![Streaming Video ‘Killed’ The Television Star]()
By Gary J. Nix
U.S. advertisers are estimated to spend $36B advertising on digital video
74% of Black TV viewers report streaming TV content, compared to 68% of total market consumers
CBx Vibe: “Video Phone” Beyoncé
This year will mark the first time in U.S. history that the average daily time spent watching content on mobile devices will surpass that of television, with the lion’s share of it on smartphones. Since African-Americans over-index on smartphones when it comes to streaming video content, it would behoove advertisers to do a better job of connecting with this market that consistently sets buying trends, in part via content consumption.
Why This Matters: Excluding voice time, the average time on mobile devices are slated to experience an eight-minute increase from 2018 to three hours and 43 minutes, while television time will drop nine minutes from last year to just three hours and 35 minutes. With the increase in mobile viewing, marketers must consider the $1.3 trillion buying power of African Americans and this number is estimated to rise to $1.54 trillion by 2022.
Read MoreBy Fredrick Lee
CBx Vibe:“Yeah!” Jungle Brothers
Walmart (WMT +1.38%) is expanding its education benefits to high schoolers in an effort to attract more African-Americans to work for them. A tighter U.S. job market is making it harder for employers to attract and keep talent. What better way to entice high school students to join the team than to offer education benefits that will help pay for college.
Why This Matters: Many employers see high school students as a way to grow their business and groom future managers. Walmart is no different, especially since African-Americans make up 21% of its U.S. workforce, making them the largest private employer for this group. As of May 2019, the U.S. unemployment rate for African-Americans over the age of 16 years old was more than 6.2%, the lowest rates for this group in years. With these low rates, it’s becoming more competitive for employers to attract talent to their workforce.
Read MoreBy CultureBanx Team
CBx Vibe: “Versace” Migos Feat. Drake
Capri Holding’s (CPRI +0.77%), Versace’s new owner due to its $2.1 billion acquisition of the iconic Italian brand is vying for a bigger stake with urban consumers by opening 300 new stores by 2022. Could their expansion plans tap into the mutual admiration that lingers to this day between Versace and the hip hop community, in an effort to control debt and increase sales?
Why This Matters: The Medusa and gold barocco prints that Versace is well-known for, has draped the silhouette of many hip hop artists for decades and these new store openings may make the brand more accessible. Versace currently has 188 stores globally, 28 of them are in the U.S. They plan to renovate these locations to reach its goal of doubling annual sales along with their $2 billion revenue target.
Read MoreBy Sabrina Lynch
CBx Vibe: “SFSG (So Far So Good)” Phyno
The world’s leading streaming service Netflix (NFLX -0.21%) is turning to Africa to expand its content offering. They bought the rights for movie blockbusters “October 1st”, “Lionheart” and animated series “Blood & Water.” Netflix is tapping African talent to lead the way for its original programing, and this could finally be a sign that streaming services are recognizing the cultural and monetary value of African storytelling.
Why This Matters: The Western world has slept on the economic worth of Africa-based studios, directors and producers for far too long. The Nigerian movie market, also known as Nollywood, is a multi-billion dollar industry, second only to India’s Bollywood which generates an average of $2.63 billion a year, more than Hollywood in the U.S. Netflix currently invests $13 billion on original content and paid $3.8 million for Lionheart’s license.
Read More
![LeBron Rolls Into The Hyper-Luxury Luggage Market With Rimowa]()
By CultureBanx Team
LeBron James teams up with French luxury luggage maker Rimowa
Rimowa’s luggage price tags range from $800 to more than $1,200
CBx Vibe: “Destiination” Desiigner
The worlds of sports and luxury are merging once again as part of a wider generational shift with Rimowa and LeBron James. Rimowa’s hyper-luxury goal is to make the brand relevant to the Instagram generation of which Afirfcan American’s have outsized influence. By including King James in it’s latest campaign Rimowa may be able to excel at forging culturally relevant collaborations and boost sales.
Why This Matters: Traveling has always been aspirational, so it makes sense that the bags we bring along on our journeys would be as well. Since James has nearly 50 million followers on Instagram, a platform that 43% of black adults use, it will be easy to promote the brand to his aspiring followers. The French luxury powerhouse LVMH (LVMUY +2.31%) acquired an 80% majority stake of Rimowa in January 2017 and you’ll need to get your coins together because there luggage price tags range from $800 to more than $1,200.
Read MoreBy CultureBanx Team
The IMF will monitor vital currency reforms for Zimbabwe’s Central Bank
3 years ago, Zimbabwe paid off more than $100M of arrears on IMF loans
CBx Vibe: “Clout” Offset Feat. Cardi B
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has thrown a life-saver to Zimbabwe by dispensing currency reform advice, not loans, as long as they stop printing money. For decades Zimbabwe has buckled under the weight of astronomical levels of inflation due to its debilitating currency crisis.
Why This Matters: In April, the country’s central bank decided to introduce yet another currency into its already crippled financial system called RTGS that’s fallen in value since it launched. The BBC reported at its height prices were almost doubling every day and the central bank printed notes worth 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollars to try and keep up.
Read More
![Africa’s Uprising Catches the Attention of the NBA]()
By Christopher Pitts
CBx Vibe: “Time’s Up” O.C.
With the uprising of Africa as an emerging market, it seems only fitting that the NBA would capitalize on years of grassroots basketball initiatives. Recently hired Amadou Gallo Fall, the NBA’s current Vice President and Managing Director for NBA Africa, will now serve as president of Basketball Africa League (BAL), which speaks to the league’s commitment to promoting diversity initiatives. With Fall in place just how profitable could the BAL become for the NBA?
Why This Matters: At the launch of BAL, Commissioner Adam Silver stated “combined with our other programs on the continent, we are committed to using basketball as an economic engine to create new opportunities in sports, media and technology across Africa.” Not to mention that Six of the 10 fastest-growing economies are in Africa. Silver noted there are more than 400 companies in Africa that generate more than $1 billion annually, but sports there has not seen the same growth, at least not yet.
Read More
![African-American Chief Diversity Officers Are Leveling Up In Tech]()
By Christian McKenzie
CBx Vibe: “DNA” Kendrick Lamar
A lot of tech companies have been brutally plagued with stories about their lack of racial sensitivity and astuteness. Many are coming to the realization that the lack of diversity in the c-suite affects the makeup of their entire workforce, the creation of inherently biased products and profitability. In the past year multiple technology companies have placed African-Americans in Chief Diversity Officer roles, or positions with similar titles, most recently Airbnb and Snapchat (SNAP +8.04%) appointment Melissa Thomas-Hunt and Oona King to fill these jobs.
Why This Matters: High growth tech company jobs are highly sought after by diverse graduates, with 5 million IT jobs expected to be created globally by 2027, according to Jobbatical. Both Thomas-Hunt and King have highly credentialed resumes, but it may not be enough to combat the systemic lack of hiring of diverse workers that’s led to the less than 5% black tech workforce.
Read More
![Snapchat Wants To License Urban Music Bops]()
By CultureBanx Team
Snap wants to license music for users to embed in posts
Universal Music Group’s roster includes Rihanna, Drake & Migos
CBx Vibe: “Big Deal” Kid Ink
Snap (SNAP -0.73%) the parent company of Snapchat wants to license music for users to embed in posts and possibly even launch hit songs. With R&B and hip-hop being music’s most consumed genre, the Wall Street Journal reported the company is in talks with Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group as they have the biggest artist in this category signed to their labels. Will these music bops be enough to impress investors and fend off Facebook’s (FB -3.03%) territory poaching Instagram?
Why This Matters: Competition in this space is quite steep but holds a lot of upside. Case and point look at Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” song with Billy Ray Cyrus, the song first caught on with TikTok as a meme and now has spent eight weeks at #1 on the Billboard Top 100 chart. Last year, Facebook cemented licensing deals with major labels, once again beating Snap to what could be another way to increase advertising sales.
Read More
