by Kirk Whisler
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Kirk Whisler, who nearly three decades ago put together the founding team of the National Association of Hispanic Publications, has continued to track the OASgrowth of Hispanic Print annually through his I Carlsbad, Calif.-based Latino Print Network. Here he |offers Hispanic Link Weekly Report readers a preview account of his upcoming report on what transpired in 2007, a year in which English language print media reported disturbing declines across the board).
U.S. Hispanic publications generated $1.7 billion in total revenues last year.
With Latinos now comprising 15 percent of the nation’s population, the year 2007 was another one of growth for its print publications.
More than half (54 percent) of its households use Hispanic newspapers on a weekly basis. In fact, nearly a third read more than one title per week.
As a solid sign of the continuing growth, 40°/O of today’s Hispanic newspapers were started in this decade. At the end of 2007 there were 827 in the USA, including Puerto Rico, with the addition of 92 in the past two years. Circulation is also on the rise, having increased by 800,000 over the same period.
Magazines are filling many different roles. Local glossy magazines are probably the most unsung success going on within Hispanic Print. Last year saw the segment grow by 15 publications as revenues advanced from $37 million to $42 million. This segment also continues to transition toward English. The quality of these magazines has also improved significantly.
Local newsprint magazines, many of them weeklies, held solid and saw $3 million in growth. Spanish is the strongest in this magazine category. National Hispanic magazines were also very strong, up 1.2 million in circulation and $18 million in ad revenues.
Employment keeps growing. Employment in Hispanic Print topped 17,000forthe first time, a positive in this era of media consolidation. Over 4,600 of the employees are editors and writers – an impressive number in these days of declining editorial staffs.
Bilingual newspapers are more popular. In 2000 there were 58 bilingual Hispanic newspapers. Today there are 189 with a combined circulation of 4.2 million.
Tabloids are surging, with 81 percent of all Hispanic newspapers nowtabloid format, up from 59 percent in 2000.
There are two areas where the Latino press felt the same market influences as did the English-language media industry: Hispanic newspapers experienced a decline in ad revenue. It dipped by a couple percentage points. Hispanic Print Network has been analyzing trends for Hispanic Print since the late 1970s.
From the mid-1980s till the early 2000s, every year saw double-digit growth in Hispanic print advertising.
Last year was the first we’ve ever seen a decrease, and that was for Hispanic newspapers.
Decline in Spanish-language dailies. Between 2005 and 2007 nine Spanish language newspapers ceased as dailies, with four folding and five switching to a weekly frequency. There are still a number of very strong Spanish-language dailies in the USA.
The demise of some City, New Jersey Miguel Cotto vs Alphonso Gomez (WBA welterweight championship) Kermit Cintron vs Antonio Margarito (IBF welterweight championship)of the weaker ones should not be seen as a negative so much as the evolution toward fewer but strong dailies in key markets and many more quality weeklies.
Weeklies seem to be a better fit for many people’s media habits.
More audits than ever. The year saw 211 audited Hispanic publications with a combined circulation of over 18 million.
Spanish-language yellow pages have arrived in large numbers only recently within the Hispanic market, but they are growing ever more formidable every year. With 149 yellow-page publications in 2007, we’re likely to see continued solid growth over the next few years.
The year 2008 promises to be a good one for strong Hispanic publications as they fine-tune their sales efforts and continue improvement in editorial and graphic quality, as well as branch onto the internet.
