Black Viewers Continue to Seek Out Streaming Options; Could BET’s New Ownership Lead to Explosive Growth?
Black Viewers Continue to Seek Out Streaming Options; Could BET’s New Ownership Lead to Explosive Growth?
BET and its sibling streamer BET+ are up for sale, and whoever buys them could have a huge opportunity to super-serve Black audiences.
As streaming continues to expand, inevitable and important questions about access and representation must follow. A 2023 survey found that Black viewers see better representation on linear TV than on streaming services, but new data from Horowitz Research shows that Black audiences are not averse to streaming by any stretch. Indeed, Black viewers will turn to a multitude of sources to find Black-focused content, and Horowitz’s numbers indicate there could be a big opportunity for whoever buys BET to drastically increase its audience.
Key Details:
- Over 40% of Black viewers use BET+, ALLBLK or another Black-focused subscription streamer.
- Horowitz found that 75% of Black viewers watch a free ad-supported TV (FAST) service.
- BET and BET+ are currently for sale, and the introduction of a free streaming tier by its new owner could accelerate growth for the channel/streamer.
Horowitz’s data found that 62% of Black audiences think content representative of themselves is important. The way they seek out this content is varied; 67% of viewers who seek out Black TV shows are signed up for a subscription streaming service like Netflix or Prime Video, which are the two streaming brands identified by an SRG survey as the top “Must Haves” among Black audiences.
Black viewers are also frequently using live TV streaming services — also known as virtual multichannel video programming distributors, or vMVPDs — to get their content, which could be a reflection of the better representation they see on linear TV versus streaming. Thirty-two percent of Black respondents to Horowitz said they were subscribed to a service like Hulu + Live TV or Sling TV, as compared to 23% of customers overall. In addition, 63% of Black audiences say they’re satisfied with their live TV streamer’s Black-focused content.
Free ad-supported TV (FAST) services are also serving Black viewers well. Horowitz found that 75% of Black content viewers use FAST platforms, as compared to 67% of all consumers. Sixty-six percent of Black FAST viewers say that they watch content geared toward Black audiences at least weekly, despite a report from last year which stated that FAST channels focused on Black content comprise only 2% of the total inventory available.
How Can BET Expand Viewership?
The Horowitz report also found that more than 40% of Black audiences subscribe to a subscription streaming service specifically geared toward Black content, such as BET+ or ALLBLK. That means there could be a juicy opportunity awaiting whoever buys BET from Paramount.
The company is currently in talks to sell BET to the channel’s current CEO Scott Mills. Paramount has flirted with the idea of selling BET before, but it has never gotten an offer compelling enough to make a deal happen. Changes in ownership, combined with a desire to cut costs could mean that Paramount is finally ready to do just that.
In my mind, the creation of a free streaming plan for BET+ would be a fantastic way to surpass other Black-focused subscription streaming services. Black audiences clearly find content specifically created for them important, and BET+ is already a popular streaming service among this cohort. With three-quarters of Black content viewers watching FAST platforms already, a free plan of BET+ would give the streamer a highly effective onramp to convert free watchers to paid subscribers.
Such an overhaul of BET+ would almost certainly have to wait for new ownership to take over. But when it does, it would have a great opportunity to establish BET+ as the premier subscription streamer among Black audiences, as Horowitz’s data makes plain.
BET+
BET+ is an online streaming service from BET Networks, launched as a joint venture with Tyler Perry Studios. As one of the largest online subscription video-on-demand services focused on the Black audience and lovers of Black culture, BET+ features more than 1,000 hours of premium content including new, exclusive programming, iconic TV series, movie favorites, as well as documentaries, and specials from BET Networks. BET+ offers original programming from Tyler Perry, including his plays, series, and box office hits.