Spending Power of African Americans, Hispanics

Vdopia, Inc., a global leader in mobile video and rich media advertising, today announced the second installment in the Vdopia Mobile Insights (VMI) Series – VMI Multicultural Marketing Report. Focusing on African Americans and Hispanics, the report takes an in-depth look at the mobile advertising ecosystem, including data related to mobile advertising trends, habits, spending power and more.

The report outlines the importance of multicultural marketing for mobile advertisers, with African Americans and Hispanics overall showing tremendous growth in population and spending power. The report also emphasizes the significance of accounting for these cultural groups’ unique attitudes and beliefs when implementing mobile video and rich media campaigns.

Some key data points of the report include:

• 303% growth in mobile video and rich media ad spend by advertisers targeting African Americans and 195% growth in advertisers targeting Hispanics in the past year on the Vdopia network
• 60% of Hispanics and 43% of African Americans use their mobile phone as their primary device for accessing the internet¹
• In 2013, the combined spending power of African Americans and Hispanics was more than $2 trillion in the US²
• 45% of Hispanic and 46% of African American smartphone users are between the ages of 18 and 34. Only 35% of Caucasians fall into this category³
• One-third of Hispanic smartphone owners belong to households with an annual income more than $75,000³
• 56% of African American smartphone users are in the South.³
• 88% of African American and 85% of Hispanic smartphone users have bought online in the past six months³
• 34% of Hispanic and 32% of African American smartphone owners also own a tablet device.⁴

“For marketers looking to reach multicultural audiences, the VMI Multicultural Marketing Report provides tremendous insight into how African Americans and Hispanics have embraced smartphone and tablet devices,” said Saurabh Bhatia, founder and Chief Business Officer, Vdopia.

“Diverse consumers often have unique perspectives, allowing marketers to customize campaigns specific to these distinctive ideas and values.”

As the report highlights, the adoption of high-end smartphones and faster mobile data speeds has contributed to the overall growth of rich media and video ad spend by multicultural advertisers. Combined with Hispanic and African American populations expected to increase by 24% and 10% respectively by 2025⁵, targeting these audiences will continue to become increasingly important for all mobile advertising campaigns.