From a historical perspective, I will always have great respect for the NNPA (National Newspaper Publishers Association–a national consortium of Black owned newspapers). But it really saddens me to see such a great organization resort to playing the role of the annoying cousin that is always asking for a hook up.
With the downturn of our economy over these past few years and the massive competition of new media (internet), traditional media has been drastically affected with massive layoffs and complete closures of many media outlets.
In the midst of all of this, the NNPA is demanding for it fair share of advertising dollars. In other words, they are demanding that companies advertise in their publications. This is what Al Sharpton recently said at the National Newspaper Publishers Associations 70th Anniversary Convention recently:
“They’re not giving us a hand-out. They are in our communities. They owe us in our communities. We have to stop going to these companies like they are doing you a favor to advertise in a market where the margin of their profit comes from in the first place.”
And why are these companies able to generate huge profits from the Black community year after year after year? Because the average Black consumer does not need to see a product advertised in a Black publication in order to buy that product. When it comes to our spending habits, we either match or exceed other racial groups on various depreciable items. With a track record like that, why should a company feel pressured to advertise (the whole purpose of advertising is to gain more attention to your product or brand) when they already have the full attention of that demographic? Demanding ad buys when a demographic already buys your stuff is nothing more than racketeering.
The real reason behind this “can you help a brutha out” scheme by the NNPA has more to do with keeping an old business model afloat. Let me explain.
A while ago on this site I did a random pick of Black-owned newspapers online and listed their ranking in Alexa (a website that keeps track of web traffic going to millions of websites). I just updated that list to show their rankings here in the US. Please note, these Black publications oftentimes come with a full staff and overhead. Here are their traffic details.
Chicago Defender 44,384
African American News & Issues 552,655
Afro.com (The Afro-American Newspapers)
Atlantatribune.com 321,728
Insight News.com (Alexa Traffic Rank 2,461,025. US rank not given)
National Association of Black Journalists 253,932
New York Amsterdam News 475,584
Finalcall.com 32,327
Dallasweekly.com 1,077,073
columbuspost.com 644,329
Phillytrib.com 239,678
Blackpressusa.com 201,821
Now, compare that to the Alexa rankings of two Black operated blogs. Bloggers tend to have no overhead costs, unsalaried and have anywhere from one to multiple contributors. Jackandjillpolitics.com has grown to several contributors over their years. Their rank? 78,504. Field Negro has just one contributor. The current ranking of that website? 140,393. In fact, pick just about any established Black blogger out there and you will find that the traffic rankings of these sites either rival or exceed that of most Black owned newspapers online. With that being said, why do we not see Black bloggers raising a stink over advertising dollars?
While the NNPA is spending the little money that it has on national conventions and prayer breakfasts complete with PAID keynote speakers, perhaps they should consider changing up their business model. The role of beggar does not look good on them.
More Blacketeering By The NNPA
by Duane on June 23rd, 2010 at 1:30 pmFrom a historical perspective, I will always have great respect for the NNPA (National Newspaper Publishers Association–a national consortium of Black owned newspapers). But it really saddens me to see such a great organization resort to playing the role of the annoying cousin that is always asking for a hook up.
With the downturn of our economy over these past few years and the massive competition of new media (internet), traditional media has been drastically affected with massive layoffs and complete closures of many media outlets.
In the midst of all of this, the NNPA is demanding for it fair share of advertising dollars. In other words, they are demanding that companies advertise in their publications. This is what Al Sharpton recently said at the National Newspaper Publishers Associations 70th Anniversary Convention recently:
And why are these companies able to generate huge profits from the Black community year after year after year? Because the average Black consumer does not need to see a product advertised in a Black publication in order to buy that product. When it comes to our spending habits, we either match or exceed other racial groups on various depreciable items. With a track record like that, why should a company feel pressured to advertise (the whole purpose of advertising is to gain more attention to your product or brand) when they already have the full attention of that demographic? Demanding ad buys when a demographic already buys your stuff is nothing more than racketeering.
The real reason behind this “can you help a brutha out” scheme by the NNPA has more to do with keeping an old business model afloat. Let me explain.
A while ago on this site I did a random pick of Black-owned newspapers online and listed their ranking in Alexa (a website that keeps track of web traffic going to millions of websites). I just updated that list to show their rankings here in the US. Please note, these Black publications oftentimes come with a full staff and overhead. Here are their traffic details.
Chicago Defender 44,384
African American News & Issues 552,655
Afro.com (The Afro-American Newspapers)
Atlantatribune.com 321,728
Insight News.com (Alexa Traffic Rank 2,461,025. US rank not given)
National Association of Black Journalists 253,932
New York Amsterdam News 475,584
Finalcall.com 32,327
Dallasweekly.com 1,077,073
columbuspost.com 644,329
Phillytrib.com 239,678
Blackpressusa.com 201,821
Now, compare that to the Alexa rankings of two Black operated blogs. Bloggers tend to have no overhead costs, unsalaried and have anywhere from one to multiple contributors. Jackandjillpolitics.com has grown to several contributors over their years. Their rank? 78,504. Field Negro has just one contributor. The current ranking of that website? 140,393. In fact, pick just about any established Black blogger out there and you will find that the traffic rankings of these sites either rival or exceed that of most Black owned newspapers online. With that being said, why do we not see Black bloggers raising a stink over advertising dollars?
While the NNPA is spending the little money that it has on national conventions and prayer breakfasts complete with PAID keynote speakers, perhaps they should consider changing up their business model. The role of beggar does not look good on them.