By Krissah Williams
Monica Miller, general sales manager of Radio One Inc.'s
gospel station in Atlanta, remembers how hard it used to be to sell advertising
for 97.5 Praise FM. Three years ago, few groups except churches were willing to
buy time even though the station was the fifth most popular spot on the FM dial
in the market.
"It was frustrating," said Miller, who watched
advertisers in search of black consumers flock to urban media while ignoring
gospel.
But these days, Miller said, corporate America
has set its sights on the black Christian market. Her station's revenue grew 35
percent last year, and about 90 percent of the station's advertisers are now
supermarkets, apparel retailers, automotive manufacturers and other large
companies.
Major corporations have long marketed to large demographic
groups including women, Latinos, blacks and youth. But as companies search for
new ways to slice the demographics, black Christians -- and their middle-class
money, their education and their families -- have attracted increasing attention.
The buying power of the nation's 36 million blacks has risen
substantially in recent years, from $318 billion in 1990 to $585 billion in
2000 and to $723 billion in 2004, according to the University
of Georgia's Selig Center
for Economic Growth.
For years, advertisers targeted this market through ads in
magazines like Ebony, Jet and Essence. More recently they looked to media
focused on urban music and entertainment. But those advertisers began worrying
that some of their target audience was not being reached and focused on black
Christians.
Deborah Gray Young, a vice president at E. Morris
Communications Inc., a Chicago ad
agency, conducted focus groups of black consumers for Tyson Foods Inc. and
found that the social activities of many black women centered on their
churches.
An estimated 53 percent of blacks regularly attend church,
according to a 2002 study by religion research firm Barna
Group Ltd., a percentage point higher than that of the nation overall. About 15
percent of blacks tune in to gospel stations, according to the research firm Arbitron Inc. But among those listeners, more than 70
percent own their own homes and 17 percent have household income of more than
$75,000, according to Interep National Radio Sales
Inc., a radio marketing firm.
"There's been a growing interest in this faith-based
market from mainstream corporate America.
Initially there was a lot of hesitation due to the religious nature of
it," said Max Siegel, president of Sony's Zomba
Gospel, a major gospel music label. "A lot of companies liked to stay
neutral, and no one could say exactly what the benefit would be. But the
federal government has made faith-based initiatives acceptable."
African-American gospel music stars sold about $140 million
worth of CDs last year.
Once, the advertisers most interested in reaching this
market were small, church-based entrepreneurs such as Christian book authors
and small-time recording artists, Siegel said. But as the genre evolved from Mahalia Jackson to singers performing holy hip-hop for
sold-out concerts in huge sports arenas, corporations noticed.
Their dollars have helped fuel growth in the gospel sector.
For example, Tyson Foods recently bought full-page ads in two magazines, Gospel
Truth and Precious Times, that target black women ages
24 to 54. Tyson Foods also began running commercials featuring
African-Americans on the gospel shows on Black Entertainment Television and on
TV One, a cable channel focused on African-Americans that was launched 22
months ago.
12/28/05
Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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