Earlier this week BET announced that it’s popular music show 106 & Park will switch to an all digital format. The show has had an awesome 14-year run and built a very loyal fan base. Here’s a note from Stephen Hill, President of Music Programming at BET on the recent change.

The interactive brand you helped build,106 & Park, is alive and well…and it’s moving to the space in which our audience NOW interacts with music the most: online.

He’s not wrong. Data from the Pew Research Center shows that 83% of people who use the internet interact with each other on social media. The numbers from Pew also show that among black internet users 26% use Twitter and 23% use Instagram. Here are some other stats to note:

• In 2011, 71% of African American adults were internet users. That numbers was at 35% in 2000.
• In 2012, 88% of American adults had a cell phone and 57% had laptops.
• Research from 2012 also shows that 19% of Americans had a tablet in 2012.

These numbers are evidence of a changing media landscape. BET is trying to get on top of that change by meeting their audiences where they are. 106 & Park has a following of over 6 million on Twitter and more than 4 million on Facebook; that, plus the endless opportunity the digital space brings makes this a no brainer for BET.

Additional articles:

Minorities rush to Twitter, Instagram, smartphones — http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/02/14/pew-social-media-survey/1921115/

Digital differences -http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/04/13/digital-differences/

BET’s 106 & PARK to Become Digital-Only — http://www.bet.com/shows/106-and-park/news/2014/11/106-and-park-to-become-digital-only.html