Dive Brief:

• Marketers' spend on "advanced demographics" audience segment data from January to October 2018 grew 23% over the previous year, according to a report from data solutions company Lotame shared exclusively with Marketing Dive. 
• Advanced demographic segments with the most year-over-year revenue growth included pet owners at 89% and Hispanic or Spanish-speaking audiences at 96%. Multiple parent segments declined, including declared parents at 49% and parents of young children at 38%. The Home & Family category accounted for 7% of marketers' spend, with segments targeting dog and cat lovers dropping by 64% and 69%, respectively, and animal lovers growing by 451%. 
• Age accounted for 11% of spend, with a 32% increase in targeting to millennials (ages 25-34), younger Gen X (35-44) at 29% and baby boomers at 25%. Purchase of audience data for ages 45-54 dropped 24%, 40-44 declined 42% and ages 18-24 declined 68%.

Dive Insight:

The Lotame report sheds light on the audience segments that marketers are paying most attention to and emphasizes marketers' continued focus on millennial consumers, who have growing purchasing power but can be pickier with their advertising.

A surprising finding from the report is the declining interest in marketers seeking out data for parents, which have long been a key demographic for brands. One reason could be that young adults are having fewer children and delaying parenthood altogether. Instead, many millennials are choosing pet ownership over having children, which could explain marketers' focus on targeting animal lovers. 

The report also underscores marketers' attempts to court more Hispanic consumers, who are both the largest and fastest-growing ethnic group in the U.S. Traditionally, marketers haven't gone far enough to reach this valuable, typically digitally-savvy consumer segment, but the Lotame report shows that that may be changing.

Fifty-seven percent of Hispanic consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that support causes that they care about and over-index non-Hispanic white consumers by 9%, according to recent Nielsen research. More than half of Hispanic consumers spend at least an hour a day on social media and are more likely to share content on the platforms. 

Another finding from the Lotame report is that automobile categories accounted for 5% of total U.S. spend, with data segments for sports cars increasing by 71%, foreign cars by 68% and trucks by 12%. Auto brands have struggled to connect with millennials, who are buying fewer cars than older generations, and Gen Zers are similarly showing little interest in car ownership.

B2B data accounted for 15% of spend, but the segments didn't see much of a revenue increase in 2018, according to the report. B2B seniority saw a 17% increase, while B2B company revenue targeting was flat. B2B company size declined by 45% and B2B professional groups were down 44%.