Media Mix:
A Transformation at BET
2010-06-29

In the afterglow of the very public transformation of Chris Brown, and all the talk surrounding it, people seem to have ignored or simply missed evidence of a much quieter transformation on display at the BET Awards -- that of BET itself.
 
That's probably because the change in BET is more gradual. Television takes a long time to produce so naturally changes have been slow. But make no mistake there is change afoot. By all indications, BET was stung by criticism heaped its way after last year's awards show and what was almost universally described as a botched opportunity to be Black America's official voice in honor of its musical hero,  Michael Jackson.
 
Had it been ten years ago, BET may have taken its usual defensive " The E is for Entertainment" posture that always came off a bit hollow and insensitive, vene if it was backed by a business plan. But as its executives have matured, and in this landscape of competition for eyeballs coming from all sides and all technologies, BET's new posture appears to be to shift, respond and try to change the conversation.
 
Granted, it is not a dramatic shift, and perhaps it should not be. Nothng about what BET is doing now screams re-branding, but subtle shifts do show that minds are changing at the very top.
 
The obvious example is The 2010 BET Awards and its underlying theme of redemption. By giving a new forum for a second chance to both El DeBarge and Chris Brown, BET gave itself just as much of a new lease on the future as the artists - aa a  vessel of community healing, even. Imagine that. And while there were still the occasional bleeps,  the show was about as tasteful as most music awards shows get these days. The channel's work on topical areas, while not plentiful, have also been of high quality. And for the most part, BET's image as ground zero for low grade female imagery is fairly tough to find these days.
 
Let no one mistake this for a move to the highbrow, however. A recent conversation I had with a high-ranking BET executive pointed out the network's dilemma. In that executive's  words "smart doesn't scale." Simply put, if you want to provide intelligent, thoughtful, socially significant content, expect your audience to be limited, along with your revenue. It's an unfortunate lesson that many media businesses who start with a mission learn to their dismay. People often cry for content with a purpose, but they rarely show up when you do it. This is not unique to the Black community. As large as the general market is, the relativemarket share of The National Enquirer is vastly  larger than that of The New Yorker, the Economist or Salon.
 
To that end, BET's strategy seems to be to find the very difficult middle ground between the popular and the palatable -- the ever-elusive "give them a lot of what they want to give them a little of what they need" theory. For every two shows that give you pause, one to make you celebrate.
It's a hard trick to pull off, and on the road to change there are bound to be stumbles both small and large. But it's a start.
 
This Fall, for example, audiences should be excited by a new reality show starring skateboarder Terry Kennedy, and its rare focus on an individual who has chosen an alternative way to express his Blackness. It represents a really smart move by BET away from the cookie-cutter looks and lifestyles presented by the music videos it built its reputation upon.
 
Critics still decry BET's gutting of its news department, but from a branding point of view that decision speaks to focus, not necessarily neglect. News is an expensive proposition in a world of CNN and MSNBC.  But do you really want your news from a music video channel? Certainly there is a huge void to fill in news, but should BET decide to fill it, it should be with a new brand that is focused on that kind of content without distraction.
 
The channel has already gone the new brand route with the highly underrated Centric channel, a focused and progressive challenge to teh conventions of music channels that offers an inventive global playlist. Its website which features veteran music writers like Michael Gonzales, is even better.
 
But again, these are not dramatic changes. They are incremental and BET's most ardent critics may still find reason to complain. But if has been fair to criticize BET for the last 25 years, the channel is deserving of an equally fair hearing when it moves in the right direction. There's nothing more effective than a bit of positive reinforcement, and even a small shift in the direction of positivity makes BET's new moves worth watching.