Attention marketers: America’s Black population is more diverse, more reachable and more demanding than ever before, in line with a latest survey.
The report, “The Global Black Audience,” from Nielsen, calls this group Black Americans and not African Americans since it features a growing variety of immigrants and their children. While the bulk are African American, about 4.6 million, roughly 10% of the group are foreign-born. The U.S. Census projects that this may increase to just below 10 million by 2060. At that time, 16% of the U.S. Black population will probably be foreign-born, up from just 7% in the beginning of the century.
Why we care. This presents a challenge and a chance for marketers. The challenge is making campaigns which might be more nuanced and aware of cultural differences when targeting this audience. The opportunity is that this adds to the information which will be used for creating personas and personalization.
Where they’re from. The Caribbean is the biggest contributor to the rising foreign-born Black population, while Africa accounts for the fastest growth, contributing more than two million in 2019 alone. This, after all, adds more diversity because the people aren’t coming from “Africa,” but from 51 of the continent’s nations. Each with its own culture and language.
Media consumption. The U.S. Black audience over 18 spends nearly 12 hours with media each day, compared with just below 10 for the final population. This means in every week they spend a full three days consuming content, almost 55% of it on TV.
TV plays a much larger role with Black Americans than with other groups. They spend 31.8% more time watching TV each week than the final population. Among Black Americans 65 and older, TV accounts for nearly 69% of all media use.
The driving factor. Black Americans have truly embraced the increasing amount of streaming content that’s available. While they do use connected TV devices more than the final population, it makes up a much smaller portion of their total TV use than Hispanic and Asian audiences.
Dig deeper: How to fight bias in your AI models
They are also least prone to feel overwhelmed by the more than 1.1 million unique titles across linear and streaming channels. Black audiences say they’re less likely than other viewing populations to feel that the abundance of alternative makes it tougher to search out something to look at.
More streaming subscriptions. Nearly three-quarters of Black Americans pay for 3 or more streaming services, well above the final population average of 60%. They also use many tools to have interaction with TV content, comparable to captions and subtitles. This reflects similar trends amongst young audiences using social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Fifty-two percent of Black American Gen Z audiences, for instance, say they use subtitles to raised understand the content they watch.
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Black creators connect. More than half of first-generation Black Americans say they’re following a Black creator based outside of the U.S. The demand for Black creators isn’t yet enough to beat a persistent pay equity gap in comparison with white influencers. According to the most recent research from MSL U.S., the pay disparity between Black and white influencers on platforms like Instagram will be as high as 67%.
Backing the Black. Black consumers are open to latest brands, especially in the event that they are Black-owned. The report (registration required) says they’re finding them on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook; 66% say social media makes it easier to find and buy from Black-owned brands.
True representation matters. More than a 3rd (35.7%) of Black Americans imagine that brands all the time represent Black people the identical in promoting, compared with 27.9% among the many U.S. general population. This is costing brands that don’t address the difficulty: 59% of Black consumers say they’ll look elsewhere in the event that they don’t see accurate or representative depictions of their community. Also, Black consumers prefer brands that support causes they care about. Two-thirds say they’re very prone to cut ties with brands that devalue the Black community.
This poses a challenge to corporate America. The hyper-partisanship swarming so many online channels has some firms dialing back or not publicizing their involvement with so-called “hot button” issues. In addition to that, some firms that embraced DEI initiatives following the murder of George Floyd, at the moment are cutting funding for them or eliminating them. Either of those can torpedo brand support from Black consumers.
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