TV One kicked off the cable upfront season Wednesday by unveiling a new tagline and showcasing its celebrity on-air talent during a lively presentation in New York City.
With appearances from such on-air personalities as Tatyana Ali, Christopher "Kid" Reid, LisaRaye and Roland Martin -- as well as musical performances from R&B groups Bel Biv DeVoe and Mint Condition -- TV One kicked off its first upfront presentation by unveiling its new tagline, Experience Black, which embraces the network's outreach to its target adult African-American audience through popular, reality, scripted and specials programming.
TV One president Johnathan Rodgers said the seven-year old network has successfully established itself among its core 25-54 African-American audience so it is now looking to create greater awareness for the network's content and brand within the advertising community.
The network, which launched with 2 million homes, is now in 60 million households and is coming off its best ratings year ever, experiencing double digit growth in primetime among households, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.
The network posted a 4% gain in its prime time audience for January compared to the same period last year, according to Nielsen.
"There's a growth pattern in cable where you eventually feel confident enough to show off your programming beyond your core viewership," Rodgers told Multichannel News. "That's when you do an upfront event like this."
TV One senior vice president of original programming Toni Judkins said the network will continue to develop reality content with the return of new episodes of its docu reality series Unsung and Life After, as well as its celebrity reality shows Donald Trump Presents The Ultimate Merger and LisaRaye: The Real McCoy.
Judkins also said the network has generated positive responses from its ambitious three-week mini talk show series Way Black When, which launched this past Monday. She added the network's first scripted series, Love That Girl!, is performing well with the network's core audience.
