At least two newspaper companies have created Web sites targeted at the growing and economically powerful African-American community online. Cox Interactive Media launched its BlackFamilies.com last month, while the Tribune Co.'s 4-year-old BlackVoices.com is undergoing significant expansion and transformation after four years online.

Cox and Tribune have found the niche to be a fertile advertising market. The online African-American community, which includes nearly 7 million adults, boasts annual spending power of $500 billion for ages 25 to 44, according to John Pembroke, brand manager for BlackFamilies.com, based in Atlanta. By 2003, the black adult online population will grow to just over 11 million, according to Forrester Research of Cambridge, Mass.

Other popular sites targeting African Americans include AOL's NetNoir.com, MSBET.com (a cooperative effort from Microsoft and Black Entertainment Television), Jetmag.com, and Ebony.com. All serve different niches, including entertainment, women, and the youth market.

Launching just last month, Cox's BlackFamilies.com is already on firm ground with sponsorship from blue-chip advertising powerhouses Procter & Gamble and AXA/Equitable. The site provides upscale black adults information about how to manage their families, relationships, finances, and free time.

"In general, Forrester and Jupiter say Internet users want (Web sites) as a resource," Pembroke says. "(Users) want to manage their families, finances, and their lives. The key thing is utility — make sure it is useful to users."

P&G sponsors BlackFamilies.com's parenting channel, while AXA/Equitable sponsors its investment channel. "AXA/Equitable recognizes the tremendous marketing potential in reaching diverse markets through online advertising and e-commerce," says Mary McElrath-Jones, assistant vice president at AXA/Equitable.

BlackFamilies.com also creates special programming, like the daily profiles this month of historic black figures each day for Black History Month.

The Tribune Co. knew it had developed a winner when it launched BlackVoices.com in 1995 within the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel site (www.orlandosentinel.com). Within six months, BlackVoices traffic surpassed the Sentinel's, despite lesser resources. It became a separate company within 18 months, operating in the Sentinel's offices.

"Now we're growing again, and we're part of Tribune Interactive Inc.," says Barry Cooper, who leads BlackVoices.com. "We're growing from 8 to 28 employees in 1999. We're drawing a quarter of a million (unique) visitors every month."

Cooper predicts that targeting the cohesive, loyal black audience online will follow in the successful footsteps of Black Entertainment Television, the powerful cable station; urban-based black radio stations; and magazines such as Ebony, Jet, and Essence. "If there is a reason for them to come, they will come," he says. "I see a day when we have a million registered users. That will be a powerful audience to tap into."

The decision to move BlackVoices to Tribune Interactive headquarters in Chicago this month was part of the same plan to transform the site from a mostly "community/chat" site to an advertising-driven site.

Tribune executives concluded that recruitment advertising for the African-American community was in great demand, so that will be their advertising focus. "So far the response has been terrific," Cooper says.

Advertisers include Compaq, CISCO, Enterprise Rent-a-car, and Freddie Mac. Compaq and others have been running branding campaigns with banner ads on the site, while Cisco, Enterprise, Freddie Mac, and others have been posting jobs.

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Martha L. Stone (martstone@aol.com) is a new media professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago and a frequent contributor to Editor & Publisher Interactive.