Although 75 percent of Hispanic consumers use mobile devices to find movie listings, a whopping 92 percent of consumers still buy their tickets at the theater, according to a new report today from MocoSpace and Social Lens Research.

The “Hispanics Go to the Movies: Starring Mobile and Social” report gives some interesting insight into how Hispanics, which is a demographic that traditionally over-indexes on mobile, have been slower to adopt tech-savvy payments. The top two reasons that consumers cited for not using mobile to buy movie tickets was either a difficult experience or a subpar app.

“The slow adoption around mobile movie purchasing was a big takeaway,” said Julie Diaz-Asper, CEO/founding partner at Social Lens Research, Washington.

“Given the high attendance around holidays and opening weekends, there are tremendous opportunities for the movie industry to invest in event-driven and mobile commerce campaigns, screen takeovers, rich media and premium ad space,” she said.

Missed opportunity
Despite the vast majority of Hispanic consumers still buying tickets in person, consumers are interested in mobile features that go beyond the simple ability to buy tickets.

Eighty-five percent of respondents in the study said that they were interested in mobile content or capabilities, which includes promotions, reward programs and trailers.

Specifically, 22 percent of consumers wanted an app that makes it easier to buy tickets, and 32 percent wanted a better way to watch mobile movie trailers.

Thirty-four percent of consumers were looking for a mobile movie reward program, 38 percent wanted to receive promotion or discount alerts and 26 percent of moviegoers were looking for a calendar feature for alerts so that they could be pinged when tickets went on sale.

Despite the thinking that mobile consumers want less ads on mobile devices because of smaller-screen sizes, 21 percent of respondents polled actually wanted more movie promo ads.

Seventy-five percent of the respondents went to a movie monthly, and 34 percent of the consumers polled made more than three trips to the movie theater per month.

As far as how Hispanic consumers are finding movie information, the biggest source for information comes from traditional marketing.

For instance, 57 percent of consumers saw a TV ad, and 47 percent found out about a film from a trailer at the movie theater.

Forty-two percent of respondents received a recommendation from a friend or family member, and 30 percent of consumers heard about a film via social media.

Marketers also have a big opportunity to target Hispanic moviegoers during big ticket times.

For example, 73 percent of Hispanics went to a movie over a holiday, and 58 percent saw a film during an opening weekend.

Additionally, going to a movie often includes a big group.

In fact, 53 percent of respondents said that they went to the movies with two or more people.

The research polled 2,308 Hispanics in MocoSpace’s platform. Sixty-two percent were between the ages of 18-34 years old, and 55 percent were females.

Mobile, social response
Overall, Hispanic consumers are more likely to share their moviegoing experience with a movie that they enjoyed versus one that they did not like.

Fifty-four percent of consumers surveyed said that they would text a person if they liked a film, and 25 percent would call a friend to spread the word about a film.

If a consumer did not enjoy a film, 35 percent would text their friends and tell them not to see the movie. Twenty-four percent would do the same with a phone call.

“Mobile ad dollars are starting to be put towards getting premium screen space on opening weekends,” Ms. Diaz-Asper said.

“The next wave of movie industry mobile marketing will likely focus more on mobile commerce and deeper social integration,” she said.

Final Take
Lauren  Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York