Ereader penetration growth particularly pronounced
Like for many newer devices, young, affluent college graduates are the overall heaviest users of tablets and ereaders. But when device ownership is broken down by race and ethnicity, the results go beyond the typical early adopter profile. Hispanics skew higher than black or white consumers in ownership of both types of device.
Pew Internet and American Life Project surveyed US consumers and found that, broken down into those three groups, more Hispanics were early adopters of tablets. In November 2010, 7% of Hispanics owned tablets, compared with 4% of blacks or whites. Just six months later, the percentage of usage among all three ethnic groups had about doubled, but the disparity remained.
For ereaders, the trajectory has been a bit different. In November, Pew reported fairly even ereader adoption across racial and ethnic lines. But Hispanics tripled ereader penetration between November and May, to 15%, while whites and blacks increased ownership at a slower pace.
Another survey, by the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University, found that US minorities—including blacks, Asians, Spanish-speaking Hispanics and English-speaking Hispanics—have higher levels of tablet and ereader ownership than non-Hispanic whites.
Among minorities, more Hispanics than blacks or Asians own or plan to own ereaders or tablets in the next year. The only exception was among Asians, who either own or plan to own a tablet in greater numbers than English-speaking Hispanics.
The trend of Hispanic early adopters may be attributed to the tremendous buying power of US Hispanics, which is projected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2015—a cumulative increase of around 25%, according to Packaged Facts. That increase also makes Hispanics particularly attractive for marketers.
SOURCE eMarketer
[…] It’s no surprise that young, well-off, college graduates are the heaviest users of newer devices such as tablets and ereaders. What is a surprise, though, is that when device ownership is broken down according to race and ethnicity, Hispanics have higher ownership rates than both black and white consumers. In November 2010, 7% of Hispanics owned tablets, compared to 4% of blacks and whites. Six months later, the percentage of usage among the three groups had just about doubled (leaving the disparity exactly the same). With ereders, the ownership trajectory has been a bit different. In November, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported nearly even ereader adoption rates among the three groups. Hispanic ereader penetration, however, tripled between November and May, while whites and blacks increased ownership at a much slower rate. See the official results for yourself here. […]