In the space of just a few weeks, a group of Madison Avenue heavyweights — with names like General Motors, Interpublic Group and WPP — has made public guarantees of ad money for some of the industry’s smaller media outlets, all owned by Black entrepreneurs. Getting these companies to talk about ad spending in public is an amazing feat. For Byron Allen, it’s just a first step.
The media entrepreneur, who owns cable’s Weather Channel and recently added seven TV stations to his portfolio of holdings, says he has spent “12 hours a day on Zoom calls since March of last year” trying to get big advertisers to take Black-owned media more seriously. He isn’t done.
Corporate America thrives in part on spending by Black consumers, and Allen believes it ought to put more of its money into ventures that cater to that group.
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