U.S. Hispanic listeners love online radio — new research

Audio.ad Hispanic digital audio 2016Audio.ad, an advertising company for Latin American and U.S. Hispanic markets, released a survey about the state of digital audio consumption for the U.S. Hispanic market. The survey, executed by Oh! Panel, included 1,000 Spanish-speaking U.S. participants. It is is freely available HERE — Audio.ad asks that you tweet about it as the cost of downloading.

Average Hispanic listeners hear about 9 hours of online radio a week. The results revealed that 81% of respondents listen to any digital audio and 77% specifically listen to online radio at least once a week. The average Hispanic listener spends at least two to three hours a day with Internet radio.

The 18-34 age group had the highest online radio consumption at 39%, followed closely by 35-44 at 32% and trailed by the over-45 group at 29%. Half of the online radio listeners use their computer for access, followed by 46% for smartphones and 27% for tablets.

The hard demographic data from these surveys is always interesting, but Audio.ad had some additional questions that create a fuller picture of the Hispanic market. 88% of the respondents said online radio is an important part of their daily lives. Also, 54% said they expect to increase their listening hours in 2016. The survey also delved into the role of advertising, revealing that 69% of respondents have bought at least one product pitched on online radio in the past year. An even more impressive 44% said they have bought between two and five products advertised in online radio. Only two out of ten participants said that digital radio has either too much or too little advertising.

The results released this week represent part of the survey work done by OH! Panel. Audio.ad told RAIN News that additional research segments will be released “during the course of the year.”

One particularly interesting aspect of the survey results is that Bandcamp (a music discovery site where independent artists can upload their work and sell recordings in all formats) comes through as a popular destination for the target audience. We asked Audio.ad about that, and learned that an unusually wide range of music destinations was presented to the survey respondents. Other online listening brands included Beatport, Bandcamp, ​Soundcloud, Mixcloud — not often represented in big national studies.

Anna Washenko