Advertisers Urged to Use More Black Media

Note to marketers: Television advertising is not post-racial. That’s the message that a newly formed consortium of the country’s largest African-American media outlets wants to send to marketers, who have largely shunned black media in favor of placing ads on general outlets.

BET Networks, Black Enterprise, Johnson Publishing (the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines), the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and others will join with media-buying agencies to introduce a campaign intended to educate advertisers about the importance of black media and its increasingly deep-pocketed audience. Called #InTheBlack (using the Twitter hash tag), the campaign will begin with print advertisements in major newspapers (including The New York Times) and trade magazines like Broadcasting & Cable and AdWeek. It will expand to a long-term joint effort that includes social media and direct outreach to marketers.