Online Hispanic Trends

Univision Launches New Vertical Site "Cocina"

Univision Communications just launched a new vertical called Cocina in response to the fact that the U.S. Hispanic audience spends a significant part of its budget on groceries and is interested in cooking and trying new recipes.

Per the Portada article, "...more than 11 million U.S. Hispanics report that they really enjoy cooking and trying new recipes."  And "Nearly 12 million U.S. Hispanics live in a household that spends $100+ on groceries in a week, that's 54 percent of all online Hispanics ages 18 and older."

The site will feature recipes, cooking tips from experts, videos, personalized content, user-generated content, a searchable database of recipes, and the Cocina widget that users can embed on their blogs and websites.  

General Mills is an exclusive sponsor of the Cocina widget and has category exclusivity in a number of its key areas - baking, snacks, and cereals to name a few.

Source: Portada

What happens when you search in Spanish on Google, Yahoo or MSN?

Joe Kutchera, the director of Spanish-language markets at ContextWeb, wrote a very interesting article on what happens when users search in Spanish on Google, Yahoo and MSN. 

He points out that users are often sent to websites in other countries, including Mexico, Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries.

He gives examples using some common keywords, explains why this is happening, and also provides advise on what marketers can do to deal with this issue.

Read the full article on MediaPost.

AOL Making Significant Investments in the U.S. Onine Hispanic Market

It's been a busy month for AOL in terms of launching new sites and content for the U.S. Online Latino audience. This activity seems to be a strong indication that AOL is making serious investments in this growing market.

This week AOL People Networks announced the launch of its Bebo U.S. Latino site in collaboration with Hearst Magazines Digital Media and AOL Latino.

Bebo's Lifestream Platform allows users to connect with other users and with content from multiple sites, including Flickr, MySpace, Facebook and others.  Users can connect with existing friends or others who share common interests and tastes.

AOL Latino will contribute music and entertainment content and Hearst Magazines Digital Media will provide other interactive content, including content for young girls planning their quinceñeras - http://www.bebo.com/mis_quince.

Source: Finchannel.com

AOL also launched another Spanish language resource called TecnoPadres.com, a site designed to help less technically savvy parents navigate the web. The site aspires to help parents monitor their childrens' use of the Internet and keep them safe and the site will license and translate content from the OnlineMom, a site/blog that was created by a tech-concerned mother, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Telemundo's new Digital Media and Emerging Business division

Recognizing both the growing importance of the Hispanic market and the explosion of digital media, Telemundo is creating a new Digital Media and Emerging Businesses division that will focus on delivering programming and content around the world on websites and mobile phones. Users will be able to access more shows, watch their favorite novelas (soap operas), and even suggest alternative plots to Telemundo producers.

Jose Cancela, of Hispanic USA, a Miami-based consulting firm, points out that over time local TV stations will be less and less important and “how you get content before somebody's eyeballs is going to be changing in the next few years.”  He adds that Telemundo's strategy is smart because this is where the market is headed.'

Peter Blacker, the head of head of Telemundo's new Digital Media, said that Telemundo is “pushing the envelope . . . to use this new technology not just to distribute but to engage our audience.'

Read the full article in the Miami Herald.

Demand for Spanish-Language Online Content on the Rise

According to an article on Portada.com, the Spanish-dominant portion of the Hispanic online advertising market is growing the most, possibly higher than 50% according to Alicia Morga, CEO and Founder of Consorte Media. The article says that this is due to the fact that Spanish-dominant Hispanics tend to be late Internet adopters, while most bilinguals and English-dominant Hispanics are already online.

Alicia Morga suggests that publishers try to put as much Spanish-language content online, and points out that some niches are more sought after than others, particularly Spanish-language content for parents.

See full article at Portada.com.

MySpace Latino enhances content offerings

The article below highlights the importance of developing original content for the Hispanic audience as opposed to relying on translation of general market content....

By Anick Jesdanun, Associated Press

NEW YORK — The online hangout MySpace is expanding its offerings for U.S. Hispanics, adding eight bilingual communities focused on Latino bands and celebrities, soccer and other interests.

The year-old MySpace Latino has largely been a translation of MySpace's English site into Spanish. Beginning Tuesday, MySpace is unveiling content specific to one of the fastest growing groups online.

"It's been something they've been asking for," said Victor Kong, the Miami-based managing director for MySpace Latino. "We're not just duplicating everything and having the same exact programs in Spanish."

MySpace officials say that switching between English and Spanish should generally be seamless. The Los Angeles-based company, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., will continue to have separate sites in Spanish or Portuguese aimed at Latinos abroad: MySpace Mexico, MySpace Brazil and a MySpace Latin America.

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, about three-quarters of English-speaking U.S. Hispanics are online, an increase from about half in 2002. But a joint study by that group and the Pew Hispanic Center found usage lower among Spanish-dominant Hispanics — 32% as of late 2006.

MySpace officials have held preliminary discussions about creating programs targeting other groups, including blacks, but no definite plans have been announced. MySpace is expanding the Latino site now because of its growth; it has added tens of thousands of Hispanic users each month with little promotion.

The new communities will offer a nationwide contest to identify four up and coming Latino acts, behind-the-scene interviews with bands and opportunities to attend live concerts offline — the first takes place Friday in Miami.

In a partnership with Spanish Broadcasting System, MySpace is offering a channel featuring the latest on Latino celebrities and fashion.

Another community, En Tu Ciudad, offers recommendations on Latino events in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Miami. Features include information on art openings and reviews of movies with Hispanic actors.

A soccer community will cover both U.S. and Latin American soccer teams.

Source: USA Today

McClatchy teams with ImpreMedia to share Spanish-language content in print, online

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)   Hoping to offset its losses in the U.S. newspaper market, McClatchy Co. will sharpen its focus on the rapidly growing Hispanic community by sharing articles and other content with a major publisher of Spanish-language publications.

The partnership, to be announced Tuesday, will allow McClatchy's Spanish-language papers and Web sites to feature information produced by ImpreMedia, a privately held publisher that operates in markets covering about two-thirds of the Hispanics living in the United States.

The seven ImpreMedia newspapers covered in the agreement are: El Diario La Prensa and Hoy Nueva York in New York; El Mensajero in the San Francisco Bay area; La Opinion in Los Angeles; La Raza in Chicago; La Prensa in Orlando, Fla.; and Rumbo in Houston, San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

McClatchy, the third largest U.S. newspaper publisher, runs three Spanish-language papers: El Nuevo Herald in Florida, Vida en el Valle in California's Central Valley and La Estrella in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. The Sacramento-based company owns 29 daily papers printed in English and 31 newspapers in all.

The partnership's financial terms aren't being disclosed.

Like the rest of the print news industry, McClatchy has been struggling as advertisers shift their spending from newspapers to the Internet in pursuit of the Web's expanding audience.

The trend has devastated McClatchy's stock, which has plunged by 82 percent since the end of 2005, triggering $2.8 billion in charges to account for the company's crumbling value. McClatchy shares fell 20 cents to $10.70 Monday.

ImpreMedia touts its Spanish-language newspapers as an advertising gold mine. The New York-based company estimates the 29.4 million Hispanics living in its target markets have a combined $478 billion in spending power.

''Sharing with other top Spanish-language publications is a chance to improve our service and also share our content with many thousands of new readers in new markets,'' said Howard Weaver, McClatchy's vice president of news. ''It's a clear win all around.''

Source: Business Wire