According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently about 197,000 Hispanics in Charlotte with a projected annual growth rate of about 14%. The median household income per year is estimated at $67K with an average of 4 working people per household. It is a young demographic, with the average Latino being 25 years old. 68% of the Hispanic population is male, and almost 70% hail from Mexico. Charlotte’s current spending power is over $3.1 billion and is expected to grow to about $4.9 billion by 2010.
Qué Pasa is North Carolina’s largest Hispanic newspaper, and also publishes editions in Greensboro/Winston-Salem and Raleigh/Durham. It distributes 32,000 copies per week. Content is split 50/50 between local and national coverage.
The paper includes two magazines: Reven is a magazine devoted to entertainment, while Qué Pasión is devoted to sports. These magazines offer advertisers vehicles in which to target specific audiences. Advertisers include Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Bank of America, Sprint, Time Warner and others.
Founded in 1997, La Noticia is a weekly Spanish language paper with a circulation of 28,000. The paper focuses primarily on local news, with 90% of the coverage dedicated to local news and events. The advertising split is similarly weighted toward local advertising. Publisher Hilda Gurdian cites the growth of the Hispanic middle class as a notable demographic trend to note, pointing to an annual spending power of $3.1 billion. The paper sources its national and international news content from Efe.
*For the month of May, Portada will feature a new emerging market profile in each newsletter. These profiles originally appeared in Portada’s April/May print issue as part of a larger piece on emerging markets and are being published here in their entirety. Next week’s May 19th newsletter will include a profile of Little Rock, Arkansas.