Internet usage increases among U.S. Hispanics

U.S. Hispanics are using the Internet longer and with more sophistication than they were a year ago, according to a study released this week by comScore Media Metrix.

U.S. Hispanics spent an average of 26.5 hours online in September 2003, up 24 percent compared with October 2002, while visiting on average 30 percent more pages, an indication that “the Internet is playing an increasingly important role in Hispanics’ lives,” the market researcher said a statement Wednesday.

The study also reiterated that companies must have content in English and Spanish in order to fully serve U.S. Hispanics, 52 percent of which prefer sites in English and 21 percent in Spanish. The remaining 28 percent are bilingual and have no preference.

Time Warner nabbed first place in reaching U.S. Hispanics by drawing 76 percent of them (9.7 million) to its network of Web sites in September. It was closely followed by Yahoo (9.6 million) and Microsoft (9.4 million).

Among Spanish-language sites, Terra Networks SA’s network of sites ranked first among U.S. Hispanics in September, followed by Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft’s YupiMSN.

The study also found a significant increase in online banking use among U.S. Hispanics.

There were about 12.6 million U.S. Hispanic Internet users as of September 2003, up about 6 percent from October 2002, a comScore Media Metrix spokesman said.

The study was based on a continuous measurement of the Web behavior of 50,000 U.S. Hispanic Internet users.

Based in Reston, Virginia, comScore Media Metrix is a division of comScore Networks.