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New Study Shows Multicultural Media Spending Disproportionate To Population

Marketers Missing Opportunity to Drive Growth by Not Engaging Multicultural Consumers

NEW YORK (August 8, 2019) — Multicultural consumers comprise almost 40 percent of the total U.S. population, yet multicultural media investments make up only 5.2 percent of total advertising and marketing spending, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by PQ Media on behalf of the ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM), revealed that overall multicultural advertising and marketing spending totaled $25.9 billion in 2018.  Spending targeting Hispanics totaled almost $18 billion, a 5.3 percent increase over the previous year and far ahead of the amount of spend aimed at African-Americans ($7.2 billion, up 6.1 percent) or Asian Americans ($722 million, up 7 percent). According to 2017 U.S. Census Bureau figures, Hispanics comprise 18.1 percent of the overall population, while African-Americans make up 13.4 percent and Asians represent 5.8 percent.

The goal of the report, “U.S. Multicultural Media Forecast 2019,” was to provide ANA and AIMM members with a comprehensive examination of multicultural media investments by demographics, media platforms, and media buying strategies.

“This is a landmark study that clearly shows most companies are missing an opportunity by not focusing more of their marketing efforts on multicultural consumers,” said ANA CEO Bob Liodice. “The report reveals an opening for new ways to drive growth and offers a roadmap for how advertisers can compete more effectively.”

Key Findings from PQ Media

  • Television was the largest of the 12 multicultural media platforms tracked in the study, representing $7.67 billion in multicultural ad spending in 2018.
  • Brand activation marketing accounted for a 49.5 percent share of Multicultural Media in 2018, almost 20 percent lower than the share of brand activation in overall media revenues.
  • Endemic media buying accounted for 69 percent of revenue; non-endemic was 31 percent. AIMM and PQ Media defined endemic media as those that generate an audience composition of a specific segment at 75 percent or above.
  • National media buying in 2018 accounted for 62.5 percent of investment, but local spending grew faster, rising 6.2 percent compared to 2017.
  • Multicultural advertising and marketing spending is on pace to rise 4.5 percent in 2019 to slightly more than $27 billion and is projected to increase 6.3 percent in 2020 to $28.7 billion.

“Multicultural media is an important concept for brands to embrace if they want to increase market share,” said PQ Media CEO Patrick Quinn. “Multicultural customers — African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and Hispanic-Americans — are the fastest growing demographic, but they are under-represented in media buying. Brands need to shift away from bland, generic total market messaging and concentrate on delivering culturally relevant copy in media that are being seen by multicultural audiences.”

AIMM identified the following implications based on the study’s findings:

  • There is a clear opportunity for more marketers to engage multicultural consumers to drive business growth. In what is perhaps the most significant finding, multicultural media revenue significantly under-indexes against the general population.  Multicultural consumers now comprise almost 40 percent of the total population, yet multicultural media investments comprise only 5.2 percent of total advertising and marketing spending.
  • Although 100 percent of the total population growth comes from multicultural segments, marketers are significantly underspending to reach these consumers, and conversely, decidedly overspending to reach non-multicultural consumers.
  • Marketers should better leverage digital advertising to reach multicultural consumers.
  • There is an opportunity to have multicultural communication specialists work more in non-endemic media (i.e., general market media) to help craft communications to appeal to both general market and multicultural audiences.

PQ Media tracked six advertising platforms: digital media (pure play), out-of-home, print, radio, television and other advertising (B2B mags, directories, and entertainment media).  It also tracked six brand activation marketing platforms: branded & content, experiential, influencer, promotions, relationship, and retailer marketing.

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ABOUT THE ANA

The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) accelerates growth for marketing professionals, brands, and the entire industry. With a mission to shape the future of marketing, the ANA sets the agenda for the industry, connecting its members to unparalleled expertise, industry-leading resources, and an influential global network. Representing over 1,600 companies — including 1,000+ client-side marketers, 600 marketing solutions providers, and 20,000 brands — ANA members collectively influence $400 billion in annual marketing spending. By championing the 12-point ANA Growth Agenda and the CMO Growth Council, the ANA drives actionable change, empowers marketers, shapes the marketing ecosystem, and delivers exceptional experiences at every touchpoint. Since 1910, the ANA has been setting the agenda for industry transformation. It enables marketers to advance their ambitions, make better decisions, and create lasting impact for their organizations and the industry.

ABOUT AIMM

The ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) was established in 2016 to create a powerful voice that elevates multicultural and inclusive marketing to promote business growth in an increasingly diverse marketplace. AIMM is comprised of senior-level advertisers, media/publishers, research and data companies, agencies, and trade organizations, and spotlights the missed growth potential in general, Hispanic, African-American, Asian-American, and LGBTQ markets. This extraordinary working group of industry leaders is transforming the way multicultural and inclusive marketing is seen and understood via an industry-wide reboot. Beyond simply identifying where growth potential lies, AIMM shows its members (and the industry) how to best maximize this potential toward positive bottom-line impact.

ABOUT PQ MEDIA

PQ Media is a leading provider of actionable competitive intelligence and strategic guidance to management teams of the world’s top media, entertainment and technology organizations. PQ Media delivers intelligent data and analytics to high-level executives to empower them to make smarter, faster business decisions amid the transforming global media and technology ecosystem. Our well-respected team of industry analysts and proven econometric methodology drive the annual PQ Media Global Media & Technology Series, a three-report suite of exclusive market intelligence that helps drive client growth objectives with a laser focus on the media economy’s key performance indicators: operating company revenues, consumer time spent with media, and consumer spending on media content and technology. Furthermore, with the myriad of changes to the media ecosystem, key media stakeholders reach out to PQ Media for strategic intelligence to help in their decision-making process because of the unique data and trends analysis that we can offer. As a result, we developed a broader portfolio of custom consulting services to meet the growing needs of our clients.

MEDIA CONTACTS

ANA
John Wolfe
Director of Communications
Office: 212.455.8011
Cell: 914.659.8663
Email: jwolfe@ana.net

PQ MEDIA
Leo Kivijarv
Executive Vice President/Research
Office: 203.921.5249
Cell: 203.273.7081
Email: lkivijarv@pqmedia.com