Insights: Adding Spanish Radio To Media Plan Generates Impact

This week’s Westwood One blog looks to answer the question, “Can a general market buy with only English language stations do an effective job of reaching Hispanics and Spanish speakers?” using an analysis by Oliver Marquis, VP Media Analytics at Nielsen. 

As Hispanics will represent two-thirds of American population growth over the next forty years, it is increasingly important for brands to be able to reach this audience. The data shows AM/FM radio is a powerful tool that can be used to do so. 

• Hispanics are the engine of American population and economic growth. Brands must step up and realize that reaching Latinx consumers represents a strong strategy for future growth.
• An English-only buy underdelivers Spanish speakers by 23%. Across the five markets analyzed, a 100-GRP AM/FM radio buy of the top ten English language AM/FM radio stations reaches 43% of the total market but only 33% of Spanish-dominant Hispanics.
• Allocating 10% of an English-only buy to Spanish AM/FM radio generates a +41% reach increase among Spanish speakers.
• AM/FM radio outreaches TV among Hispanics 18+ by +14%.
• AM/FM radio makes your TV better: On average, allocating 20% of TV buy to AM/FM radio causes a massive +29% increase in Hispanic reach.
• In a local market, 18-49 Hispanic audience deliveries soar when a TV-only buy is remixed with 60% of the budget moved to Spanish AM/FM radio.