Google Focuses On Latino Market

Google wants to get its hands on the Latino market and it has a plan of action to do so. The company has created a “specialist team” to focus on the market and plans to be methodical about connecting with this market across platforms, Google officials told MediaPost.

About a year and a half Google decided to pursue the Latino market, which had become “too big to ignore,” at $5 billion dollars across media platforms like TV, radio, print and online. The market is especially big for Google since Latinos in the U.S. are 58% more likely to click on search ads than the general population. What that means is Google’s big moneymaker, search ads, are more likely to be used by Latinos.

One reason for this is that 78% of Latinos use the Internet as their primary source of information, more so than TV, friends or family. Mobile, something Google is set to hire tons of people to work on this year, is another big Latino market, as Latinos text at a rate greater than the rest of the population.

Google is hoping to keep their messages relevant, even if it means Spanglish, but also to try to penetrate Asian and African-American markets. This news makes me happy only because it means that, even if Latinos and other ethnic groups are still struggling for cultural equality, they are gaining economic equality. That’s what I love about business and advertising:  No one cares about who you are, just what you can do for them.

As Latinos become an ever-important economic force, there will be cultural repercussions which, hopefully, will edge towards equality and tolerance.