NEW YORK, March 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 300 media executives gathered at the 14th Annual Multicultural Media for Multicultural America Forum, held at the Edison Ballroom on March 20th in NYC. The focused event included a series of research presentations and 5 panels featuring thought leaders from all sectors of the media space.
The day's discussion focused on transculturalism', a concept introduced by Adriana Waterston, SVP of Marketing and Business Development of Horowitz Associates to explain the dynamics of today's diverse, multiplatform media environment. Transculturalism' is a cyclical relationship that all people have with each other and the impact these relationships have to ever-changing definitions of culture. In transculturalism', Waterston noted, "None of us are static, stuck in time or constrained in silos defined by narrow commonly accepted characteristics or traits. We are constantly changing, evolving, and being redefined by each other. We are all influenced, and we are all influencers."
Waterston presented a ground-breaking segmentation of the TV universe that placed TV viewers on a continuum based on their media habits, not demographics. Horowitz's segmentation highlighted how critical it will be to serve young, diverse Millennials with the quality content they want and on all the platforms they use. Reacting to Horowitz's segmentation data, Jose Velez-Silva, Senior Director of Multicultural Marketing for Comcast affirmed the media giant's commitment to meeting the evolving demands and expectations of their subscribers. Velez-Silva explained that "it is about what is meaningful and relevant... we are creating our services to cater to this ever-changing transcultural and multicultural audience. We're not starting with a product and then seeing how it fits with the household; we're talking to consumers and seeing what they really need and like, and then we're building our products and experiences to cater to those needs."
Joel Kliksberg, VP & Chief Strategy Officer, Fusion, the new ABC/Univision joint English-language venture targeting young, Millennial Latinos, summarized the complexity of today's media environment: "The biggest challenge from the content production side is the pace of change. It took radio some 38 years to reach an audience of 50 million, it took television about 13 years, and it took Instagram about a year and a half. So the pace of change is so rapidly occurring. But with that change comes phenomenal opportunity. And so we, everyone who works at Fusion, feel incredibly fortunate to have these two massive parent companies making an investment in the vision of the future."
Mike Rosen, Telemundo Media's EVP of Advertising Sales, pointed to the opportunity for media giants to superserve audiences in a transcultural America: "Telemundo, for a very long time, was really a silo within the world of NBCU. It really stood alone because for so long, this industry was so separated. I love this term, transculturalism'. Today is the first time I've ever heard that term and I love it. We're always thinking about how we can refer to what's going on in the marketplace."
To keep up with photographs and information on the event as it is posted, follow Horowitz Associates on Facebook and Twitter (@HorowitzAssoc or mcmf14).
The annual Multicultural Media Forum is organized by Horowitz Associates Market and Multicultural Research. For more about the 2014 event, contact Stephanie Wong: 914-834-5999 (stephaniew@horowitzassociates.com) or click here to read more about the event.
SOURCE Horowitz Associates
