How do you include diverse owned media in a plan with definitions you can verify?
Part of Fair publisher planning
The short answer
Include diverse owned media by writing down an ownership test before planning, such as at least 51 percent owned and controlled by members of the group, and accepting only evidence that meets it: a current certificate, a government directory listing or a public ownership filing. Tag ownership apart from audience, run the usual quality checks, and report spend by tag.
Key takeaways
- Diverse owned describes who owns and controls a publisher; diverse targeted describes who it serves. A plan should record the two separately.
- Certifiers in both countries use a 51 percent ownership and control test, and the FCC counts a majority interest as more than 50 percent of voting interests.
- Self described ownership is a lead to check, not evidence, so record the certificate, directory or filing behind each tag.
- Avoid claims a plan cannot support, such as how an outlet's audience behaves or that a segment performs better.
What does diverse owned media mean, and who verifies it?
Definition
- Diverse owned media
- A publisher or broadcaster that is majority owned and controlled by members of a group the advertiser has chosen to support, such as racial or ethnic minorities, Indigenous Peoples or women, as shown by evidence a third party can check.
There is no single media specific certificate. Planners can borrow the tests that supplier diversity bodies and governments already use for businesses. Those tests agree on the core idea: majority ownership is not enough without control of the business. The table quotes each test in its own terms, so a plan can name exactly which one it applied.
| Body | Test in the body's words | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|
| NMSDC (minority business enterprise) | A for-profit business at least 51% owned, controlled, and operated by one or more U.S. citizens who are members of a recognized minority group | United States |
| WBENC (women's business enterprise) | At least 51 percent owned, controlled, operated, and managed by a woman or women | United States |
| CAMSC (Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council) | At least 51% owned, managed, and controlled by visible minority(ies) or Indigenous person(s); must operate in Canada and be for-profit | Canada |
| Indigenous Business Directory (Indigenous Services Canada) | At least 51% owned and controlled by Indigenous people; owners First Nations, Inuit or Métis and ordinarily resident in Canada | Canada |
| FCC broadcast ownership reports | A majority ownership interest exists when one group holds more than 50% of the voting interests in the licensee | US radio and television licensees |
The NMSDC definition (opens in a new tab) names the recognized groups as Asian-Indian, Asian-Pacific, Black, Hispanic and Native American. CAMSC (opens in a new tab) notes that, through reciprocity with NMSDC, it also accepts US citizens and permanent residents. Pick one test per group in the plan and use it consistently across clients.
Why should a plan record ownership separately from audience?
Because the two answer different questions and come from different evidence. Ownership is a fact about the business, shown in a certificate or filing. Audience focus is a fact about the content, shown on the pages. Some well known public programs are built on audience, not ownership. New York City's Executive Order 47 (opens in a new tab) of May 22, 2019 defines community and ethnic media as publications created for communities based on native language, race, color, gender, national origin, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability or immigrant status, or that target a discrete neighborhood or region.
| Tag | What it records | Evidence that supports it |
|---|---|---|
| Diverse owned | Majority ownership and control by a named group | Current certificate, government directory listing or ownership filing |
| Community or in-language focus | The outlet's editorial focus or language | Sampled articles, language of the pages, the outlet's stated mission |
| Both | An owned outlet whose content also centers the community | Both kinds of evidence, recorded separately |
What do public records show about diverse ownership in media?
For US broadcasting, the FCC publishes ownership data every two years. Its Seventh Report on Ownership of Broadcast Stations (opens in a new tab), released in January 2025 with data as of October 1, 2023, found that women held a majority ownership interest in 10 percent of commercial broadcast stations, people in racial minority groups in 5 percent, and Hispanic or Latino people in 6 percent. The FCC data covers broadcast licensees only, so digital publishers need their own evidence.
Public advertisers that report their spending show what tracking looks like in practice. New York City's Local Law 83 of 2021 (opens in a new tab) extended the city's community and ethnic media goal to radio and television. The Fiscal Year 2025 report (opens in a new tab) of the Mayor's Office of Ethnic and Community Media says agencies spent $7.7 million with those outlets, 24 percent more than with general outlets, and that outlets count only after they apply and meet the requirements for the city's directory.
How do you build a diverse owned segment into a programmatic plan?
Seven steps from a client goal to a verified segment
- Write the definition. Name the groups, the ownership test from the table above and the evidence accepted, and get the client to approve it before any search.
- Source candidates widely. Use certifier directories, the Indigenous Business Directory, public media directories such as New York City's, press associations and the publishers already on the brief's site list.
- Verify each claim. Record the certificate number and expiry, the directory entry or the FCC filing. A publisher's own About page is a lead, not proof.
- Read the content. Sample recent articles to confirm the outlet is an active publisher that fits the brief, exactly as for any other site.
- Check the selling path. Note the outlet's ads.txt sellers. Outlets with no programmatic path go to a direct buy list rather than off the plan.
- Tag the plan. Mark each site as owned, community focused or both, with the evidence and the date it was checked.
- Report by tag. Show planned and delivered spend for each tag, so the client can see its goal measured on the evidence it approved.
The quality checks do not change for this segment. The fair publisher planning hub explains why small and independent publishers should meet the same tests by evidence rather than by size, and the supply path guide covers the seller checks.
Which claims about diverse owned media should a plan avoid?
Mistakes in this area can be claims as well as placements. A plan that says more than its evidence shows can embarrass the client and the publisher. A plan stays on firm ground when it describes publishers and pages and never guesses at the people who read them.
| Claim to avoid | Why it fails | Write instead |
|---|---|---|
| "This outlet reaches the Black community in Atlanta" | Describes readers the plan has not measured | "Majority owned per NMSDC certificate, checked on a stated date; covers Atlanta news" |
| "Certified diverse owned" without a certificate | Implies a third party review that did not happen | "Self described as diverse owned; certificate requested" |
| "Diverse owned media performs better" | No public source supports a general performance claim | Report the client's own campaign results by tag |
| Ownership inferred from names, photos or topics | Guesses about identity are unreliable and intrusive | Use only certificates, directories and filings |
| A segment total that mixes owned and in-language outlets | Overstates the ownership commitment | Two totals: owned, and community or in-language focus |
How can PlacementGraph support a diverse owned segment?
What does a verified diverse owned segment look like on a real brief?
Fictional example
A fictional credit union in Georgia and South Carolina
A fictional credit union with branches in Georgia and South Carolina asks for an English display plan beside personal finance, homebuying and small business news, and wants a share of the budget with Black owned and women owned publishers. The planner writes the definition first: NMSDC or WBENC certification, or an FCC filing for broadcast station sites, checked within the past year.
Candidates come from certifier directories, regional press associations and the agency's existing list. Several publishers describe themselves as Black owned on their About pages but hold no certificate; they stay on the plan, tagged as self described, while the agency asks whether they hold one. A radio station's news site is confirmed through its public FCC ownership filing.
Every candidate goes through the same article, quality and seller checks. Two publishers with no ads.txt file go to a direct buy list. The final plan carries three tags with dates and evidence, and the client's report will show spend for certified owned, self described and community focused outlets separately.
What should a diverse owned media checklist include?
Diverse owned media checklist before approval
- The ownership test and the accepted evidence were written down and approved by the client.
- Every outlet tagged as diverse owned has a certificate, directory entry or filing on record, with the date checked.
- Self described ownership is tagged as such and not reported as certified.
- Ownership tags and community or in-language tags are recorded and reported separately.
- Diverse owned outlets passed the same content, quality and seller checks as every other site.
- Outlets without a programmatic path were moved to a direct buy list, not removed.
- No plan text describes the identity or behavior of an outlet's readers.
Frequently asked questions
Is diverse owned media the same as multicultural or in-language media?
No. Diverse owned is about who owns and controls the business. Multicultural or in-language media is about the content and the language it is published in. An outlet can be one, the other or both, so a plan should tag and report each separately and let the client say which goal it is pursuing.
What if a publisher says it is diverse owned but holds no certificate?
Keep it as a candidate and tag it as self described. Ask whether it holds a certificate, appears in a government directory or, for a broadcaster, has a public ownership filing. Do not report it as certified until one of those is on record, and never decide ownership from names or photos.
Do government set aside rules apply to private advertisers?
New York City's Executive Order 47 and Local Law 83 set goals for city agencies only. A private advertiser can borrow their definitions and directories because they are public and documented, but any target it sets for itself is a voluntary choice that it should write into its own plan.
Can one definition cover a plan that runs in both the United States and Canada?
Partly. CAMSC and NMSDC recognize each other through reciprocity, which helps for minority owned suppliers. Indigenous ownership in Canada is best shown through the Indigenous Business Directory, and US broadcasters through FCC filings. Write the definition by country, then report one combined total with each country's evidence attached.
Sources
- Definition of an MBE (opens in a new tab)National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC)
- Certification for Women-Owned Businesses (opens in a new tab)Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)
- Supplier Certification (opens in a new tab)Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council (CAMSC)
- How to Register for the Indigenous Business Directory (opens in a new tab)Indigenous Services Canada
- Seventh Report on Ownership of Broadcast Stations (DA 25-28), data as of October 1, 2023 (opens in a new tab)Federal Communications Commission, January 2025
- Executive Order 47: Strengthening Our Commitment to Community and Ethnic Media (opens in a new tab)City of New York, Office of the Mayor, May 22, 2019
- Local Law 83 of 2021 (opens in a new tab)NYC Mayor's Office of Ethnic and Community Media
- Fiscal Year 2025 Advertising Spend Report (opens in a new tab)NYC Mayor's Office of Ethnic and Community Media, December 2025
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.