MrBates2
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Nielsen report confirms blacks watch more TV than any other group
Network execs: take note.
According to a new report published by Nielsen, African-American viewers carry a lot of weight when it comes to audience and purchasing power.
The market research firm’s latest African-American consumer study, titled Resilient, Receptive and Relevant, details the need for corporations and marketers to connect with black audiences, who now have a buying power of $1 trillion and watch significantly more television than any other group.
The report found African-Americans favor programming with diverse casts, and that African-American women watch more television than men.
Top television shows perhaps unexpectedly include reality TV programs and Scandal.
More surprising, however, may be the lack of attention paid to the findings, which have been published for the last three years.
“It’s not only that the African-American audience watches more TV, but it’s substantially more – two hours over other groups,” Ron Simon, head curator at The Paley Center for Media, tells theGrio. “It’s known in the industry, but it certainly hasn’t gotten the attention I think that it deserves.”
According to the report, African-Americans watch 37 percent more television than other demographics, and their consumption proclivities are equally influential.
In fact, researchers predict their buying power will rise to $1.3 trillion by the year 2017.
Ongoing population growth and increases in educational attainment influence these figures.
Conversely, while advertisers spend $75 billion on television, magazine, Internet, and radio ads, only $2.24 billion of that sum is put towards media focused on black audiences.
Rather than create a strategy to effectively target individuals within this demographic, marketers appear to approach it as if the black identity was uniform.
“It’s kind of like when you’re fishing, and you cast out a really big net because you know you’re going to be able to catch many fish in the sea simply because they’re there,” comments Cheryl Pearson-McNeil, SVP, Public Affairs and Government Relations at Nielsen. “That’s sort of the premise that advertisers may be thinking. That if we cast a wide enough net because blacks are already watching television, then we’re sure to capture them as well. That way we don’t necessarily have to spend additional dollars or inclusive dollars to reach out to the media we know directly speaks to them more.”
This way of thinking, explains Pearson-McNeil, ignores the nuance of the African-American community, and fails to capitalize upon an opportunity to reach key consumers.
“It goes beyond simply having a black or brown person slipped into the commercial,” she comments.
Network execs: take note.
According to a new report published by Nielsen, African-American viewers carry a lot of weight when it comes to audience and purchasing power.
The market research firm’s latest African-American consumer study, titled Resilient, Receptive and Relevant, details the need for corporations and marketers to connect with black audiences, who now have a buying power of $1 trillion and watch significantly more television than any other group.
The report found African-Americans favor programming with diverse casts, and that African-American women watch more television than men.
Top television shows perhaps unexpectedly include reality TV programs and Scandal.
More surprising, however, may be the lack of attention paid to the findings, which have been published for the last three years.
“It’s not only that the African-American audience watches more TV, but it’s substantially more – two hours over other groups,” Ron Simon, head curator at The Paley Center for Media, tells theGrio. “It’s known in the industry, but it certainly hasn’t gotten the attention I think that it deserves.”
According to the report, African-Americans watch 37 percent more television than other demographics, and their consumption proclivities are equally influential.
In fact, researchers predict their buying power will rise to $1.3 trillion by the year 2017.
Ongoing population growth and increases in educational attainment influence these figures.
Conversely, while advertisers spend $75 billion on television, magazine, Internet, and radio ads, only $2.24 billion of that sum is put towards media focused on black audiences.
Rather than create a strategy to effectively target individuals within this demographic, marketers appear to approach it as if the black identity was uniform.
“It’s kind of like when you’re fishing, and you cast out a really big net because you know you’re going to be able to catch many fish in the sea simply because they’re there,” comments Cheryl Pearson-McNeil, SVP, Public Affairs and Government Relations at Nielsen. “That’s sort of the premise that advertisers may be thinking. That if we cast a wide enough net because blacks are already watching television, then we’re sure to capture them as well. That way we don’t necessarily have to spend additional dollars or inclusive dollars to reach out to the media we know directly speaks to them more.”
This way of thinking, explains Pearson-McNeil, ignores the nuance of the African-American community, and fails to capitalize upon an opportunity to reach key consumers.
“It goes beyond simply having a black or brown person slipped into the commercial,” she comments.
