Asian American Media 2009

Come on advertisers. You need to step up and stop being so passive before it gets really EXPENSIVE to target the Asian American market.

In a latest report by Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, the researchers dissect and try to understand the Asian American market. We answered some of their questions in bold.

Asian Americans comprise a variety of small and fractured markets. But their affluence theoretically makes many of those markets tempting. Various media outlets, based in the United States or abroad, have tried to tap into this potential, with mixed success.

In 2008, Asian media saw success in some quarters – particularly large papers and online -and trouble elsewhere, especially some smaller papers and in television. However, toward the end of the year, Asian American media suffered a big setback as one of its largest and most successful weekly newspapers, AsianWeek was forced to fold in the midst of the recession. As in most media, the forecast heading into 2009 looked more difficult for everyone.

Among the winners, several leading newspapers saw circulation stability or growth during the year, in contrast with most mainstream newspapers.

Some think an element of that success has been to appeal to Asian Americans not through their native languages but through their newer shared one: English.

Yes, we could’ve have told you that 6 years ago!

We’ve been WAAYYYY ahead of the curve. Online, English speaking, appealing to dual culture.

But Asian American media outlets are still trying convince advertisers of the market’s strength. These advertisers, professionals say, often still hesitate to invest in ethnic media, especially in English, because they feel they can reach the market through mainstream publications and because the Asian market, relatively, is small.

Oh really? Step it up marketers, otherwise you will keep paying your high fees at mainstream publications just to get 4% of your target market, the market with the highest spending pattern, income and education. Be smart and not afraid. Pay less than mainstream, yet hit %100 of your market. That sounds like good business to us.

If you want to hit the older generation or first generation Americans, then target the specific ethnicity. Good luck with that though. It’s a dying breed. If you want to be smart and target Asian Americans, then you need to target my generation (second generation), English speakers, technologically savvy, 18-34. It’s not that hard people. Stop making it complicated.

Read the entire article. Have fun www.usasianwire.com