7574: Minorities Fare Better In Advertising…?

Adweek reported ad spending for Latinos and Blacks fared better than the overall market. Um, the story seems to ignore the fact that minority audiences continue to receive proportionately less spending than the overall market.

Multicultural Ad Spending Outpaced Market
Ad spending in Spanish-language and African-American media sagged, but still outperformed other segments

Katy Bachman, Mediaweek

Ad spending in Spanish-language and African-American media fared better than the overall ad market in 2009.

Spending declined 4.7 percent in Spanish-language media and 7.3 percent in African-American media, according to a Nielsen report released today. This compares to a 9 percent drop in overall domestic ad spending last year.

Spanish-language ad spending was down by nearly $270 million last year for a total of $5.4 billion spent in Spanish-language media. Declines in magazines, newspapers, TV and radio were offset by a 32 percent increase in spending on cable TV to nearly $427 million overall. While Spanish-language spot TV spending was down 10 percent, the segment still attracted the most advertising dollars at more than $1.5 billion.

African-American media lost more than $153 million in ad spending across all segments with the exception of cable TV, which increased more than 35 percent to $728 million. The biggest spending decreases were in network TV (down 72 percent to $26.6 million) and national magazines (down more than 33 percent to $353.8 million). In total, spending in African-American media exceeded $1.9 billion.

The top-spending category for both Spanish-language media and African-American media was quick-service restaurants, which increased 13.9 percent in Spanish-language media and 19.2 percent among African-American media.

The fastest-growing category in Spanish-language media segment was satellite communications, up 77.3 percent. Insurance was the fastest-growing category among African-American media, up 28.6 percent. Auto was the second-biggest category for both Spanish-language and African-American media, down 38.8 percent and 18.2 percent, respectively.