Study Examines Streaming Habits of Hispanics

Latinx/Hispanic family
(Image credit: iStockPhoto.com)

TORONTO—With a growing body of data showing that Hispanics use streaming services at higher rates than the general population, a new study from App Science takes a deep dive into the streaming habits of Hispanic viewers that are playing such a major role in the streaming market place. 

As expected the report finds that there are notable differences in the way bilingual and Spanish-only U.S. Hispanic streaming audiences use streaming services. For example, within the streaming apps category, bilingual speakers are 4.5x and 3.5x more likely to have Paramount+ and Hulu on their streaming devices compared to Spanish-only speakers. In contrast Spanish-only speakers are 2.8x more likely than bilingual speakers to have Canela.TV and 29% more likely to have FuboTV on their devices, suggesting they are more likely to pay for sports. 

"The diversity within the U.S. Hispanic population shows that one-size won't fit all when it comes to meaningfully engaging this audience. Personalized, culturally relevant ads will only increase in importance as time goes on," said Helen Lum, executive vice president, App Science. "These groups' mobile app preferences help tell a story of their behaviors and life experiences and ultimately can help provide advertisers with more opportunities to vary their creative messaging to better connect with their target audiences."

Along with the release of the report, App Science’s parent company Sabio also announced the development of its SabioTV streaming platform, a creator-first streaming network led by diverse creators featuring unique voices and untold stories. The SabioTV platform is part of the Company's overall mission to increase representation in the streaming space by surfacing unique programming that better reflects today's diverse world.

"By leveraging Sabio's existing, end-to-end CTV/OTT technology stack, SabioTV is expected to enable content creators to capitalize on a creator economy estimated to grow to $480 billion by 20271, while providing Sabio with another tool in our toolkit to further defend our strong gross margins," said Aziz Rahimtoola, CEO, Sabio.

Other key findings include: 

  • By category, bilingual speakers are more likely to have social networking (5x), comics (4.2x), and reading (3.5x) apps on their mobile phones compared to their Spanish-speaking counterparts
  • In the music app category, the two demographics have strong differentiating preferences: bilingual speakers are more likely to have Pandora (11.8x), Audiomack (9x), and Amazon Music (5.3x) downloaded on their mobile devices compared to Spanish speakers who are more likely to have Radio Mexico (7.7x), ESound (3.6x), and LaMusica (3.6x)
  • Financial and banking apps also vary between the demographics:
  • Bilingual speakers are at least 5x more likely to bank with military banks
  • Spanish-only speakers are more than 2x as likely to have apps used for sending money abroad and 5.4x as likely to have Finhabits, a bilingual financial planning app
  • Overall, bilingual Hispanics are 26% more likely to travel domestically and their indexed travel apps show a higher likelihood of being part of loyalty programs at hotel chains and airlines.

Data for the Report are sourced by leveraging App Science's Hispanic audience segment, created by first- and third-party mobile device and geolocation data. Index scores represent how likely an outcome is to occur. Preferences among Bilingual and Spanish-only audiences are analyzed against each other with an assigned baseline of 100. For example, if a mobile app indexed for bilingual speakers at 142, this would be interpreted as, "The odds of bilingual speakers having the mobile app is 1.42x as likely as Spanish speakers," or, "The odds of bilingual speakers having the mobile app is 42% more likely than Spanish speakers."

George Winslow

George Winslow is the senior content producer for TV Tech. He has written about the television, media and technology industries for nearly 30 years for such publications as Broadcasting & Cable, Multichannel News and TV Tech. Over the years, he has edited a number of magazines, including Multichannel News International and World Screen, and moderated panels at such major industry events as NAB and MIP TV. He has published two books and dozens of encyclopedia articles on such subjects as the media, New York City history and economics.