Spanish-Language News Grows as English Media Slumps

Spanish-language newspapers, magazines, television and radio shows all experienced growth in 2010. And Univision is launching a 24-hour news channel.

By Jorge Rivas Aug 30, 2011

Spanish-language media had an overall overall larger audience than the mainstream English-language media in the U.S., according to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Across the board, Spanish-language newspapers, magazines, television and radio shows all experienced growth in 2010. However, unlike English-media consumers, Latinos did not access media on the Internet at the rates of other Americans.

Spanish-language television had an even more positive year, according to the report. Univision’s audience continued to grow and now competes with—-and in some timeslots outpaces—-audiences for ABC, CBS and NBC.

Some interesting finding found in the report:

  • The total number of Latino newspapers remained stable in 2010 (832 versus 835 in 2009), according to the Latino Print Network. And the largest cohort—-weekly publications—-grew by 18 percent to 117 papers.
  • Univision has plans to launch a 24-hour news network, Univision 24/7. The channel is expected to debut sometime in 2012. While details on the channel have yet to be released, it will be distinct from Univision’s existing cable channel Galavisión and will draw heavily on the strength of Univision’s current news division.
  • Bilingualism seems to have led to less Spanish-language television watching, though viewing there is still strong.
  • Bilingual and English-dominant Latinos are far ahead of Spanish-dominant Latinos in many measures of digital usage.

The digital divide between Latinos and whites remained in 2010. About two-thirds of Latino (65 percent) and African American (66 percent) adults went online in 2010, compared with 77 percent of white adults. And only 45 percent of Latinos have broadband access at home, compared with 52 percent of blacks and 65 percent of whites.

The report, "Hispanic Media: Faring Better than the Mainstream Media," can be accessed on the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism website.