• by June 25, 2004

WHAT'S BLACK AND WHITE AND BROWN - BUT NOT YET YELLOW, RED OR EVEN LAVENDER - ALL OVER? - The Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau's new "Upfront 04/05 Multicultural Marketing Guide" is a great idea and chockfull of the kind of valuable information about the burgeoning multicultural marketplace that any serious planner would want to get his or her hands on. It's just a little late. Released only a couple of weeks ago, the limited edition report still hasn't gotten into the hands of some key planning groups, even as the so-called multicultural upfront is beginning to wind down. Okay, so it's not truly a multicultural upfront - yet. It's mainly just a Hispanic network upfront. Whatever you call it, it's now poised to wrap up by the end of next week, and is expected to be the first Hispanic TV upfront to break the $1 billion mark. That's some serious coin for a marketplace that some see as still emerging, and enough to command the attention of the CAB members and other players itching to get a piece of the action that mainly goes to broadcasters Univision, Telefutura and Telemundo, with the only significant cable cut going to Univision owned Galavision.

Nonetheless, the 2004-05 Hispanic TV upfront has moved a lot slower and hasn't grown nearly as much as the 30 percent growth rate that some pundits had predicted. But even at the 15 to 20 percent rate of growth that the market is now expected to come in at, the market could still be described as, well muy caliente.

But even if the CAB is late to this year's game, we suspect the ad bureau is merely planting seeds for the future. Many of the niche multicultural networks profiled in the report have little if any profile on Madison Avenue, and maybe even less distribution among cable and satellite TV operators. But a year or two from now, with enhanced digital cable and satellite TV penetration that could an entirely different story. In fact, it's conceivable that given the right channel access, the multicultural marketplace could blossom into something representing the multichannel marketplace, with a network to suit the interests of niche audiences within the niches of various ethnic groups.

We'd also expect to see future iterations of the CAB's guide to include cultures other than African Americans and Latinos, including one of the fastest-growing segments: Asian Americans. The big question, suggests CAB Director of Marketing Development Cynthia Perkins-Roberts, is whether it should also include another major cultural segment: the gay/lesbian market. "Is that multicultural or is that lifestyle," she muses.

Whatever its classification, the gay media marketplace is growing rapidly and is beginning to get the attention of some Madison Avenue biggies. Take the new "Print Impressions" report from WPP's Mediaedge:cia unit. The report, cleverly entitled "Where Eye for the Media Guy!," suggests that gay media, while only recently out of Madison Avenue's closet, isn't as nascent as some might think. With an estimated $200 million in advertising dollars in 2003, the market has grown more than three-fold since 1996, according to Mediaedge:cia's estimates. And that's even before TV has become a significant factor for targeting gays and lesbians.

"Gay is hot and although it seems like TV is just coming out of the closet, magazines have been targeting this audience for many years," says the agency's report, noting that the massive ramp-up in gay-targeted advertising has been primarily a print media phenomenon and one that has been driven largely by the alcohol industry. To prove it, the Mediaedge:cia report even includes a so-called "gay publications pocket piece," which is a nifty and comprehensive guide to the circulation and demographic profiles of a dozen leading gay pubs, including - from the Advocate to the Washington Blade. If you're interested in a copy, try contacting Mediaedge:cia marketing manager Nathalie Alfred (nathalie.Alfred@medglobal.com). For that matter, if you'd like a copy of the CAB's version of multiculturalism, contact Perkins-Roberts at cynthiap@cabletvadbureau.com .