The average Spanish-speaking household in the United States outspends the average overall household on subscription streaming video services (SVOD) by about $20.
That is one of the key takeaways from Parks Associates‘ refreshed North American Streaming Video Tracker, which finds Hispanic-identifying households are more likely to shell out cash for streaming services and continue their subscriptions if they are being served content that they find relevant to their interests.
Around 19 percent of the U.S. population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau released in 2020. Additionally, more than 13 percent of households in the U.S. speak Spanish at home.
Historically, Spanish-speaking video consumers have been underserved by the marketplace, with just a handful of traditional broadcast and cable TV channels available to them. For this reason, cable and satellite platforms have for years imported channels from Mexico, Spain, Central America and South America in order to serve Spanish-speaking customers — and Spanish-language households have been more than willing to pay for them.
Over the past few years, more services like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video have increased their offering of Spanish-language content as they pursue international growth opportunities outside the U.S., something that has benefitted Hispanic- and Latino-identifying households in the domestic market, too.
With more content available on streaming, Spanish-speaking households are starting to move away from cable and satellite TV and embrace SVOD and other connected TV services for their video needs — and they’re more than willing to open their wallets to get them.
Around 96 percent of Hispanic-identifying households subscribe to at least one SVOD service, according to Parks Associates, or eight points higher than the average overall household, according to Parks Associates. Hispanic-identifying households also use more SVOD services (around 6) when compared to the average household (slightly under 5), the firm reported. Hispanic households also spend big for all of those services, with the average Hispanic-identifying household shelling out $96 per month for their SVOD subscriptions, compared to $76 in the average U.S. household.
Sarah Lee, a research analyst with Parks Associates, said there are a number of reasons why Hispanic-identifying households are more likely to use a streaming service in greater numbers, and spend more for the privilege, when compared to the average overall household.
For one, Hispanic-identifying households “tend to have larger family sizes, making streaming more economical than visiting a movie theater or engaging in other entertainment activities that require purchasing individual tickets for each family member,” Lee wrote in a research note earlier this month. Streaming also offers families a convenient way to bond at home, she said.
“More streaming services are offering culturally diverse content, including Spanish-language programming,” Lee wrote, adding that Netflix and Hulu offer TV shows — in particular, soap operas — and movies from Latin America and Spain.
Traditional pay TV services are starting to take note. On July 2, Comcast unveiled a new low-cost streaming TV product called “Now TV Latino” that offers more than two dozen Spanish-language broadcast and cable channels along with access to Peacock Premium for just $10 per month. One week later, Charter said it was offering free access to Spanish-language streamer Vix Premium to customers who have at least one Univision channel in their Spectrum TV package (the perk had been announced months earlier as part of a contract renewal between Charter and Televisa-Univision). Earlier this year, Charter launched a number of low-cost traditional TV packages, including “Spectrum TV Stream Latino”, which offers 45 channels in English and Spanish for $25 per month.
“By providing culturally relevant programming at an accessible price point, and to an audience that is already primed for media consumption, Charter and Comcast are well positioned to enhance customer loyalty and satisfaction,” Lee wrote. “This could lead to higher retention rates and higher net promoter scores among Spanish-speaking communities. Additionally, this approach helps these two companies differentiate themselves in a market saturated with generalist streaming services, providing them a competitive edge.”
