Report sees rise in restaurant advertising aimed at Hispanics

According to a new report from AHAA: the Voice of Hispanic Marketing, the Hispanic advertising share in the restaurant industry has soared to 11.4 percent from 2010 to 2014, while the Hispanic share of overall ad spend among the top 500 advertisers increased to 8.5 percent. This explosive growth indicates restaurant marketers understand the revenue that can be generated by the Latino consumer – in fact, this category has boosted their aggregate Hispanic advertising spend by 68 percent to $559 million in 2014.

The average Hispanic advertising investment per Restaurant Company also made a leap of 30 percent from $16.6 million in 2010 to $21.5 million in 2014. Furthermore, the restaurant category has moved ahead of their top 500 U.S. advertiser peers by allocating 11.4 percent to Hispanic dedicated media. This means that this category has evolved from being a "Follower" in 2010, defined as companies who assign 3.6 to 6.3 percent of their marketing budget to Hispanic dedicated efforts, to becoming a "Leader," defined as investments between 6.4 and 14.2 percent. McDonald's, Yum Brands and Wendy's lead in Hispanic ad dollars, while Whataburger, Denny's and AFC Enterprises lead in Hispanic share of overall ad spend with allocations above 20 percent.

Over the past five years, the top 500 advertisers boosted their spending in Hispanic targeted media by 61 percent or $2.7 billion from $4.4 billion in 2010 to $7.1 billion. The top 500 marketers boosted their average spending from $9 million in Hispanic targeted media in 2010 to $14 million now below the restaurant category new average of $21.5 million.

AHAA is a national trade organization of all marketing, communications and media firms with Hispanic expertise.