February 19, 2008
Nielsen Tracking African-Americans’ Media Usage
By Tom Ryan
The Nielsen Company has come out with its first 12-month analysis of advertising spending on media outlets that reach African American consumers. One advertising exec called the survey “the first time such a comprehensive analysis of advertising spending to reach African Americans has been undertaken.”
The study found that advertising spending targeting African Americans reached $2.3 billion for the period October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007. The analysis covered over 22,000 national, regional and local advertisers across over 130 media vehicles. These include local radio, national magazine, national cable TV, network TV and syndication TV.
Local radio reported the greatest amount of spending on African American targeted media at $805 million, comprising 35 percent of total spending. Second was national magazines ($600.9 million) which showed healthy revenue across a number of publications, including Essence.
National cable TV ($593.1 million) reported the largest ad growth with 14.5 percent during this period, reflecting year-over-year growth for BET, the inclusion of TV One in the Nielsen Monitor-Plus service as of January 2007, as well as a number of high profile TV programs such as “House of Payne” on TBS, “Being Bobby Brown” on Bravo, “Flavor of Love” on VH1, and “Making the Band” on MTV. Network TV ($193.3 million) and syndication TV ($102.4 million) were both down year over year.
With $89.7 million in spending, Procter & Gamble was the largest advertiser targeting African American consumers. The top P&G brands advertised were Charmin, Bounty, Crest, Olay, Cover Girl and Tide. Other big spenders were McDonald’s, $37.7 million; Johnson and Johnson; $36.1 million; Kraft Foods, $24.5 million; Walt Disney, $24 million; General Electric, $23.2 million; AT&T Inc., $22.9 million; and Wal-Mart Stores, $22.6 million.
Among product categories, automotive led the way with $187.4 million in ad spending. That was followed by quick service restaurants, $79.1 million; motion pictures, $75.4 million; and department stores, $72 million.
Discussion Question: How substantive an understanding do retailers and consumer goods manufacturers have of African American consumers? How valuable do you think media usage research into the African American demographic is for retailers and consumer brands? Does the degree of assimilation of African Americans into American society make this media understanding any less important?
BrainTrust
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
Poll
The question isn’t, “Does the degree of assimilation of African-Americans into American society make this media understanding any less important?” it’s why is Nielsen just getting around to doing its first study of this issue in 2008?
There are some other questions that need to be asked before this one can get addressed like, “Who says African-Americans feel over-assimilated?” Anyone laboring under this illusion is welcome to come visit me in Detroit; or walk through Compton or Watts; or spend time in the Mississippi Delta. If that’s what assimilation looks like, fine, let’s treat this question as though it were serious.
We should also ask why we keep trying to put all kinds of very different individuals in little boxes labeled “African-American,” “Asian” and “Hispanic.” How would we react if Nielsen came out with a study saying that “White people all like yogurt?” I suspect you know the answer without thinking about it too much.
We also need to ask why we still treat populations who are, in fact, majorities in places like Detroit as though they were still minorities.
This is–at best–a clumsy 19th Century approach to a 21st Century problem. Our collective thinking on race hasn’t moved along much since Reconstruction once you scratch a little below the surface. Need proof? Remember what Barack Obama–the first “transracial” presidential candidate said when he was asked if he thought Bill Clinton was “the first black president?” The answer was something like, “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him dance.” It was a calculated laugh line but it only worked because Obama knows how universal racial prejudice and sterotyping is in America.
It seems to me that the level of understanding has been limited based on the fact that, unlike media targeting the Latino community, African-American media usage is a combination of “mainstream” English language media and targeted culturally relevant English language media.
It is important for marketers to understand the strong cultural dynamics that define the African-American community and that influence their media choices and buying decisions. While some may argue that ethnic or racial segmentation is not as valuable to marketers as economic or life-stage segmentation. However, based on my experience in the Hispanic market, there is much to be gained by looking at a culturally specific group through that filter and then segmenting within the group in terms of economics, life stages etc.
Cultural understanding as relates to marketing is simply a tool that may yield just enough results to push sales, increase market share, establish loyalty or achieve any one of several bottom line objectives a marketer seeks to establish.
It’s always good business to understand a demographic and be in a position to deliver products and services that match its needs and preferences.
I have dear friends who run a minority agency, though, and their main reason for being in business is to help clients learn the difference between being sensitive and being condescending. They’re also extremely good at what they do, and could easily pitch more than just the minority parts of major accounts.
But it’s not hard to see their point if we think about it. Just look at the vast array of minority-targeted media, not to mention crossover media like Comedy Central, and you’ll see how condescending most of it is. Almost 30 years after the Huxtables, the old minstrel-show stereotypes are alive and well across the cable landscape.
So as we get more media-consumption data that shows us where to place our messages, we should also jump at the chance to craft messages that are truly relevant and respectful of the audience–that don’t insult the audience’s intelligence and that show African Americans in positive situations.
An old boss of mine once said, “You can’t bore people into buying your products.” I’d like to suggest that we not insult people into buying them either.
“The best way to end discrimination is to end discrimination,” a quote from Chief Justice Roberts. I am not buying into the position that African-Americans are different. Economic, geographic and educational attributes may be factors in the types of purchases a person of any ethnicity might make, but I don’t see any massive difference between “people” who have similar lifestyles. We purchase what we need and can afford. Purchasing power transcends race, gender, and skin color. Inept marketing is pandering.
Reports indicate that by the year 2050 most Americans will be non-white. But retailers don’t have to wait 40 more years to understand that America is a multicultural marketplace right now with every trend making it a necessity to be sensitive and react accordingly with the right product assortment and services provided. It’s just good business.
All retailers should be sensitive to the multicultural marketplace. Managers and directors who understand the makeup of the community they serve should stock products and services that cater to that specific element. It builds bridges into the community and word usually spreads like wildfire when a store carries products specific to that demographic. African-Americans make up a huge portion of out ‘national community’ and their needs and buying habits cannot be ignored. If anything, this should be considered an opportunity to increase goodwill (and sales) to that group.
I don’t think that race has as much to do with media usage as socio economic condition. Water cooler talk seems to be fairly constant among peers regardless of race. Gender seems to have a larger effect on media usage than race.
Isn’t it amazing that this is the first time Nielsen studied spending on African-American consumers? That’s what Nielsen wrote in their press release. That assertion is either false or one of the biggest embarrassments imaginable.
More Discussions
Has Same-Day Delivery Become an Expectation Across Retail?
Are expectations around retail delivery speed in flux?OpenAI Names the Infrastructure Standard for Agentic Commerce
Will OpenAI or Google (or another entity) set the gold standard for agentic commerce?Is Five Below Poised For Even Greater Growth?
Five Below is hitting serious growth numbers. Can this trend continue?
The question isn’t, “Does the degree of assimilation of African-Americans into American society make this media understanding any less important?” it’s why is Nielsen just getting around to doing its first study of this issue in 2008?
There are some other questions that need to be asked before this one can get addressed like, “Who says African-Americans feel over-assimilated?” Anyone laboring under this illusion is welcome to come visit me in Detroit; or walk through Compton or Watts; or spend time in the Mississippi Delta. If that’s what assimilation looks like, fine, let’s treat this question as though it were serious.
We should also ask why we keep trying to put all kinds of very different individuals in little boxes labeled “African-American,” “Asian” and “Hispanic.” How would we react if Nielsen came out with a study saying that “White people all like yogurt?” I suspect you know the answer without thinking about it too much.
We also need to ask why we still treat populations who are, in fact, majorities in places like Detroit as though they were still minorities.
This is–at best–a clumsy 19th Century approach to a 21st Century problem. Our collective thinking on race hasn’t moved along much since Reconstruction once you scratch a little below the surface. Need proof? Remember what Barack Obama–the first “transracial” presidential candidate said when he was asked if he thought Bill Clinton was “the first black president?” The answer was something like, “I don’t know. I’ve never seen him dance.” It was a calculated laugh line but it only worked because Obama knows how universal racial prejudice and sterotyping is in America.
It seems to me that the level of understanding has been limited based on the fact that, unlike media targeting the Latino community, African-American media usage is a combination of “mainstream” English language media and targeted culturally relevant English language media.
It is important for marketers to understand the strong cultural dynamics that define the African-American community and that influence their media choices and buying decisions. While some may argue that ethnic or racial segmentation is not as valuable to marketers as economic or life-stage segmentation. However, based on my experience in the Hispanic market, there is much to be gained by looking at a culturally specific group through that filter and then segmenting within the group in terms of economics, life stages etc.
Cultural understanding as relates to marketing is simply a tool that may yield just enough results to push sales, increase market share, establish loyalty or achieve any one of several bottom line objectives a marketer seeks to establish.
It’s always good business to understand a demographic and be in a position to deliver products and services that match its needs and preferences.
I have dear friends who run a minority agency, though, and their main reason for being in business is to help clients learn the difference between being sensitive and being condescending. They’re also extremely good at what they do, and could easily pitch more than just the minority parts of major accounts.
But it’s not hard to see their point if we think about it. Just look at the vast array of minority-targeted media, not to mention crossover media like Comedy Central, and you’ll see how condescending most of it is. Almost 30 years after the Huxtables, the old minstrel-show stereotypes are alive and well across the cable landscape.
So as we get more media-consumption data that shows us where to place our messages, we should also jump at the chance to craft messages that are truly relevant and respectful of the audience–that don’t insult the audience’s intelligence and that show African Americans in positive situations.
An old boss of mine once said, “You can’t bore people into buying your products.” I’d like to suggest that we not insult people into buying them either.
“The best way to end discrimination is to end discrimination,” a quote from Chief Justice Roberts. I am not buying into the position that African-Americans are different. Economic, geographic and educational attributes may be factors in the types of purchases a person of any ethnicity might make, but I don’t see any massive difference between “people” who have similar lifestyles. We purchase what we need and can afford. Purchasing power transcends race, gender, and skin color. Inept marketing is pandering.
Reports indicate that by the year 2050 most Americans will be non-white. But retailers don’t have to wait 40 more years to understand that America is a multicultural marketplace right now with every trend making it a necessity to be sensitive and react accordingly with the right product assortment and services provided. It’s just good business.
All retailers should be sensitive to the multicultural marketplace. Managers and directors who understand the makeup of the community they serve should stock products and services that cater to that specific element. It builds bridges into the community and word usually spreads like wildfire when a store carries products specific to that demographic. African-Americans make up a huge portion of out ‘national community’ and their needs and buying habits cannot be ignored. If anything, this should be considered an opportunity to increase goodwill (and sales) to that group.
I don’t think that race has as much to do with media usage as socio economic condition. Water cooler talk seems to be fairly constant among peers regardless of race. Gender seems to have a larger effect on media usage than race.
Isn’t it amazing that this is the first time Nielsen studied spending on African-American consumers? That’s what Nielsen wrote in their press release. That assertion is either false or one of the biggest embarrassments imaginable.