Expectant Media
Expectant Media is a Black Women-owned boutique ad-tech and content agency that connects enterprise brands with multicultural and BIPOC audiences through a programmatic marketplace of 100+ Black-owned publishers, a creator network reaching 1B+ impressions, and six owned cultural content franchises.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2023
- HeadquartersTotowa, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Expectant Media does
Expectant Media is a privately held, Black Women-owned boutique ad-tech and content agency founded in 2023 and headquartered in Totowa, New Jersey. The company connects enterprise brands with multicultural and BIPOC audiences through a three-pillar platform-plus-services model: the Expectant Marketplace (EXPM), a programmatic newspaper-style syndication platform aggregating 100+ Black-owned publishers across 200 sites and reaching 350 million monthly impressions; the Expectant Creators network (EXPC), a diverse creator pool generating 1 billion+ impressions; and the Expectant Content offering (EXPC3), which delivers experiential marketing and live-event activations.
The company owns and operates six content franchises — Super Bowl Soulful Celebration (the only NFL-sanctioned multicultural extension of the Super Bowl, airing on CBS in 2024), HBCU Honors (airing on BET in 2025), Players Honors, Black Stars, The Black Man Can, and Play Make Her — which serve as both branded media properties and demand-generation engines for brand sponsorships. Distribution spans broadcast television (CBS, BET), cable, PlayersTV, YouTube, and a programmatic digital marketplace.
Revenue is generated through negotiated brand partnerships and advertising sponsorships of the experiential events and content franchises, plus programmatic advertising across the BIPOC marketplace. Enterprise brand partners include Prudential Financial, Lexus, PepsiCo, Amazon, Google, JP Morgan Chase, Diageo, Mars, Mielle, Gilead Sciences, and State Farm. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. The company was acquired by PlayersTV in January 2026, with co-founder Michele Ghee appointed President of PlayersTV.
Expectant Media firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Expectant Media
- Legal name
- Expectant Media
- Website
- https://www.expectantmedia.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2023
- Operating status
- Acquired
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Expectant Media is a Black Women-owned boutique ad-tech and content agency that connects enterprise brands with multicultural and BIPOC audiences through a programmatic marketplace of 100+ Black-owned publishers, a creator network reaching 1B+ impressions, and six owned cultural content franchises.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Expectant Media industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Multicultural Advertising Services
- NAICS
- Media Buying Agencies (54183), Media Representatives (541840)
- SIC
- Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Activation/Experiential Creative Agencies (MPAAAAAO)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Integrated Full-Service Creative Agencies (MPAAAAAA), Event Strategy & Experience Design (BPAFAGAA), Brand Activations & Experiential Campaign Design (MPAAAGAA)
Keywords
Where Expectant Media is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Totowa
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Expectant Media business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Brand Partnerships and Advertising: Expectant Media generates revenue through brand partnerships with advertisers seeking to reach multicultural audiences. The company offers programmatic advertising across its BIPOC marketplace, experiential activations, and branded content through its creator network.
- Experiential Marketing Services: The company provides experiential marketing and event production services, including flagship events like Super Bowl Soulful Celebration, HBCU Honors, and Players Honors, delivering brand activations with measurable audience reach.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels5 records
Expectant Media product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Expectant Media is a women-owned Ad Tech and content agency that connects enterprise brands with multicultural and BIPOC audiences through a proprietary programmatic marketplace, a diverse creator network, and experiential cultural events. The company operates the Expectant Marketplace (EXPM), a BIPOC-syndicated programmatic marketplace connecting brands with 100+ Black-owned publishers across 200 sites reaching 350 million monthly impressions, and produces flagship content franchises such as Super Bowl Soulful Celebration, HBCU Honors, Players Honors, Black Stars, The Black Man Can, and Play Make Her.
Product overview
Expectant Media is a women-owned experiential and content agency operating as a platform-plus-services model. Its core offerings include: the Expectant Marketplace (EXPM) for BIPOC programmatic advertising reaching 350 million impressions across 100+ Black-owned publishers; Expectant Creators (EXPC) connecting brands with diverse content creators generating 1B+ impressions; and Expectant Content (EXPC3) for experiential activations. The portfolio also includes owned content franchises such as Super Bowl Soulful Celebration, Players Honors, HBCU Honors, Black Stars, The Black Man Can, and Play Make Her, which deliver culturally relevant programming across TV, digital, experiential, and social channels.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Quantifiable outcome
- 1.7M P2+ TV viewers and 100M social media impressions for Super Bowl Soulful Celebration 2024
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Expectant Media
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Expectant Media technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Expectant Media partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.
- PlayersTVcorePlayersTV acquired Expectant Media, with Founder Michele Ghee appointed President of PlayersTV. The deal represents strategic expansion of PlayersTV's media ecosystem, adding experiential partnership capabilities and culturally resonant brand activations to the network's content distribution across digital, linear, and live experiential platforms.
- BETcoreBET partners with Expectant Media for HBCU Honors, airing Thanksgiving weekend 2025, reaching nearly 800,000 viewers and delivering double- and triple-digit year-over-year growth among key demographics.
- CBScoreCBS aired Super Bowl Soulful Celebration in 2024, generating 1.7M P2+ viewers and 100M social impressions for partnering brands.
- NFLflagshipMelanie Few holds the only NFL sanction for a Black woman, creating Super Bowl Soulful Celebration as the community-facing multicultural extension of the Super Bowl.
- GooglecoreBrand partner supporting HBCU Honors 2025, contributing to 8.4M digital impressions and 24M verified coverage views.
- MiellecoreBrand partner supporting HBCU Honors 2025 cultural event.
- Gilead SciencescoreBrand partner supporting HBCU Honors 2025 cultural event.
- State FarmcoreBrand partner supporting HBCU Honors 2025 cultural event.
Scale indicators13 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Expectant Media competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- MediaMath: MediaMath is a scaled programmatic ad-tech platform managing media buying across digital channels. Not multicultural-specialized, but as a scaled platform it competes with Expectant Media's marketplace for programmatic ad dollars and could plausibly serve the same advertisers.
- Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN): OWN is a cable network targeting Black and multicultural audiences with original programming. While broader in scope, it competes for multicultural advertising budgets and culturally relevant content sponsorship opportunities.
- BET Media Group: BET is a leading Black-focused media network producing original programming, broadband, and digital content. Expectant Media partners with BET for HBCU Honors and competes for multicultural advertising budgets and culturally relevant programming audiences.
- Essence Communications: Essence operates as a major multicultural media brand targeting Black women, with events (Essence Festival), digital content, and brand partnerships. Founded by/connected to the same media ecosystem as Michele Ghee's prior employer, it competes for multicultural advertising and sponsorship dollars.
Emerging players
- Afrostream: Afrostream is a streaming platform focused on Black content and entertainment. While narrower in focus (streaming only), it competes for a portion of the multicultural digital audience and advertising revenue that Expectant Media's marketplace serves.
Direct peers
- The Root: The Root is a Black-focused digital media publication covering news, culture, and politics. As part of the multicultural digital media ecosystem, it competes for programmatic ad revenue and brand partnerships targeting Black audiences.
- Blavity: Blavity is a Black-owned digital media company operating a network of news and lifestyle sites with a creator/influencer network. Comparable to Expectant Media's marketplace and creator network serving multicultural audiences, with similar programmatic and brand partnership revenue models.
- ReachTV: ReachTV is a multicultural-focused broadcast and digital network distributing content across airports, digital, and streaming. It overlaps with Expectant Media in offering reach to diverse audiences through broadcast partnerships and culturally relevant content.
- Group Black: Group Black is a media collective and ad network connecting brands with Black-owned publishers and creators. Like Expectant Media, it operates a programmatic marketplace for multicultural inventory and offers brand partnership opportunities, making it the closest direct competitor in the BIPOC ad-tech space.
- Kinema: Kinema operates a digital video platform/syndication network for premium publishers and creators. Comparable to Expectant Marketplace's role aggregating diverse publisher inventory and connecting it with advertisers through programmatic and direct channels.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Expectant Media social profiles
Digital presenceExpectant Media financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Expectant Media leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Expectant Media funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Expectant Media M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Expectant Media
What does Expectant Media do?
Expectant Media is a women-owned Ad Tech and content agency that connects enterprise brands with multicultural and BIPOC audiences through a proprietary programmatic marketplace, a diverse creator network, and experiential cultural events. The company operates the Expectant Marketplace (EXPM), a BIPOC-syndicated programmatic marketplace connecting brands with 100+ Black-owned publishers across 200 sites reaching 350 million monthly impressions, and produces flagship content franchises such as Super Bowl Soulful Celebration, HBCU Honors, Players Honors, Black Stars, The Black Man Can, and Play Make Her.
Is Expectant Media a public or private company?
Expectant Media is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.
When was Expectant Media founded?
Expectant Media was founded in 2023. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Expectant Media based?
Expectant Media is headquartered in Totowa, United States, in the North America region.
How does Expectant Media make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Brand Partnerships and Advertising is the primary driver. The others are experiential Marketing Services.
Who are Expectant Media's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are MediaMath, Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), BET Media Group and Essence Communications. Afrostream is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are The Root, Blavity, ReachTV, Group Black and Kinema.
Does Expectant Media have an API?
No public API is recorded for Expectant Media.
What industry is Expectant Media in?
Expectant Media's product category is Multicultural Advertising Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAAAAAO, Activation/Experiential Creative Agencies, with a secondary code of MPAAAAAA, Integrated Full-Service Creative Agencies. Its NAICS code is 54183 and its SIC code is 7311.