Why More Dollars Need to go to Black-Owned Media

On Wednesday, Black-owned media outlets Blavity, Revolt and Black Enterprise pitched their wares—and new content—on day three of this year's IAB NewFronts, with the aim of enticing more ad dollars to their titles. Brands vocally pledged to funnel more media spend towards Black-owned media, especially following the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests. But progress is slow. Other than making a case for why ad buyers should spend their money with them, each outlined the types of unique Black audiences they have, as well as debunked myths surrounding Black-owned media, like limited scale. The intersection of Black and tech In seven years, Blavity Inc. has grown from an idea on a whiteboard to the umbrella company of five publisher properties, according to its chief executive officer and co-founder, Morgan DeBaun. That includes its flagship channel Blavity News, with a 3 million audience reach across platforms, the company said. One of the company's niche properties, Afro Tech, started out as an annual event for Black professionals in the sector, bringing in roughly 15,000 attendees every year. DeBaun said by Afro Tech exposing its audience to tech and getting them comfortable with the industry, Blavity hopes to educate at least 50,000 people via its events on Web 3.0 by end of 2022. "With over 250 advertisers and sponsors, we will continue to bring the Afro Tech world experience to you and our consumers this year," said DeBaun. Acquiring new titles Nearly a decade after the company was founded by music artist Sean Combs, aka P Diddy, Revolt made its debut at this year's NewFronts, led by chief executive officer Detavio Samuels. Despite the influence of Black culture and the perceived power that comes along with it, Black-owned media is only 1% maybe 2% of the media marketplace.Detavio Samuels, CEO, Revolt What Revolt wants advertisers to note is how Black entertainment, music and stories have helped brands and other outlets make billions in revenue, but that money for Black mediums looks scarce. "Despite the influence of Black culture and the perceived power that comes along with it, Black-owned media is only 1% maybe 2% of the media marketplace," said Samuels. Despite this, Revolt has seen growth in its audience and revenue, with three times the growth in overall ad revenue year-over-year—and five times growth in digital revenue over the same time period, the company said. It has worked with over 100 new advertisers. Revolt's original series have seen a 330% increase in viewership on YouTube alone since its start, according to the company. The channel currently has nearly 1.8 million subscribers. The company also announced the acquisition of music news outlet Rap-Up, which features quick hits and exclusives on all things hip-hop. Scale is not an issue Black Enterprise started as a magazine over 50 years ago, reaching Black audiences interested in financial literacy and entrepreneurship content. Though it's no longer in print, BE said it has over 13 million unique visitors on its site per month. Advertisers neglect Black-owned media from a fear of not being able to scale, Justin Barton of Black Enterprise told Adweek. Black Enterprise senior vice president of digital strategy and partnerships, Justin Barton, told Adweek according to Comscore, Black Enterprise's audience is larger than any black-owned publisher. "People don't really know, but Black Enterprise is larger than Essence, TheGrio, the Root and certainly Ebony," said Barton. Barton told Adweek what's really making advertisers neglect Black-owned media is their fear of not being able to scale, making campaigns unviable, a notion Barton rejects. According to Barton, all Black-owned media brings in about 70 million unique monthly users combined across sites, a significant audience for advertisers. "What I want people to know is media buyers can scale with Black-owned media, they just have to give us a chance ... check out our numbers and see that it's there," Barton told Adweek. Digitas Touts 'Beauty of Blackness' as a DEI Guide for Brands at NewFronts

NewFronts

Blavity, Revolt and Black Enterprise on Why More Dollars Need to go to Black-Owned Media

Revolt announced its acquisition of Hip-Hop news outlet Rap-Up during its NewFronts debut

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Meseret Ambachew

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