WASHINGTON, Oct. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- A new report released today, Hispanics Go to the Movies: Starring Mobile and Social found that Hispanics' movie-going habits far exceed that of the general US population, however discovery and purchasing habits were not as technology-driven as expected, given recent Hispanic mobile usage statistics.  

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Hispanics' top sources for movie discovery are traditional ones, such as word of mouth, in theatre movie trailers and TV ads.  While 75% use mobile to find movie listings, 92% of respondents still buy movie tickets at the theater. 

The results were even more surprising given the respondents were members of the MocoSpace mobile gaming platform.

The findings indicate that the movie industry has opportunities to better reach, engage and increase sales by enhancing mobile capabilities and content. Almost 85% of respondents expressed interest in mobile capabilities and content enhancements. Top areas for improvement included mobile enabled deals and promo alerts, reward programs and trailer previews.

Holidays and opening weekends stand out as opportunities to better market and reach Hispanics via their mobile phones. 73% of Hispanics reported going to a movie theater over a holiday and 58% on movie opening weekends.

"We are honored to have taken part in this very relevant, important endeavor. Our agency, along with our client NBC Universal Motion Pictures, and dedicated media partners, see great strength and value in continued research and analytics of Hispanic entertainment consumption habits, especially when it comes to motion pictures in the United States. Good research lights the way for us to continue building Latinos' participation in today's vast entertainment landscape."

Lopez Negrete Communications, Inc. CEO and President Alex López Negrete

"Unlike overall US consumer behavior, Hispanics continue to go to the movies in record numbers.  MocoSpace sees very strong results with movie release campaigns.  The creative campaigns see high engagement with movie premiere fan pages, badges, videos/trailers, banners, etc.  I believe there is tremendous, untapped upside for the movie studios to engage Hispanics on mobile."

Justin Siegel, co-founder of MocoSpace.

"Movie marketers are still in the early days for reaching and engagingmovie goers with mobile overall. Marketers might want to begin with Hispanics, given their high attendance and mobile first habits. Opening weekends and holidays seem like the right place to start."

Julie Diaz-Asper, founding partner, Social Lens Research

Social Lens Research recruited 2,308 respondents via MocoSpace, a mobile game platform targeting multicultural and on-the-go consumers, to determine if movie discovery and purchasing habits among Hispanics relied heavily on the use of social media and mobile phones.  Lopez Negrete Communications offered strategic guidance around the Hispanic market and movie industry expertise to the study.

For detailed study results visit: www.sociallensresearch.com

MocoSpace is a leading social media destination on the mobile Internet, with over thirty million registered users. Every day, users spend more than one million hours finding new friends, chatting, listening to music, watching videos, joining fan pages and playing games from all web enabled devices. For a trendy, multicultural, on-the-go generation, MocoSpace is the mobile community of choice. Launched in 2005, the company is based in Boston, Mass., and is backed by General Catalyst and Softbank Capital. For more information, visit www.jnjmobile.com

Lopez Negrete Communications, Inc. is the nation's largest independent, Hispanic owned and operated, full-service agency specializing in Hispanic marketing. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, with offices in Los Angeles and New York, the company's capitalized billings were $193.5 million in 2012. Since 1985, Lopez Negrete has offered a full range of advertising, marketing and public relations services to industry leaders, including Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bank of America, Verizon Communications Inc., Kraft Foods (Kraft Singles and Kraft Natural Cheeses), NBC Universal Motion Pictures Group, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, AARP, , Chrysler Corporation, Samsung Telecommunications America, the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation and others. With more than 200 employees, Lopez Negrete Communications, Inc. is a proven leader in providing fully integrated national Hispanic marketing and communications services. For more information, go to www.lopeznegrete.com.

Social Lens Research, based in Washington DC, helps companies make research a more social experience. It creates engaging research experiences that are social and mobile to better understand hard-to-reach audiences. Our proprietary social influencer panel, makes it easy to find and manage social media influencers who serve both as participants and recruiters for our research projects; allowing us to efficiently recruit niche, hard to reach and high quality participants. For more information, visit www.sociallensresearch.com.

Media Contact: Julie Diaz-Asper, Social Lens Research, 2025508099, julieda@sociallensresearch.com

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SOURCE Social Lens Research

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