The latest report by the PEW Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism reported that Hispanic media is faring better than the mainstream media. According to the report, Spanish-language media remain important to a changing, more acculturated, and more U.S.-born Hispanic population in the United States. And in the last year, Spanish-language media tended to fare better overall than their mainstream English-language counterparts.

We had the opportunity to interview Frank Escobedo, Publisher of La Prensa Riverside, for its success in increasing its circulation in the past year.

Frank Escobedo

EPMG: What is the percentage of circulation increase for La Prensa Riverside from 2010 to 2011?

Frank Escobedo: La Prensa increased its distribution to a total of 53% from 2010 to 2011.

EPMG: What was the strategy you adopted to increase your circulation?

Frank Escobedo: As a mostly single copy weekly newspaper, we wanted to offer the opportunity for anyone who wants to pick up our newspaper. We increased our draw in existing locations where our pick up rate was staggeringly high and deployed additional racks in locations where we felt were underserved in our greater distribution area of Riverside, San Bernadino, and selected areas in the East Los Angeles County.

EPMG: Did the Census 2010 results contribute to the increase in La Prensa’s circulation?

Frank Escobedo: Yes. We anticipated that the 2010 Census results would show the continued growth in the Hispanic community in our area. We started the planning to increase our distribution in late 2009 and early 2010 in order to position ourselves favorably when the official Census results were released. We wanted to ensure that we were able to reach our audiences in this ever growing market and to position ourselves as the medium for advertisers to reach this most important demographic segment of our region.

EPMG: Do you have something to tell advertisers about the unique features of La Prensa Riverside?

Frank Escobedo: La Prensa Riverside is a mature publication with dedicated staff writers who provide high quality editorial pieces each week, which focuses on the local and regional happenings surrounding the La Prensa distribution footprint. As a result, we have a very loyal and ever expanding readership base spanning across all ages and socioeconomic status.

EPMG: How do you like working with us?

Frank Escobedo: Working with Trevor and EPMG have been a very rewarding experience for me and my staff. We attribute a large part of our accomplishment to the successful working relationship that we have developed with EPMG. La Prensa came from a small regional weekly newspaper to one of the largest Spanish language weekly newspapers in the country and EPMG has been a strong partner in ensuring that advertisers across the country focus on Inland Southern California as a strong viable buy.

EPMG would like to thank Frank Escobedo for taking time to share his success in growing La Prensa’s circulation in the past year.