Pablo Calvog/Shutterstock.com

African-American television network Bounce TV has just signed a major distribution deal to partner with Univision Communications Inc., the leading media company serving Hispanic America, to broadcast Bounce TV as a multicast channel of their stations in San Francisco, Boston, Miami, Denver, Sacramento, Raleigh, and Tampa. This might be the first time an African-American broadcast company and a Hispanic media company have joined forces at this level. Univision Television Group owns and/or operates 62 television stations in major US Hispanic markets and Puerto Rico, will carry Bounce TV.

This deal, according to a press release, will drive Bounce TV’s coverage to 86 percent of African-American television homes and 68 percent of the total United States. Bounce TV will now also be in available all of the top ten markets and 24 of the top 25 African-American markets. All this comes on the heels of Bounce’s one-year anniversary operation on Sept. 26. Bounce TV, which is majority African American-owned, airs 24 hours daily, seven days a week on the signals of local television stations. Its founding group and board of directors include Martin Luther King III and Ambassador Andrew Young.

While all of the terms of the Bounce-Univision deal have not been disclosed, both sides seem excited about the joint venture. “This unique agreement brings together the leading over the air broadcaster targeting the Hispanic viewer and the only over the air network targeting African Americans,” commented Jeffrey Wolf, executive vice president of distribution, Bounce TV in the press release. “Our partnership with Univision extends Bounce TV’s extraordinary reach even further, reinforcing our position as the fastest growing African-American network.”

Univision Television Group president, Kevin Cuddihy, added, “Bounce TV is the perfect companion for Univision as we continue to serve the New American Reality. It is a meaningful network that will serve African American audiences in our communities joining Univision to create a powerful one-two combination for viewers and advertisers.”

This year, Bounce also announced its first motion picture licensing agreement with Lionsgate through which the network broadcast a package of African American-skewing Lionsgate movies.

Bounce is continuing to rise fast. This latest deal should speed up its growth even more.

Image: Hemera

-So maybe the economy is doing as poorly as we thought? It’s an emotional roller coaster! Now The Washington Post is saying there are indications that things are moving in a lasting, positive direction. New homes are being built and sold at a higher clip. Those jobs numbers improved with yesterday’s Labor Department numbers showing 361,000 fewer people filing for unemployment insurance. And U.S. exports were up. Experts question whether this will make a difference in the Presidential election.

-We talked about some of the trends in retail in this story yesterday. Today we have a story from The New York Times outlining the ways in which personalized shopping is heading to the supermarket as well. Grocers, using data collected on loyalty cards and apps, are reaching out to customers in a variety of ways with personalized coupons and offers.

-The Census Bureau has proposed an end of the use of the term Negro, leaving black and African American. The suggestion is one of a few that the Bureau has made following research it conducted during the 2010 census in which some questions, when worded differently, got better response rates. The other suggestions include a separate category for “Hispanic” and different ways of identifying Arab-Americans. Hispanics are concerned that changes will short-change the count. But other groups, including the National Urban League, are in support of the rewording.

-Couldn’t get an invite to join Pinterest? Now you don’t need one. And here’s our story with a few pointers for using Pinterest to grow your business and your personal brand.

-And in the final Olympics update of this year’s Games, Usain Bolt won gold in the 200-meter race, becoming the first to ever defend both the 100-meter and 200-meter titles in back-to-back Games. For many, the win earns him the title of “best sprinter in history.” He’s also competing in the 4X100 relay competition. Separately, Bolt took issues with comments US Olympian Carl Lewis has made, suggesting that Jamaica’s drug testing program needs to be strengthened.

Ashton Eaton became “the best athlete in the world” with his gold-medal win in the decathalon. Another American Trey Hardee took silver, the first time the U.S. took the top two spots since 1956.

And the U.S. women’s soccer team took gold for the third straight time, beating Japan. The game was a rematch of the 2011 World Cup in which Japan was the victor.

Twins used to be a cute, rare sighting but now 1 in ever 30 babies born in the U.S. is a twin, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. In 1980, that number was 1 in 53.

The increase isn’t exactly uniform. On average, black women have more twins, but now white women have caught up. Over the last three decades, the rates of twins have doubled for white women, rose by half for black mothers, and by about a third for Hispanic women.

So why the increase? One explanation is more women are waiting til their 30s to have babies. For some unknown reason, mothers in their 30s are more likely to have twins than younger or older women, an authors of the report have attributed as much as a third of the increase in twins to this fact.

A more obvious reason is the increased use of fertility drugs and treatments. When you couple that with the older age of most new mothers, the twin increase makes sense. This is also why the rate of twins among white women has caught up to that of black mothers.

While some women may view having twins as a blessing, experts say the trend is worrisome, as multiple births are dangerous to mothers and their babies. Children are often smaller, weaker, and require more care, plus the mother is usually already over the age of 40.

Have you noticed an increase in twin births around you?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

More on Madame Noire!

• Keeping It Toasty: Stylish Puffer Jacket Options For The Extra Cold Days
• 8 Celebs Spill Their New Year’s Resolutions
• Deuces Before The Due Date! Couples Who Split With Babies On The Way
• Ashy to Classy: Must Have Beauty Products to Curb Head to Toe Winter Dryness
• The Trouble with Waiting for a Man to be ‘Ready’
• Why Gay is NOT The New Black

by Makula Dunbar

When thinking about advertising, the process behind showcasing a great product or service to mass consumers seems simple. First off, it helps to actually have a great universal product. Second, it’s strategizing and creating either a funny, identifiable or emotional message. Lastly, it’s placing the ad on TV, radio, print or the World Wide Web. Sound about right? Not exactly.

In actuality, advertising can be complex. Add a cultural approach to the equation, even more so. Unfortunately, a three-part checklist won’t do the trick. If only each and every consumer was one in the same, what an easy task it would be to get messages across. However, with an estimated U.S. Asian population of 15.5 million and a Hispanic population of 48.4 million, there’s no denying ethnicity and culture is a prevalent staple in everyday life—that deserves recognition.

“The number of corporations that do specific ethnic advertising is still relatively small,” says Burrell Communication co-CEO Fay Ferguson. “Making communications programs beamed at these audiences is not only necessary, but critical.”

McDonald’s Corporation —one of Burrell’s long-standing clients — is an example of one that outsources, allowing the agency to create advertisements for the African-American community.

Hard to Reach

With recent studies, advertisements and agencies pushing cross-cultural communications, it’s a blur as to what multicultural tactics are even effective. Should agencies stretch one message or slogan across cultures without alteration? Should advertisers reach out to individual ethnicities tailoring their brand so that’s it’s culturally relevant? Is it absolutely necessary for advertisers to reach out to every market?

“It’s definitely important for companies to understand that the Latino community is growing. The Asian community is growing as well and if they don’t tap into these communities, they’re going to find themselves in a very small segment in the actual market,” said Alfonso Covarrubias, creative director at multicultural advertising agency Maya.

By Charlotte Young

Not all black and Hispanic families find themselves “movin’ on up” once they’ve reached a level of affluence and wealth. Even with success, USA Today reports that affluent blacks and Hispanics are more likely to live in poorer neighborhoods.

The study, taken from new census data, compares average black and Hispanic households making more than $75,000 a year to average lower-income non-Hispanic white households making less than $40,000 a year. The study finds that all minorities at every income level are more likely to live in poorer neighborhoods in comparison to whites at the same income levels. John Logan, a sociologist and director of US2010 Project at Brown University finds that blacks are the most segregated and affluent blacks often live around people who have not reached their level of prosperity.

The reason for this? White middle-class families who want to live around people that look like them can easily do so. But this is not always the case for African Americans who usually find themselves the minority in higher income neighborhoods.  The trend sticks close to their history of segregation, and occurs most often in the Northeast’s and Midwest’s large metro areas.

Affluent blacks are more exposed to poverty than non-Hispanic whites in all but two (Las Vegas and Riverside, CA) of the top metro areas with a large population of blacks.  Atlanta and Washington DC offer exceptions to a history of segregation, as they have been called home to large, affluent black populations for years.

Asians are the exception to minorities living in poorer neighborhoods. Affluent Asians are in fact less exposed to poverty in their neighborhoods than even affluent whites.

In areas with recent population growth, such as parts of the Sun Belt, the disparities are lower. People are coming into neighborhoods that have not yet been classified as “white” or “Hispanic” or “black.” Sociologist Roderick Harrison says that the people moving into these areas are, “moving in on a more equal footing.”

An unfortunate reality for affluent minority populations, is that their money cannot bring them complete success if they stay in the poorer neighborhoods.

Blacks and Hispanics living in less affluent areas are often faced with the same problems of poor blacks and Hispanics, such as lack of access to good schools. This of course equates to lack of access to opportunities for their children.

For these minority populations, Logan reveals that, “separate translates to unequal even for the most successful black and Hispanic minorities.”

By Charlotte Young

Long ago are the days when blacks moved to Chicago for financial security. Black Chicago is no more, and as US Representative Danny Davis tells Bloomberg, “while you’re steppin’ out, somebody else is steppin’ in.”

Blacks still comprise the largest minority at 32.4 percent, but Hispanics are steadily gaining in the city and make up about 30 percent of the population.

Chicago, the US’ third largest city, lost 17 percent of its black population; an example of the loss that has taken place in major cities nationwide. Across the country blacks lost 12.6 percent of their population while Hispanics gained 16.3 percent. With population loss has also come economic loss. The median income range for blacks is $34,445 compared to the Hispanic median income at $40,946.

As for black political power, black lawmakers have had to give up super majority numbers in order to maintain. Tension has risen between the two ethnic groups with redistricting effects on large ethnic political district strongholds, but they have not yet resulted in a “bloodbath.”

Analysts say this is in part due to the high numbers of non-citizen and underage youth that account for the Hispanic population growth.

Davis acknowledges that the Hispanic political power rests in “their unity and sense of nationalism,” something he remembers blacks in Chicago used to have.

But now, he says, in the city that is the foundation of President Obama’s political career, “African-Americans stopped organizing.”