Beyond the Charts: Why Investing in Latin Streaming Is a Brand Power Move

Latinos are one of the fastest-growing consumer segments, with spending projected to rise 1.3x faster than non-Hispanic consumers this decade. And Latin music is one of the most authentic ways to connect with them. So if your brand wants to resonate with one of the most powerful audiences, you need to invest in audio advertising.

That’s exactly what we discussed in our most recent webinar. Our experts, Kristia Watkins Melendez, Senior Specialist, Sales Marketing and Marcos Juarez, Director, Music Programming broke down the undeniable impact of Latin music, unpacked why brands should invest now, and showed attendees how to connect authentically with this audience on Pandora and SoundCloud.

Ready to dive in?

And if you’re short on time and just want the quick hits, we’ve got those too. Check out the top moments and key callouts from our conversation below.

Latinos Want to See Themselves Represented

“Latinos, just like everyone else, want to see themselves represented in the products and services that they're buying. And most importantly, they want to trust in a brand. I think that's more important now than ever before. We're in this climate where Latinos are feeling under attack, and so they want to feel that the brands that they are buying from really care about them. And so when a brand has built that trust through authentic representation and support, that results in the brand loyalty that's going to sustain your business today and in the future.” - Kristia Watkins Melendez

Latinos Are Not a Monolith

“I think all of us, as Latinos, are not a monolith. But there are certain things that link us. And that is a sense of nostalgia, a sense of pride in our culture, and a sense of wanting to be part of tradition and carry that forward as a part of ourselves. That's fundamentally what we try to do at Pandora with our Latin music programming—be as representative as possible of the different dynamics of Latin music and culture and to hold the mirror up to culture and identity, and be a fluid extension of that.” - Marcos Juarez

The Genre Is Exploding

“This genre has really exploded over the last few years. And young artists from Mexico and the US are sweeping award shows and taking over the Billboard charts. Last year, six Música Mexicana artists ranked in Billboard's list of top 10 Latin artists of 2024. And last year, our entire 2024 Pandora Latin artist to watch list was made up of Música Mexicana artists. This genre has experienced such a rapid growth that it's now the largest Latin subgenre, beating out heavy hitters like reggaeton and urbano. But when you're looking deeper, it's not just Mexicans or non-Mexican Latinos that are streaming Música Mexicana—non-Hispanics across the globe are also huge fans, too. And this is a genre where young artists are pushing boundaries, taking the traditional music of earlier generations, modernizing the lyrics, adding in some Americanized influences like hip-hop and rap, and really making this a really exciting genre to watch.” - Kristia Watkins Melendez

Look to the Listeners to Find the Trendsetters

“We look very closely at what our listeners are telling us… We really want to be representative of what our listeners are telling us are the artists to watch. And so a lot of it is based on listener data. You mentioned the discovery function of Pandora—I think part of that discovery is the influence of our listeners on how the algorithm plays music. So we have subsets of our listeners who are early adapters of different genres. And we can see when certain genres or artists begin to bubble up. And there are some resources that people can take advantage of: We have what's called a trendsetter's chart that you can subscribe to. That chart is a list of the top 20 artists who are showing the most promise on-platform, taking into account the signals that we're seeing in terms of listenership, engagement, and then also external influence and external signals that maybe would tell us, ‘Oh, here's an artist to keep an eye on.’ So we'd definitely recommend taking a look at the trendsetters chart as well.” - Marcos Juarez

So now you know: If you want to connect with this ultra-powerful audience segment, having audio as a part of your media mix is a must. That’s where we come in—let’s chat.

Learn More About How We Help You Reach Latino Listeners