The United States’ multicultural advertising and marketing spending including Hispanic, African, and Asian American demographics, is projected to surge by 8.4% to an unprecedented $45.83 billion in 2024. This follows a period of slower growth in 2023, at 5.7%, compared to the significant increase experienced in 2022. This is according to recent research published by PQ Media, a premier global provider of media econometrics.

The anticipated surge in media spending in 2024 is largely attributed to the Hispanic segment within the multicultural market, which is expected to receive significant attention from political campaign budgets during the fiercely competitive US presidential election year. Currently, Hispanic media represents 68.3% of the total spend in multicultural media, more than twice the aggregate share of African-American (28.8%) and Asian-American (2.9%) demographics. Despite this, both African-American and Asian-American segments are projected to experience nearly 8% growth in 2024.

In 2022, multicultural media, along with other US media segments, especially those excelling in areas like experiential marketing, influencer marketing, content marketing, out-of-home advertising, and pure-play digital media, saw robust growth. However, in 2023, the growth across various multiethnic media sectors decelerated due to a number of factors. These included concerns over a potential economic downturn that ultimately did not occur, the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn its previous stance on affirmative action in universities, and the backlash from the “Woke” movement. This movement’s reaction negatively affected major US brands, including Target and Bud Light.

Despite the challenges on the fringes, the upward trajectory in these expanding markets continues to dominate. For instance, financial commitments in multicultural media have seen an uptick towards the end of 2023 and are expected to continue into 2024, highlighted by initiatives like The Pivot Fund which focuses on broadening minority news platforms. Moreover, there is an anticipated increase in political media purchases, encompassing both advertising and marketing, on multicultural media channels in 2024.

Currently, multicultural media expenditure in the United States represents a modest 5.3% of the total advertising and marketing spending for 2023, showing a slight increase from the 5.2% share it held in 2017.

PQ Media’s latest study forecasts that total multicultural television spending will grow by 2.3% in 2023, reaching $9.65 billion, making it the predominant medium in the multiethnic sector. Relationship marketing comes in as the second largest, with an anticipated increase of 1.3% to $5.31 billion in 2023. Pure-play digital media is also expected to see significant growth, with a projected 10.5% rise to $4.97 billion, as detailed in the US Multicultural Media Forecast for the period 2023-2027.