EGOT fame and business mogul Whoopi Goldberg is adding another entry to her resume: streaming entrepreneur.
Goldberg is an equity investor in Blkfam, which is described as the first and only Black-owned and Black-focused family streaming platform. The free, ad-supported service launches on February 26 across multiple platforms.
At launch, Blkfam’s content library includes over 20 syndicated series, with over 1,000 hours of anime titles, dozens of colorful animated characters and gender-diverse experiences, and hundreds of hours of original music-based content. Additionally, the company has 10 original live-action and animated series in development that are scheduled to premiere on the platform throughout 2024.
Goldberg has signed on as an equity partner in New York-based Blkfam alongside Tom Leonardis, president of production company Whoop Inc. affiliated with Goldberg, and will guide the creative development of programming projects exclusive to the platform.
Blkfam was founded by digital media veteran Larry Adams (Pictured above), who last year contacted Goldberg to see if she was interested in being part of the project. “I have a 10-year-old granddaughter, and there’s not a lot of content created by people who look like her, for her,” Goldberg said. diverse. “I feel like we don’t always represent in the best possible way.”
Goldberg said that before her investment in Blackfam, “no one had ever invited me to be part of the ground floor. And this isn’t even the ground floor, it’s the basement!”
“I like the idea of being part of something that is going to grow,” she continued. “As I get older, I say, ‘Wow, things will outlast me.’ That’s one of the things I wish would outlast me — I could be the black woman Walt Disney!”
Goldberg has authored several children’s books, including her popular “Sugar Plum Ballerinas” series. Currently co-host of “The View,” she has appeared in more than 150 films, including “The Color Purple,” “Sister Act,” “Till” and “Ghost” (for which she won an Academy Award).
“The magic of working with Whoopi Goldberg is that she has a magic bag of ideas,” Adams said.
Adams, who serves as Blkfam’s CEO and is a majority shareholder, declined to reveal the amount of funding raised by the company. He was previously senior vice president of digital strategy and product experience and head of design at WarnerMedia, where he helped design and launch HBO Max (now called Max) and DirecTV Now, and also served as a senior advisor to Mike Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign.
Adams said he was motivated to create Blkfam after he was browsing one of the popular black programming hubs of streaming services (he didn’t say which) to find something to watch for his kids and found “a ton of R-rated content.” “.
“Black culture and content are often stereotyped, silenced, or written off, so I wanted to create a platform where my kids and I could enjoy entertainment without having to face the same everyday biases,” Adams said. “By curating original content — proven through data and AI — primarily from Black storytellers, we’ve built a service that reflects true inclusion and diversity, where Black parents and children in particular can feel holistically represented.”
Blkfam’s goal is to provide a curated collection of “authentic, inclusive stories” that “entertain, educate, and celebrate with content relevant to the Black American family.”
According to Adams, Blkfam fills a “huge gap” in the live streaming market. A recent Nielsen study found that although black audiences are overrated in most media and television consumption, they still feel misrepresented or underrepresented in mainstream media. He said Blkfam is addressing this underserved market by bringing “family-friendly” and “unbiased” content to live streaming.
Blkfam’s content partners include PlayWatch Kids and Candle Media’s ATTN:, which develops educational and empowering offerings in animation and documentary styles that focus on ethnically and culturally diverse characters. PlayWatch’s lineup of animated shows includes “Gabby Galactic and the Orbiteens,” “The Marvelous Light,” “Black History Beats,” and “Kembe.” Blkfam also licenses programming from Africa Channel.
“We are very excited to partner with Blkfam – we feel this is a historic moment for families around the world,” Playwatch owner Jamie Jenkins said in a statement. “Ultimately, this platform will impact our children and our children’s children.”
At launch, Blkfam (blkfam.tv) is available on iOS, Android, Amazon Prime Video Channels, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, and smart TVs from Samsung, Vizio, and LG.
Part of Blkfam’s model will be to fund original series through brand partnerships, Adams said. “We’re not doing the same thing that other streamers did where they go out and get 10,000 hours of stuff,” he said. “Our curated approach means (the catalog) won’t be as deep and endless as Netflix, but it will be interesting faces you haven’t seen before.”