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For too long, advertisers have ignored the tremendous buying power of the African American community. But now black media is standing up for their consumers. According to African Business Review, Viacom owned BET, has joined with HuffPost BlackVoices, Black Enterprise, Burrell Communications, Cable Advertising Bureau, Essence Communications, GlobalHue, Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, KJLH Radio, Johnson Publishing Company, National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Nielsen, North Star Group, National Newspaper Publishers Association, One Solution, Radio One, TV One, Interactive One, Reach Media, Steve Harvey Radio, TheGrio, The Root, The Africa Channel, UniWorld Group, Vibe Media and Walton Isaacson for the first ever black media and marketing consortium.

Together, the companies will speak to advertisers to raise awareness of the present marketing opportunities in the black community and foster a sense of urgency around this community’s economic ability.

“We are excited to partner with some of the nation’s most influential media and marketing groups to highlight the growing economic opportunity of the Black marketplace,” Debra Lee, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for BET Networks said in a press statement. “As a collective, we are better positioned to demonstrate the value of targeting the black consumer audience and partnering with leading brands to help them succeed.”

Black household earning have increased by 64 percent from 200 to 2009. African Americans possess a buying power of nearly one trillion annually and represent over 42 million strong consumers. According to the Nielsen 2011 State of the African American Consumer, if African Americans were a country, they would represent the 16^th largest economy in the world.

African Americans top all other ethnic groups in the spending on automobiles, wine & spirits, baby care products, groceries, health and beauty products, personal care products, apparel, electronics, movies and travel and entertainment.

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