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Comcast Targets Latinos With Yahoo-Like Site: BROADBAND FIRM, TERRA.COM TEAM UP

Posted on: Tuesday, 7 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Michele Chandler, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

Mar. 7--Comcast is teaming up with the nation's most popular Spanish language site, Terra.com, to create "Comcast Latino," a Yahoo-like site with news, video clips, e-mail service and other online services.

Comcast, the nation's largest broadband provider, hopes the new site will attract more subscribers to its services from the fast-growing U.S. Hispanic market.

"The addition of Comcast Latino on Comcast.net further demonstrates Comcast's commitment to providing content that reflects the diverse interests of our customers," said Charlie Herrin, Comcast's senior vice president of Internet product development. Nearly 15 million Hispanics in the United States logged onto the Internet in January, according to comScore Media Metrix, which researches the industry. In addition, U.S. Hispanics viewed 122.5 pages per day, according to comScore, more than the U.S. average of 120.5 pages a day.

"The Latino community is a very connected community," said Herrin. "They tend to spend a little more time online and more time flipping through pages, seeking entertainment information. News from their home country is also a big driver," he said.

The Latino population in the Bay Area is a substantial market. Nearly 25 percent of Santa Clara County is Hispanic or Latino, according to Census figures from 2004. Alameda County is about 21 percent Hispanic; San Mateo County about 23 percent.

Comcast says the Spanish-language site will offer a mix of Hispanic and general interest items. Some examples on Terra.com on Monday: news of American tennis star James Blake's win over top-seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt in a tournament in Las Vegas, and a story about Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla.

While the official start-up happens today, the service was quietly initiated without fanfare several months ago.

There are 5 million Hispanic households in Comcast's service area of 35 states plus Washington, D.C., Herrin said, but Comcast is not saying how many of them are its customers now.

In all, Comcast has 8.5 million broadband customers, company officials said.

Comcast said its partnership with Terra.com will not affect its deal to carry Spanish-language music videos from Planeta, another site that delivers Hispanic content on the Internet.

Joseph Anthony, chief executive of Vital Marketing Group, a marketing firm, said the partnership makes sense in an increasingly multicultural society.

"Among Latinos, the acculturation rate is very high and fast. A lot of them, while interested in content relevant to their culture, are also interested in content relevant to the general market world, because that's where they live," he said.

Comcast said it is investigating whether to add similar services for other languages. "We want to make our services as relevant to as many people as possible. Hispanics are one we wanted to focus on right out of the gate," Herrin said.

Contact Michele Chandler at mchandler@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5731.

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Copyright (c) 2006, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: San Jose Mercury News

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