Industry News: Telemundo Targets 'Generation YLA'

Census, Research Shows Hispanic Gains, Notably With Young Latino Americans
by Laura Martinez -- Multichannel News, 2/15/2011 10:05:38 PM

Armed with proprietary research and Census numbers, Telemundo is going after "Generation YLA."

When the Census Bureau finishes releasing 2010 U.S. Census results, the figures will show what many in the media already suspected: That Hispanics are driving the population growth in America, and accounting for double-digit growth in places that have not been considered "traditional Hispanic hubs" before.
Raul Cisneros of the U.S. Census Bureau

For instance, according to data released earlier this month for Maryland, Arkansas, Iowa, Indiana and Vermont, Hispanic growth is outpacing non-Hispanic growth in each state by double-digit margins.

In Arkansas, for example, the Hispanic population has more than doubled, with Hispanics driving 41% of the overall growth in the state.

These and other staggering statistics were part of a presentation Tuesday morning by Raul Cisneros, the Chief of Media Relations at the U.S. Census Bureau, who was invited to address a group of clients and trade media gathered by NBC-Universal and Telemundo in Manhattan.

The Census data served as an introduction to Telemundo's "Generation YLA Study," a proprietary study exploring self identification, cultural and language fluidity, media consumption, TV viewing and technology adoption by Young Latino Americans (YLA), ages 18 to 34, who not surprisingly are one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population.

According to current U.S. Census data, the population of Hispanics between 20-34 will rise to 30 million in 2050, compared to 12 million today. In addition, the majority of the growth will come from those Hispanics born in the U.S. and not from immigration.

"These guys are young, they are Latinos and, yes, they are 100% American too!" says Jacqueline Hernandez, COO of Telemundo. "Sounds confusing? No. These guys find it easy to toggle in and out of both the Hispanic and American cultures, and that defines who they are."

It is with this demographic in mind that Telemundo and sister cable net mun2 are shaping the programming strategy for the now Comcast-owned networks. "We want to reflect all of that in our telenovelas, our music shows and our reality shows," says Hernandez, who was pleased to hear Cisneros of the Census Bureau also use the YLA term in his remarks.

Among the study's findings: YLAS are known as the "always-connected generation."

Some figures: 94% have access to the Internet at home; 84% have high-speed Internet and 87% cannot live without their mobile devices.

As for television viewing, the group seems to move easily from English to Spanish and while they might be technologically savvy, they have not seemed to embraced Spanish-language cable, yet. Per Telemundo's research, 35% of YLA's watch Spanish-language broadcast TV; 31% watch English-language cable; 12% watch English broadcast TV and only 6% said to watch Spanish-language cable.

This, says Hernandez, is rapidly changing, with Spanish-language cable growing rapidly and offering more options.

Thanks Multichannel News!

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