An increasing number of players are tapping into the business of creating mobile content for Spanish-speaking audiences. In Spain mobile content, including digital music downloads, generates $1.5 billion annually.
According to trade magazine Frecuencia, Latin markets are ripe as competition is still relatively tame, yet content business is already worth well over $100 million this year and growing at a rate of over 200% per year. This is the time to enter the business in order to be among the few that will gain a place in this particular stage. Mobile applications are multiplying and each Latin market has its own preferences and participants. These are vital indicators to be carefully considered at the time of designing penetration strategies for the different markets.
Batanga-Barrio Mobile
Batanga, the US Hispanic brand of Hispanic Media, Inc. (HMI) and one of the fastest-growing online publishers in the US Hispanic market, recently signed a deal to offer its Latin music news, reviews and interviews via Barrio Mobile, a content brand of Lagardere Active North America. Barrio Mobile is a Latino mobile content destination, providing cell phone users with unique ringtones (reggaeton, Latino hip-hop, dance and rock en español), and urban Latino-themed wallpapers. Barrio Mobile is currently distributed in the US through Sprint/Nextel, Boost, Cingular/AT&T and T-Mobile.
Barrio Mobile was launched in the spring of 2005 offering original, exclusive music from luminary artists such as Tego Calderon, Cuban Link, Pitbull, Don Dinero and Louie Vega, along with new original tones from Latin entertainment industry mogul Emilio Estefan.
Hispanics over-index
According to a study released late 2004 by Forrester Research, US Hispanics are younger than any other group and their purchasing power now exceeds $ 550 million. 70% to 75% of Hispanics living in major US cities and 86% of Hispanic teenagers in New York and Los Angeles own mobile phones. US Hispanics spend 10% more on their mobile telephone bills than the national average. As many content aggregators and service providers are discovering, US Hispanics are younger than any other group, are the most intensive users (12% more than whites) of cutting edge features such as color screens, Bluetooth headsets, and hi-end camera phones.