LATINO DVD MARKET IS NOW IN FOCUS INDUSTRY LOOKS FOR STRATEGY.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Latino households with DVD players now total 8 million in the U.S. and continue to grow rapidly. But the home video industry is still struggling to maximize this burgeoning market, industry leaders said Tuesday.

Participants in DVD En Espanol, the second annual Latino Home Entertainment Conference, made clear that the Spanish-language audience has gone far beyond a niche category. Still, many said the industry lacks the infrastructure to deal with a buying segment that some major studios estimate represents between 11 percent and 13 percent of all DVD customers.

``Once the infrastructure is in place, we're going to see the real U.S. Latino market,'' Ventura Entertainment's Chris Lynch said during an afternoon panel discussion at the Wyndham Bel Age Hotel in West Hollywood. ``There's a long, long ways to go. We're just getting out of the gate.''

This lack of infrastructure results in no automatic shelf space at retail outlets like Wal-Mart and video stores, no free publicity for the bulk of the titles that have not had much, in any, of a U.S. theatrical run and the lingering questions of who the audience is and what they want.

``Everyone has a different opinion,'' Lynch said. ``It's a very difficult environment to create consensus and offer products across the board that everybody is going to be happy with.''

Julio Noriega of Venevision International Films stated: ``Further research needs to be done. Who is buying? Who is renting? Each retailer needs to understand their customer base better.''

One thing the distribution side of the industry can agree on is that with the Latino population at about 40 million and growing, and with a majority of it still using Spanish in the home, there should be a continuing demand for Spanish-language and Latino-themed DVD programming.

``One thing to remember with Latinos and entertainment is it's often considered a family activity,'' said Adriana Olivarez, director of market research for the Univision Television Group. ``With the decrease in price of DVDs, there's been an increase in how many Latinos have purchased and have rented. They are very familiar with all the outlets.''

Jerilyn Kessel, president of Centris Research, conducted research during the months of January and February that focused on 2,000 Latino respondents, 62 percent of whom preferred to be interviewed in Spanish. It showed that the group bought slightly more DVDs per month than non-Latinos and also rented more discs per month.

``It's a large enough number where it cannot be ignored,'' said Lori MacPherson, Warner Home Video's vice president of multicultural marketing. ``We have to make sure we are marketing to that demographic.''

For the home entertainment divisions of major studios like Warner Bros. and Disney, the decisions regarding Latino customers can be simply whether to have subtitles versus dubbing, or both, and how to tweak an ad campaign to reach that specific audience when releasing their mainstream hits.

But smaller distributors are faced with the challenge of creating awareness for the sometimes low-profile titles they acquire.

``We're taking existing available products and putting them in the market and those aren't necessarily what consumers want,'' said panelist Leigh Savidge, president of Xenon Pictures. ``You've got consumers who, in my view, are saying, I'll come around as soon as you make something I'm interested in buying.''

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com