TV commercials target Latinos

English-language television programs featuring Spanish-language commercials?

Vehix.com, a one-stop shop for car buyers, has been testing the idea in the Washington, D.C., area since February, putting a Spanish-speaking commercial on cable channels such as Spike, Nick at Nite, FX and Sci Fi. The rationale is to pursue the diverse Latino audience in a variety of ways.

The experiment may expand to L.A. and other cities with large Latino populations because the crossover ads appear to be working, says Chris Satovick, vice president of consumer and dealer products for Vehix. On the company’s website, there’s a Spanish-speaking module, and in the last two months the number of users clicking on it has increased, he reports.

“It’s still less than 5% of our total users -- more than 30,000 unique users check out Vehix.com per month -- but the increase has been more than 300%,” Satovick says.