MIAMI — When it comes to U.S. Hispanic radio, radio advertising and marketing spend enjoyed a higher growth rate in 2022 than the overall radio market. But, is that still not enough growth, given what is viewed as a large disparity between the percentage of ad dollars put toward Hispanic radio versus the percentage of Hispanics across the U.S. based on 2020 U.S. Census figures?
Insight on that topic kicked off the second day of the 2023 Hispanic Radio Conference in Doral, Fla.
PQ Media President/CEO Patrick Quinn shared details regarding Hispanic radio advertising and marketing spend. It grew 8.8% to $581 million in 2022. This outperformed the overall (8.6%) radio growth in the U.S.
But, there’s a cloud hanging over that otherwise shiny performance. Radio took another year to reach 2019 levels compared to other media, including Television.
Meanwhile, Hispanic radio growth is expected to mirror overall U.S. radio growth in 2023.
Good, right? Not exactly. What has not changed since PQ Media’s Quinn appeared at the 2021 Hispanic Radio Conference is the dollar gap the U.S. Hispanic radio continues to struggle with.
While Hispanic consumers account for 19% of the U.S. population, Hispanic media investments draw only 3.5% of total U.S. advertising and marketing spending.
As Hispanics continue to overindex in radio listenership, versus the total market, something needs to change, Quinn said.
Meanwhile, there’s one positive for Hispanic radio that has emerged in recent years: la politica. Quinn predicts a 24.7% gain for $41.4 million in political dollars for U.S. Hispanic radio in 2024 — making it the highest-ever spend anticipated for the industry. “We’ve already seen the highest level of political spending that we’ve ever seen in an odd year, and that bodes well for Hispanic radio,” Quinn said.
