Media, technology and advertising companies have had their eyes on millennial Latinos for quite some time, since young Latinos in particular represent a wave of consumer power comparable to the boomer generation -- not to mention that seemingly every study and survey finds new ways in which they are "ahead of the curve."

For example, previous research has found that Latinos (of all ages) tend to own smartphones at a higher rate than the general population, and young Latinos upgrade their devices at every chance. They also use "second screens" (or watching TV while using a mobile device or laptop at the same time) more than any other consumer group, while also streaming online video more than an hour and a half longer every month than U.S. consumers, on average.

No wonder technology and media companies want to know as much about millennial Latinos as they can, and jump at the chance to find out more. It's been a minute since the last study on young Latino habits was released, so we're obviously overdue to add another study to the pile.

Enter the Hispanic Millennial Project (HMP), a co-production of market researcher ThinkNow and Sensis, an ad agency that represents firms and organizations from Southern California Public Radio to DirecTV to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. The project involved a series of surveys starting in March of 2014 and finishing this past April, looking at five distinct "waves", or subject matters like health care, financial services, and food and alcohol consumption. The research focused on Hispanic millennials, but included a cross-cultural range of millennials for comparison.

The final "Wave 5" was presented by Google and Verizon at Google's LA headquarters last week, and a preview of the study's findings -- looking at the relationship between young Latinos and media, technology and entertainment -- was posted on Engage:Hispanics at MediaPost. Here's a peak at what the latest wave of research on young Latinos and technology found.

Surprising TV Habits

Market researchers knew that millennial Latinos streamed a lot of TV, but the HMP's latest study discovered that not only do they still watch live TV, but just over half (55 percent) watch "at least" some Spanish-language TV.

In fact, the habit of watching Spanish-language TV holds up across the "acculturation" spectrum -- meaning even U.S.-born millennials that speak English still catch programs en español. In fact, among young U.S.-born Latinos, 47 percent watch Spanish TV, with the majority of young Latinos watching Spanish and English TV equally.

The full report hasn't been released yet, and so there's no detail on what kind of Spanish TV programming has millennials Latinos hooked to live TV -- in fact, 23 percent haven't "cut the cord" because of it -- but we'd make a pretty safe bet that the beautiful game has a lot to do with it.

Friction in Latinos' Role in Media? Not So Much

A pervasive issue in both Silicon Valley and Hollywood remains the underrepresentation of Latinos in both industries.

And a majority of millennial Latinos, like every other demographic studied, told the researchers that their Hispanic heritage played a strong role in the kind of entertainment they sought -- be it music, movies, or television.

Yet, the HMP study of millennial attitudes towards cultural portrayals in media indicates that young Latinos felt the ethnicity of actors and actresses in TV, at least, didn't impact their levels of interest for a particular program.

In fact, far more than either Asian American or African-American millennials, a majority (51 percent) of young Latinos indicated it made no difference, while only 45 percent -- far less than Asian or Black American millennials -- said it would make them more interested in a new TV program if the actors had the same ethnic background as they had.

So much for Norman Lear's all-Latino reboot of "One Day at a Time": It turns out the use of language might be more of a selling point for young Latinos than casting. That is, if the findings on Spanish TV and millennials has more behind it than the love of fútbol.

More on the Way Soon

The full report is due any day now, and there is probably a lot more to unpack and analyze. Check out Sensis president Jose Villa's MediaPost preview for more tidbits to tide you over until then.

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