BURBANK, Calif., Oct. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- By 2044, the U.S. will be a multicultural majority with 50% or more representing Hispanic, African-American or Asian populations, according to the U.S. Census. A new report released today by ThinkNow, a technology driven cultural insights agency in partnership with The Center for Multicultural Science and MAGNA, finds that brands are underinvesting in digital advertising spend to reach multicultural consumers. For the first time, The Multicultural Digital Report 2018 quantifies digital advertising spend by ethnicity and race. Historically, U.S. digital spend was measured by language for the Latino population, and had never been reported for African-Americans and Asians. Digital ad spend was simply rolled into one overall number—until now. The report suggests that brands will need to invest more in digital and with multicultural consumers to help drive growth.
"Brands aren't keeping pace with the changing multicultural population and its preferences to interact in an authentic and culturally appropriate way," says Mario X. Carrasco, co-founder and principal, ThinkNow. "Companies need to adapt more quickly using new research tools to reach multicultural consumers such as Gen Z who is increasing its purchasing power every year."