The Nielsen Company released findings from its recent “The New Digital American Family.” The study reveals that today’s American family is more connected digitally and more multicultural. Across African American, Asian and Hispanic segments, these families are predominately older than in years past and many have no children. In all, the average American family is getting older and smaller, according to the report. It is growing more slowly and becoming more ethnically diverse than at any point in history.

When it comes to mobile device usage, the study reveals that the Smartphone has emerged as the great equalizer, providing low cost, easy access Web connectivity to households of all income levels and ethnicities. As for overall use of technology, African-American media habits are TV and mobile-centric, while Asians exhibit a huge appetite for online media and Hispanics rely on mobile to stay connected than any other group. Additionally, while programming preferences vary with income, programming genres like sports unify the country. Other key study findings include:

• Households with children under age 18 will be predominately multicultural by 2020.
  Hispanics represent a huge and growing market with a distinctive culture that requires an equally distinctive marketing approach.
• High income families represent the heaviest Internet users, logging on to conduct research, check the news, access travel information and visit social networks.
• Slow organic growth in the number of households with children will force categories and brands to steal share from competitors or pursue category-expanding new product innovation. For the full study, visit nielsen.com.