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The 2000 Census found that 12.5% of the U.S. population of more than 280 million was Hispanic - a bigger market than all of Canada - and projects the share to be nearly 18% by 2020. Last year, Spanish-language TV’s ad sales rose 16.9%, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, making it No. 2 in ad market growth after the Internet.

And there’s still plenty of running room. Spanish-language media accounted for just 4% of the $106.5 billion advertisers spent on TV, local newspapers and national magazines last year. That’s one reason Kagan Research forecasts spending on Hispanic broadcast and cable networks will grow 16.4% a year through 2009, surpassing English-language counterparts’ forecast of 9.4% a year.

Such numbers have pushed companies that have successfully appealed to Hispanic audiences to look for opportunities to reach other ethnic groups. Cable and satellite companies in particular are scrambling for deals to retransmit shows from China, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Poland, Greece, Israel, Italy, Vietnam and elsewhere.

Among other factors that could make this ethnic media’s breakout year, ad and audience surges in ethnic media are expected this month during football’s quadrennial World Cup championship. And Wall Street’s estimation of ethnic media could rocket depending on the outcome of Univision’s current search for a buyer. Investors already value the USA’s largest Spanish-language broadcaster - with 62 TV stations on the mainland and in Puerto Rico along with other networks and media properties - at more than $10 billion.

“Despite all of the activity in this market, we’re just in the top of the second inning, maybe the bottom of the first,” says John Paton, CEO of ImpreMedia, the largest Spanish-language newspaper publisher.

Source: USA Today