The availability of culturally relevant content plays a major role in which platforms Black TV content viewers use. That’s a top finding from a new annual report from Horowitz Research that tracks the evolution of the pay and free TV, streaming, internet, and mobile environment among Black Americans.
According to the FOCUS Black Volume I: Subscriptions 2024 report from the M/A/R/C-owned multicultural research house, content geared toward Black audiences is important for some 62% of Black households.
This, Horowitz says, underscores how necessary culturally relevant content is to the value proposition for streaming services.
Meanwhile, the streaming story in Black households mirrors that of the total market: As traditional cable/satellite subscriptions decline, penetration of subscription streaming services has remained steady among Black households. In particular, some 67% of Black TV content viewers subscribe to at least one SVOD service.
Netflix and Amazon Prime Video top the list of most popular SVODs. Still, Black audiences also use a range of Black-targeted SVOD services: 42% have access to at least one Black-targeted SVOD, such as BET+, Zeus, Black World Cinema, ALLBLK, etc.
Access does not equate to consumption, however.
Enter the free, ad-supported TV (FAST) channel to the discussion. Some 75% of Black TV content viewers use FAST services, overindexing when compared to the total market (67%). That’s more than a five-fold increase from 2019, when only 13% of Black households reported using these services, Horowitz notes.
In comparison, the total market usage of FAST services increased 25% during the same time span. “The array of Black-focused content available on FAST channels is an important driver of viewership,” Horowitz notes. “Notably, 66% of Black FAST viewers say that they watch content geared toward Black audiences at least weekly. And, in the past month, Black households over-indexed for usage of Tubi, Pluto TV, and XUMO.
Virtual MVPD services like YouTube TV, Sling, and Hulu with Live TV are also gaining traction among Black households. Some 32% of Black TV content viewers subscribe to at least one vMVPD service (overindexing compared to 23% of consumers overall). Notably, almost 2 in 3 vMVPD subscribers report high satisfaction with the channels and content geared toward Black audiences on their vMVPD service, Horowitz finds.
“Culturally relevant content has always been an important piece of the media pie for Black audiences,” notes Adriana Waterston, EVP and Insights & Strategy Lead for Horowitz Research. “With retention being a challenge in the SVOD and vMVPD spaces and engagement a challenge for FAST/AVOD, offering top-notch Black content can be an important differentiator.”
