Latinos Watch More Television, Says Nielsen Co.

Latinos in the Los Angeles area watch considerably more television than the general population, according to a new study by the A. C. Nielsen Co.

The study, based on people meters in 200 Latino households throughout Southern California, was designed as a pilot for Nielsen’s new 800-household National Hispanic Television Service, which the rating research firm plans to launch early next year to measure viewing habits of Latino households.

The nationwide service will be independent of the better-known 4,000-household Nielsen service that reports overall national TV ratings. (About 8% of the national sample is Latino.) According to the new Nielsen study, conducted between June 14 and July 11, 61% of Latino households had their televisions on during the 8 to 11 p.m. Monday through Sunday prime-time period, compared to 54% for general population. Daytime television was watched by 44.5% of Latino households compared to 31.3% for the overall Los Angeles market. In addition, the study showed 71% of Latino households own a VCR, and 29.6% subscribe to cable television.

Nielsen estimates that there are 1.12 million Latino households with television in the Los Angeles area.

The company puts the national Latino number at 6.1 million.