed connections at home.
Over the past six months, 14 percent of Hispanic online consumers connected their home to the Internet, compared to seven percent of the general online population. The average time spent surfing at home is higher among Hispanics, averaging 9.2 online hours per week, compared with an average 8.5 hours by the general population. There are more children under 18 in Hispanic households. Forty-seven percent of online Hispanics have children, versus 37 percent of the general online population.
Hispanic parents view the Internet as a means of advancement for their children. “They see it as an empowerment tool,” said Mark Lopez, publisher of AOL Latino. “For their children to find better information and to get better educated.”
Many Hispanics view the Internet as an opportunity to research and buy products and services. Sixty-three percent use the Web to research brands, 70 percent say it’s as the best source for price comparison.
Many in the online Hispanic community use the Internet to find relevant information. Sixty-four percent of online Hispanics look online for local entertainment information. Health-related issues are an easy look-up for 61 percent of the group, and as many as 71 percent of online Hispanics find driving directions and maps online.
| Hispanic Internet Usage, January to February, 2005 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Internet Activities | Hispanic Internet Population (%) |
Total Internet Population (%) |
| Listen to music | 55 | 41 |
| Download music files | 37 | 25 |
| Watch video clips | 38 | 33 |
| Instant message | 59 | 48 |
| Visit chat rooms | 70 | 60 |
| Look up local entertainment | 64 | 54 |
| Look up health information | 61 | 55 |
| Look up financial information | 54 | 56 |
| Product research | 63 | 52 |
| Age of Internet Users | ||
| 18 to 34 | 56 | 34 |
| Families with children under 18 |
47 | 37 |
| Source: AOL/Roper Public Affairs, 2005 | ||
The only category where the Hispanic community trails he general population is in financial activities. The differential is slight, 54 percent of Hispanics look up information about financial questions and needs; the general population brings the average up slightly to 56 percent.
“There is a tremendous opportunity for marketers to reach out to the audience overall, and the 18 to 34 segment.” said Lopez. “It creates an opportunity not just on the narrowband, but also the broadband level.”
A caveat expressed by those surveyed is the language barrier and lack of Spanish language content. Spanish language content is important to sixty-seven percent of Hispanic Web users. Though most rate themselves bilingual in speaking and reading both Spanish and English, the report says they pay more attention to ads in Spanish.
The AOL/Roper Public Affairs Hispanic Cyberstudy 2005 conducted a telephone survey with a random sample of 603 Hispanic home Internet/online subscribers. The survey took place between January 10 and February 14 of this year.
