Smartphones Ring Big With Hispanic Women

Hispanic women are more apt to turn to their smartphones for information and entertainment than non-Hispanic women, according to a recent Nielsen report.

Hispanic women spend more than 22 hours a week using their smartphones for viewing videos, using apps or surfing the Internet, according to Nielsen’s Latina 2.0: Fiscally Conscious, Culturally Influential and Familia Forward report. That’s well above the nearly 19 hours adult women in general spend accessing media on their cellphones.

Weekly media usage on smartphones among Hispanic women is second only to live/DVR television viewing, showcasing the importance of engaging an emerging demographic – the Latina population in the U.S. grew 37% between 2005 and 2015, compared to 2% in the same time period for their non-Hispanic White counterparts - across multiple platforms.

Further, the report reveals that Hispanic women are streaming nearly 30 minutes more video content per week on their smartphones than non-Hispanic women.

The findings dovetail with a recent Horowitz Research report that reveals that Hispanics in general are streaming video content in big numbers. Nearly three in four Hispanic TV content viewers stream at least some of their TV content, with streaming accounting for about four in ten hours of weekly TV viewing, according to Horowitz’s 2017 Focus Latino report. 

With Hispanic women also owning more video game systems and more desktop computers than non-Hispanic White Women, Nielsen’s study reveals that traditional television may not be the only efficient way to reach a tech-savvy, Hispanic female consumer.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.