REVOLT’s Detavio Samuels says advertisers have fallen short on commitments to Black-owned media companies

Nearly three years after advertisers and agencies pledged to diversify their spending to support Black-owned media companies, there remains a shortfall in the amount of money actually making it to Black-owned media businesses.

“We’ve definitely seen movement and momentum. But without question, I think that they have fallen very short from the promises that they’ve made. And even this year, with all the talk about the recession and with all of the cuts, I think even their desire to deliver on those commitments are even smaller,” said Detavio Samuels, CEO of REVOLT on the latest episode of the Digiday Podcast.

As a Black-owned media company that was founded by Sean Combs and operates a TV network as well as streaming and digital properties, REVOLT has worked to address one of advertisers’ top complaints: “That there was not enough inventory in Black-owned media in order to deliver against the commitments,” Samuels said. Among those efforts have been REVOLT’s launches of free, ad-supported streaming TV channels across services including most recently Vizio’s WatchFree+.

February 28, 2023