Ever since the 2000 census, which revealed just how large the U.S. Hispanic population had grown, marketers have been heavily targeting that demographic.

Yet all these years later a number of misperceptions remain about Hispanics, especially their media consumption. They are still widely thought of as big newspaper readers, for example.

But as it turns out, Hispanics are big consumers of electronic media and only light consumers of print media, according to a new study. They’re also big internet users.

The study found that 67 percent of Hispanics surveyed spent some time watching TV each week, while 56 percent spent time listening to radio.  

“Overall, I was surprised at the heavy levels of radio consumption,” says Trevor Thompson, global head of polling for the Associated Press, which initiated the study in conjunction with Univision, Nielsen and Stanford University.

Newspaper and magazine usage is significantly lower at 36 percent and 29 percent respectively.
 
In fact, ahead of both print media is the internet. More than four out of 10 respondents visit Spanish-language web sites weekly.

Further, nearly 75 percent of respondents have computers at home, and of that number some 90 percent have internet service and 86 percent of that number have a high-speed connection.

The survey was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center, which is affiliated with the University of Chicago, between March 11 and June 3.

The sample included more than 1,500 Hispanic adults aged 18 and up, making it possibly the largest study of Hispanic-American attitudes and behaviors ever undertaken, Thompson says.

Nearly half of the sample was born in America with another quarter having lived here for 10 years or more. Only 4 percent of the respondents had been in the U.S. for less than five years. Seventy percent of the respondents were citizens and more than half of the non-citizens plan to become one.

One of the other interesting things to come out of the study was the sense among Hispanics for the need to maintain their cultural heritage. This contradicts a perception that Hispanics are particularly anxious to assimilate into American culture.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents agreed that it was important for Hispanics/Latinos to maintain their own distinct culture, and that percentage was even higher—74 percent—among U.S.-born Hispanics who speak only or primarily English at home.

This is true both in both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking households.

A big part of that means consuming Spanish-language media.

“When we asked where do you go to find information about health issues and politics, among people who choose to speak Spanish at home, overwhelmingly they go to Spanish TV and Spanish radio,” says Ceril Shagrin, who heads audience measurement at Univision.

Some of the other findings of the wide-ranging study reveal that the Hispanic population is 42 percent Democrat, 13 percent independent and 12 percent Republican, with 28 percent saying they had no political preference.
 
As a whole, U.S. Hispanics are optimistic about the future; 58 percent say it will be easier for their children to find good jobs while 30 percent say it will be harder; 51 percent say it will be easier to buy a home compared to 34 percent who say harder; and 43 percent believe it will be easier to raise a family while 36 percent think it will be tougher.