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Cynopsis Media Presents:
Demographics of African Americans
by Cathy Applefeld Olson

Good morning. It’s still Thursday, October 4, 2012, and this is a special edition on the Demographics of African Americans. This report explores broadcasts continued straggling, and what some clever new programmers are doing about it. We also look at the boom in African American content on cable, which is sure to get even more entertaining now that Tyler Perrys jumped on the Oprah train.

When it comes to the television climate for today’s African-American viewer, there’s no shortage of apropos movie quotes: “If you build it they will come.” “We’re going to need a bigger boat.” “There’s no place like home.”

But it’s “Show me the money” that best explains the biggest-ever boom in cable programming targeting African-Americans. For proof, look no further than the newly minted partnership between entertainment behemoths Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry.

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African-Americans watch 6.5 hours of TV a day, more than any other single demographic, according to a report Nielsen released last month in conjunction with the National Newspaper Publishers Assn. As the largest racial minority group in the United States, African-Americans wield a collective buying power estimated to reach $1.1 trillion by 2015, according to the study. That number shouldand is–raising eyebrows.

“It always goes back to profitability,” said Cheryl Pearson-McNeil, SVP, public affairs and government relations at Nielsen.

The demographic also tends to be tech-savvy. African-Americans are 14% younger than the American population as a whole. Additionally, the median age for African-Americans is 32, and 54% of the Black population is under the age of 35, according to Nielsen/NPAA. African-Americans overindex on cell phone use, and a growing percentage watch television while multitasking on their mobile device, laptop or notebook, according to BET’s EVP of corporate research Matthew Barnhill.

What are they watching? Pearson-McNeil says when you look at numbers both for the 18-49 demographic in prime time and 2+ for the total day, it’s clear black viewers like to see themselves reflected on the small screen. This holds true across all types of programming. When CNN ran a special on Whitney Houston after the entertainer’s death, the African-American number spiked. Same with reality shows prominently featuring African-Americans, she said.

“The thing they all have in common is they have black characters or black contestants,” said Pearson-McNeil, who happens to be African-American. “We like good TV, like anyone else, but we like to see ourselves immersed in the story. If we’re engaged with it, we will watch it.”

That may be true, but the programming landscape remains somewhat uneven for the African-American viewer as blacks remain underrepresented in broadcast with a few silver linings that point to possible change.

Kerry Washington as crisis management maven Olivia Pope, gives ABC’s “Scandal” the first black female lead in a primetime drama series for almost 30 years. “Grey’s Anatomy” supporting actor Chandra Wilson remains an integral part of the show, and spinoff “Private Practice.” Entertainment personality Steve Harvey’s just-launched daytime talk show on NBC is an early ratings success, with an average of 1.7 million viewers.

Additionally, the digital age ushered in new options for programmers to reach African-American viewers. Witness BounceTV, the first over-the-air broadcast network targeting African Americans with movies, live events, documentaries, specials and original programming. It airs 24/7 on the digital signals of local TV stations, including stations in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.

BounceTV’s new multiyear licensing deals with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution (including “Bird,” the original “Shaft” and “Rosewood”) and Paramount Home Media Distribution (including “Critical Condition,” “Mahogany” and “Heart Condition”) bode well for the network’s growth as it beefs up its “Brown Sugar Saturday Night” weekly primetime franchise.

But the biggest boom in black programming comes, not surprisingly, from the cable sector. The allure of unlimited distribution has seen BET swell to 90 million-plus homes, while newer nets like TV One are growing their numbers as well. Cable also beckoned celebrities Oprah Winfrey, who launched her OWN network under the Discovery umbrella, and Magic Johnson, who heads Atlanta-based network Aspire.

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In the most salient endorsement of television targeting blacks, Winfrey and Tyler Perry are joining forces. The one-man hit machine responsible not only for a bevy of high-grossing films but some of TBS’ highest-rated properties, announced Monday (Oct. 1) he will produce programming exclusively for OWN. Perry’s new fodder, likely to consume a large chunk of OWN’s programming budget, states indelibly that Oprah is going full throttle for the African-American audience a strategy she’s eschewed until now. It could mean a boon for the network, which has struggled with both identity and ratings since its launch last January.

The move surprised some in the industry, particularly since Perry was eyeing a network of his own, but not Nielsen’s Pearson-McNeil. “Oprah’s network saw an uptick when she started appealing to blacks-something she’d never really done before,” she said.

The new Perry shows could well wind up as the cornerstones of a couple nights of OWN television programming, like they do on TBS, which will continue to air repeats of “House of Payne,” “Meet The Browns” and “For Better Or Worse.” Other networks not generally focused on the black audience are also serving up signature nights and programming blocks anchored with targeted content, including VH1 with “Basketball Wives” and “Single Ladies,” and WeTV with “Braxton Family Values.”

Even among the networks specifically wooing African-Americans, there’s no more one-size-fits-all mentality when it comes to programming.

“It’s important to not just lump everything into one pocket,” said Matthew Barnhill, BET EVP, corporate research. “The African American community is multifaceted and there are lots of media desires out there.” To that end, the more ensconced black-focused networks are drilling down.

BET identified seven segments of the black viewing population based on media and lifestyle habits, and has begun programming to them. For news hounds, the network just unleashed nightly political show “Don’t Sleep,” hosted by former CNN anchor T.J. Holmes. For reality fans, those BET offers Keyshia Cole’s second show for the network, featuring Cole and husband Daniel Gibson, an NBA player.

TV One is also tracking its audience’s tastes and habits. This audience not only watches TV longer, but later, than average viewers, said Maureen Guthman, TV One SVP of programming strategy. With that in mind, TV One has showcased original fodder that would generally debut in primetime, at much later times. It premiered series “Lincoln Heights,” for example, at 11 p.m.

“Whereas another network might use that as repository for less than primetime worthy content, we see that as an opportunity,” she says.

BET has had success airing syndicated “The Wendy Williams” show at midnight. The Debmar-Mercury show starring media personality Williams, also airs on broadcast primarily Fox outlets in more than 70% of the country.

TV One also is creating programming buckets, including justice/mystery, comedy and reality. It’s feeding the former category with upcoming “Parole Diaries” and “Save My Son,” and its September debut of comedy series “The Rickey Smiley Show” drew 900,000 viewers and became one of TV One’s top-rated debuts.

Although the reality genre is bread and butter for the market, Guthman laments the residual stereotyping in the mainstream. “Most of our representation comes in reality television, and when you look at those shows many of us are seen as shrill and unreasonably argumentative. It’s very much a one-dimensional view of African Americans,” she said. “We just want an opportunity to see ourselves in ways that are a little more thoughtful than that.”

BET chair Debra turned her network brand’s image on its ear some years ago and issued a new mandate for programming to reflect, respect, and elevate its audience. “It’s not something we tell the viewer, you won’t see that on tag lines, but those words pretty much determine all programming as well as marketing decisions,” Barnhill said.

The change meant a move to invest heavily in scripted programming, some original like “Let’s Stay Together”–and some purchased, like “The Game,” which BET scooped up after its cancellation from the CW and turned it into one of the highest network debuts in cable history.

With eyeballs comes the opportunity to advertise The new Nielsen/NNPA data reveals African-Americans are particularly receptive to segment-specific advertising: 81% believe products advertised on black media are more relevant to them, and more than half, 51%, would purchase a product if the advertising portrayed African-Americans positively.

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Nevertheless, the total advertising expenditures on TV, radio and magazine spent specifically in African-American media was less than 2% of total ad dollars spent with general market media during the same time period, which reached almost $2.1 trillion.

“People think they can advertise in the general market because there are no language issues,” Pearson-McNeil said. She recounted a Nielsen research session with marketers who were asked point blank how many had heard of “The Game.” Very few had. “Here we have a room full of non African-Americans and very few have ever heard of it,” she said. “I told them that’s almost 2 million viewers you just missed each episode because of your lack of awareness.”

The automobile category stands as one segment that’s spending wisely to reach African-Americans. Toyota is the signature sponsor of BounceTV, and TV One ran a successful integration with Ford for “Unsung.”

A segment that could step up, in Barnhill’s estimation? Wireless. “I don’t think the wireless category has taken a look at the early buying levels of African-Americans and paid attention to just how involved they are with their smart phones,” he said.

Later —  Cathy

Editor
10.04.12

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