Hooked on Telenovelas:

ICR Survey Shows Plot is the Key to Viewership

Media, Pennsylvania, May 4, 2005A recent study conducted by International Communications Research (ICR) indicates Hispanic Americans continue to watch Spanish-language soap operas, known as telenovelas, because they find them entertaining.

Almost half (44 percent) of Hispanics surveyed had watched a telenovela in the past week. Of those, 38 percent said they watched for entertainment purposes, most of them (24 percent) citing surprising plot development as the key reason they tune in.

Moses Frenck, Managing Editor of Adweek's Marketing y Medios magazine, said, Understanding who watches these shows and why is an important factor for marketers to determine where to spend their advertising dollars.

Key Findings

Gender plays a role, with 53 percent of women saying they watch, but more than a third of the men (35%) also watch.

Place of birth is a factor in viewership, with foreign-born Hispanics (51 percent) watching more than those born in the United States (33 percent).

Only 12 percent of respondents tune in because the programming is in their native language.

ICRs HispanicEXCEL study was conducted by telephone for Marketing y Medios magazine from April 13 to April 22, 2005, among a nationally representative sample of 832 Hispanic adults ages 18 and over. The margin of error is +/- 3.4 percent.

To access the full survey results or to learn more about ICR, please visit www.icrsurvey.com.

ICR, based in the Philadelphia suburb of Media , Pennsylvania , is a top-ranked and nationally recognized market research organization in the business-to-business and consumer markets. Through its research in the U.S. and over 70 countries worldwide, ICR provides consulting and research insights to its clients on a wide range of issues including branding, market segmentation, customer and employee satisfaction, loyalty, advertising, public relations, multicultural and ethnic marketing, social science, public policy, and many others.

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