September 12, 2008

Ad Marketers Zero In on African-Americans

Galavision’s combination of classic telenovelas, sports and original programming makes it the top-ranked Spanish-language network among Hispanic audiences. TNT’s sports play, BET and TBS (with top draw Tyler Perry’s House of Payne) continue to resonate with African-American audiences, according to Nielsen Media Research data about cable preferences for the first seven months of this year.

The Hispanic demographic remains the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population overall, rising 4.4% in 2007 over 2006, according to Nielsen, which recently formed an independent advisory council to help the company recruit, measure and accurately report on Hispanic TV households. Nielsen data through July 31, 2008, showed Galavision ranking eighth for total day viewing, behind networks like HBO and TNT. The amount of TV viewing in Hispanic homes closely mirrors viewing in the average U.S. home, or about 8 hours.

TV viewing in African-American households outpaces that of any other demographic by 40%, according to Nielsen Media Research. Perhaps not surprisingly, ad spending targeting African-Americans saw its biggest surge in national cable compared to all other media including local radio and national magazines, based on a Nielsen survey from Oct. 1, 2006, through Sept. 30, 2007.

"African-Americans watch a lot of television, and we tend to watch shows about ourselves," Johnathan Rodgers, CEO of TV One, noted recently while discussing the possibility of former Congressman J.C. Watts (R-OK) launching a black-centric news network.

A recent case in point is CNN’s two-part special Black in America, which garnered nearly 1.5 million African-American viewers for its July 23 debut and 2 million on July 24, making that segment African-Americans’ second-most-watched program of the week behind House of Payne, according to Nielsen. — Catherine Applefeld Olson

Back to table of contents for CableFAX: The Magazine's 2008 Most Influential Minorities in Cable issue.