Broadcasting Without Borders: American (Indian) Pie
It’s early morning and I’m walking through midtown Manhattan on my way to the 2014 Media Summit also known as — deep breath — The International Conference on Television, Broadband, Social Media, Mobile, Advertising, Cable, Telco’s, Publishing, Radio & Marketing, Print Media, News Media, Motion Pictures and Games.
Having worked as a film/television producer for 17 years, I’m fascinated, almost feverishly obsessed with the radical changes in the entertainment industry. Confabs like these are to me what Vidcon is to YouTubers.
Click clacking along in my heels, heart pounding with anticipation amongst a sea of men in dark suits, I navigate my way into a room where a panel discussion will be held on video content and distribution platforms. I notice an executive from Nielsen is on the panel, his job description reading something along the lines of “Consumer Insights and Building Strategic Relationships.” With baited breath I watch the demographic pie charts flash on the screen during the presentation and then, my heart drops.
I’m not in the pie. None of my people, culturally speaking, are in the pie.
The panel ends, I walk up to him and say, “Excuse me, may I ask you a question? Why aren’t Native Americans included in the entertainment sector demographics?” He replies, “Do they have cell phones?” “Yes, of course we have cell phones,” I said, tempted to pull out my iPhone before remembering that I just cracked my screen and might not make the best impression. Then he asks, “Do they watch TV?” “Yes, we watch television.”
We both stand there with perplexed looks on our faces for completely different reasons until he finally says, “Well, my clients (major advertisers) never ask for Native Americans. They are such a small demographic…perhaps they are folded into the Hispanic market.”
He graciously gives me his card, I fumble for mine to give him in return as I attempt to put together pieces of a puzzle that has baffled me for decades.