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Caramba! With word that Hispanics are becoming the largest minority group in the United States, now comes news that this demographic slice of the population is edging out the general U.S. Internet population in some important areas of online use.

U.S. Hispanic Internet users on average spend more time online than overall U.S. Internet users, according to a study released Monday. In the past two years, the U.S. Hispanic Internet population has grown faster than the overall U.S. Internet population, it finds.

U.S. Hispanic users spend an average of 16 percent more time online per week than the general U.S. Internet population, according to the study, based on surveys conducted by the country's largest ISP, America Online, and market researcher RoperASW.

Plunging In

In terms of growth, 48 percent of U.S. Hispanics surveyed first went online in the past two years, as opposed to 21 percent in the general U.S. population, a sign that the U.S. Hispanic online population is growing faster.

As would be expected, a majority of U.S. Hispanic respondents placed importance on having content in both English and Spanish.

While U.S. Hispanics are online, they are more likely to be engaged in some form of entertainment activity than U.S. Internet users in general, the survey found. For example, more U.S. Hispanic respondents than U.S. Internet users in general reported playing music directly from the Internet (50 percent versus 40 percent), downloading music files (44 percent versus 33 percent) and watching video clips (36 percent versus 29 percent).

Among online shoppers, U.S. Hispanics reported spending an average of $439 over the past three months, not too distant from the average of $543 among U.S. Internet users in general. Two shopping categories which U.S. Hispanics are more likely to tap than the general U.S. online population are consumer electronic items and home-delivered groceries, the survey found. U.S. Hispanics are as likely as the general U.S. online population to purchase concert, event, or movie tickets, and CDs or DVDs, and a little less likely to purchase clothes and computer hardware and software.

In addition, a higher percentage of U.S. Hispanic Internet users (41 percent) than the general U.S. online population (24 percent) find online advertising informative, which is good news for advertisers interested in reaching Hispanic consumers by online methods.

Survey Specs

AOL and RoperASW conducted the surveys for the study by telephone in September and October 2002. AOL and RoperASW polled 301 Hispanic Internet users in either English or Spanish and 1001 U.S. Internet users. The U.S. Hispanic survey carries a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percent, while the survey of overall Internet users has a minus or plus 3 percent margin of error.

The survey of overall U.S. Internet users included some Hispanics in its sample, which was a random cross section of respondents, according to an AOL spokeswoman.

She also said the Hispanic sample didn't include users living in Puerto Rico, a Spanish-speaking U.S. territory that is one of four markets AOL manages under its AOL Latin America subsidiary, along with Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, she said.

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