Diverse-owned publishers say they’re still educating advertisers about their audiences

Nearly two years after many in the advertising industry revealed plans to invest more money in Black-owned media, those publishers said they are still educating media buyers and advertisers about what they have to offer.

Last week, IPG Mediabrands hosted its third annual Equity Upfront in New York—a three-day affair where some 30 publishers, including Revolt, Urban One, and Allen Media Group, pitched their companies to a room full of media buyers and advertisers, including Amazon and Johnson & Johnson, at least according to the name tags seen by Marketing Brew.

The first year of the upfront was dedicated to Black-owned media, but it’s since expanded to include “media partners with Asian, Hispanic, and LGBTQIA+ ownership” as well.

Years after pledges were made, we’ve hit a point “where the rubber needs to meet the road,” Cavel Khan, chief commerce officer at Group Black, a collective of publishers and creators focused on bringing more ad dollars to Black-owned media, told Marketing Brew. That road has been paved with public proclamations and pledges from not just agencies but also companies like McDonald’s and GM. Still, last year, publishers told us they hadn’t reached equitable investment quite yet.

During the upfront’s opening keynote address, Magna’s US president Dani Benowitz shared that IPG Mediabrands upped its ad spend in Black-owned media by 61% between 2022 and 2021, in Hispanic-owned media by 7%, and in Asian-owned media by 32%, though she didn’t share exact figures.

In 2021, IPG Mediabrands said that it would allocate at least 5% of total media spend from client budgets to Black-owned media by 2023. As of today, the agency is “pacing” but “not ready to share numbers at this time,” according to spokesperson Zinnia Gill.

Regardless, Black-owned media is only receiving about 2% of total ad spend, about $7.6 billion, roughly the same percentage as 2020, according to Magna estimates based on Nielsen data, despite the fact that 14% of the US population is Black.

In light of those figures, awareness is still one of the main goals of the upfront, Benowitz told us, noting that marketers cite scale and measurement as hurdles. Most publishers who spoke to Marketing Brew agreed that educating the industry is still the task at hand, and that equitable spend could be years away.

“I still feel like we’re in the infancy stage, learning, growing, and there are a few brands that have made really good on their commitments, but it’s been our job to hold them accountable to the 5%, 3%, whatever it is,” Tiffany Nasralla, chief revenue officer of Interactive One, said. “Are we there yet? I don’t believe so.”

Group Black’s Khan was more blunt. “If you look at the advertising world right now and you look at how many dollars are going to Black-targeted and Black-owned businesses, it is tiny, it is miniscule. It’s actually embarrassing.”

Michael Roche, chief revenue officer for Revolt, told Marketing Brew that “people have viewed this audience historically as being very niche and monolithic.”

“We’re out there showing the scope and breadth of what we can deliver,” he said.

To that effect, Group Black touted its collective of nearly 300 publishers, creators, and partners that negotiate with agencies. Revolt pitched the fact that it was co-founded by Diddy, has “38 million unique digital visitors,” more than 30 new podcasts, and 18 million social followers. Urban One shared that it reaches nearly 50 million homes on cable and 27 million monthly listeners on syndicated radio. Small potatoes, these are not.

If anything, the upfronts should present the end of excuses for an industry that hasn’t prioritized minority-owned media companies, Khan said. “Everyone who’s going to present to you is creating value…You’re going to have an overwhelming amount of evidence when you sit here for three days. You have to act.”