Join Forces with Top Brands at Portada Live, NYC, Sept, 19, 2024!

Is the Big Hit Targeting Latinas Yet to Come?

Women's Magazines and Digital Properties

Content

Are there any publications in the Hispanic market that can be compared to the general market “Seven Sisters,” which have a combined circulation of more than 25 million (The mass-market women’s magazines known as Better Homes & Gardens, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Ladies’ Home Journal, Redbook and Women’s Day and McCall’s (ceased publication in 2002)?

In the last few years several “Seven Sisters” like magazines have been launched in the Hispanic market. These are magazines mostly designed to empower Latina women, with tips and advice about work and home life.

Media planners interviewed by Portada say there is too much emphasis on entertainment in Hispanic magazines.

They often admit that Hispanics do like entertainment, but often media buyers and their clients would like to see something meatier. To meet this demand, Selecciones (Readers Digest’s Spanish-language publication) is going to launch a test issue of a new women’s service magazine in June.


Home improvement…

In November 2005,Casa y Hogar, a Sanish-language magazine dedicated to home ownership, home decoration, home remodeling and home design launched as an insert in different Spanish-language newspapers nationwide.

Carrier papers include El Diario/La Prensa (New York), La Opinión (Los Angeles), Diario La Estrella (Dallas/Ft. Worth), Rumbo (4 Texas editions), Conexión (San Antonio), El Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale), El Nuevo Herald (Miami), La Raza (Chicago). The bimonthly publication has a circulation of 1,000,000 and advertisers include Moen (a manufacturer of plumbing supplies), Home Depot, DirecTV Sears and Armstrong Flooring. Casa y Hogar is backed by Publications Services of America (PSA), a magazine publisher for the newspaper industry. PSA publishes mostly shelter titles. Its publications have a circulation of close to 3 million. (For more information about the Home Improvement Category read: “Advertisers fail to capitalize on Hispanic Housing Boom, page 1, Portada November/December 2006).

Casa y Hogar has plans to launch Vida y Salud, a magazine that will cover family life and health issues. Vida y Salud is currently published as a section of Casa y Hogar, but there are plans to spin it off as a stand-alone magazine.

Vida y Salud will have the same distribution method as Casa y Hogar, which is mostly distributed as a Hispanic newspaper insert. Vida y Salud expects to attract a significant amount of pharmaceutical companies as advertisers as well as other ad categories, like financial (insurance, personal finance) and Consumer Product Companies.

Another publication that like Casa y Hogar is distributed via carrier newspapers, and targets Hispanic women is Kena. Launched this year, KENA seeks to become a trusted friend to today’s Hispanic women, offering guidance, support, and inspiration to help readers achieve balance across all areas of their lives. It launched with 600,000 audited copies per issue, appearing on a bimonthly basis via the Top 8 U.S.

Hispanic newspapers: La Opinión in Los Angeles, El Diario la Prensa in New York, La Raza in Chicago, El Nuevo Herald in Miami, Al Día in Dallas, La Voz in Houston, Fronteras in the San Francisco Bay Area, and La Voz in Phoenix.

Another publication, whose editorial mission revolves around home, family and self-improvement, with a strong emphasis on pragmatic, service oriented how-to information is Siempre Mujer! “It’s a reader-driven magazine,” says Ruth Gaviria, publisher and executive director of Meredith Hispanic Ventures. According to Gaviria, Siempre Mujer! has a more pragmatic and how-to content than Meredith’s general market women’s publications (e.g. Better Homes and Gardens).

Nothing is translated from Meredith’s English-language women’s titles. Siempre Mujer! is written with a specific Latina reader in mind,” Gaviria adds. Beauty and Fashion, as well as Home Décor and Design, play an important part in the publication’s editorial content.

Meredith uses a variety of formats for Siempre Mujer! “We are open to an online presence, as well as to TV,” Gaviria notes. Custom publishing projects leveraging Siempre Mujer!’s brand may also offer interesting opportunities to advertisers. Recently, Siempre Mujer! started to add blogs to its website.

Database of Hispanic women Enedina Vega, national sales Director at Meredith Hispanic Ventures, says that Meredith utilizes its growing Hispanic database to do direct mailings, primarily for their existing print partners. “We have been able to capture data on many of the Hispanic women who read our publications and have developed a database that is in the hundreds of thousands,” says Vega. She adds that in order to win advertisers, publishers have to do a lot more than just sell ad space. “We have to be able to put together ad programs which include a combination of media,” explains Vega.


Failures

Some women magazines publishing projects have not worked out: This shows that only titles targeted to very specific audiences are able to capture a still low amount of advertising dollars.

Las year American Media closed Shape en español, a Spanish-language magazine launched in September 2005. The monthly magazine (circ. 100,000) targeted young Latina women. Mira! (biweekly, circ. 120,000, Spanish) is now the only magazine targeting Hispanics published by American Media. Mira!, a tabloid about celebrities, is predominantly sold at retail locations and targets Spanish-dominant women. 

Portada Staff and Carrie Barnes

Meet & Learn
Portada Live Events

Popular Now

Boost Your Sales

Who is Moving Now

The Latest

Get our e-letters packed with news and intelligence!