Blkfam: Whoopi Goldberg-backed new streaming service catering to Black family audiences makes its debut
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: The launch of a new streaming service, Blkfam, was announced on February 26, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. Larry Adams, a veteran of WarnerMedia, founded the service, with Hollywood icon Whoopi Goldberg onboard as both an equity investor and a driving creative force.
The publication stated that Blkfam, supported by advertisements, will initially offer a curated selection of programs tailored to resonate with Black family audiences.
Larry Adams shares the idea behind Blkfam
In an interview with the publication, Adams stated that the concept for a new streaming service came with the realization that major platforms in the market such as Netflix and Max were inept at curating adequate content for the Black family audience.
While scrolling through the 'Black Voices' section of one service, Adams noted, "It was kind of like a grab bag. It really felt like you have rows and rows of Black voices, but a lot of it wasn’t curated for my family.”
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"When I was developing the HBO Max go-to-market strategy, we identified that families are — from a business perspective — they are the ones that are on multiple streaming services," he began, explaining why Blkfam was aiming its content at families in particular.
"Most people are gonna have one or two, but families are gonna have up to eight, especially as we move to an unbundled world. You’re gonna need a lot of different types of content sources for folks and I realized, no one’s addressing Black family streamers. We need content that is curated and that is OK to watch alone but certainly able to watch together.”
Adams shared that the service will initially stream about 1,000 hours of content, including 20 syndicated series. There are 10 original animated and live-action shows in development, along with news, fitness, and wellness programming.
“It hits the spot of like, OK, this is great for understanding the diaspora, the African diaspora, which is not just Black in America, but globally. Then we have content that we’re looking at licensing that’s for the millennial mom and the millennial dad and knowing that sweet spot of our family is younger and looking for a little bit more content that’s way more relevant," he mentioned.
Whoopi Goldberg's role in Blkfam
Talking about 'The View' co-host, Adams stated, "She’s the creative powerhouse behind this that’s going to make it really magical."
"Tactically what she brings to the table is a deep understanding of how great content gets done, but more so she has actual IP that she’s been working on,” he continued.
“She’s got a book series that we will bring to life, she’s got show ideas — she’s also, to me, a great arbiter of taste on what should be showing up on the platform. So she’s really bringing her expertise entertainment across multiple kinds of categories.”
Goldberg is joined by Whoop Inc president Tom Leonardis as equity investors, while Adams self-proclaimed to be the "marketing, distribution, business guy."
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