Target Puts Another Half-Million Behind REVOLT's HBCU Pitch Competition, No Single Winner Required

REVOLT and Target brought back Bet On Black for a sixth season, premiering October 19 on REVOLT's linear network and streaming on REVOLT.tv and YouTube. Marsai Martin hosts, and Kenya Barris executive produces, reuniting the two for the first time since black-ish, which Barris created and Martin starred in; it's also Barris's first project with REVOLT since being named vice chair of REVOLT Labs. The season was filmed in Atlanta, with roughly 90% of the production crew Black.

The bigger change is the format. Past seasons crowned a single winner; this one splits a $500,000 growth fund across every founder in the cohort, all of them students at HBCUs including Howard, Morehouse, Spelman, Clark Atlanta, Grambling State, and Fayetteville State. Mentors include The Gathering Spot co-founder Ryan Wilson and designer Brandon Blackwood, and founders keep 100% of their equity. REVOLT says the Target partnership has now directed nearly $3 million toward Black founders across all six seasons, though that figure comes from REVOLT itself rather than an outside audit.

Dropping the single-winner format is the more interesting brand decision than the dollar figure. Target gets to keep its name on a show that no longer produces one dramatic loser, and REVOLT gets a season built entirely around founders succeeding rather than being eliminated on camera, which is a far easier story for both brands to keep telling.

Source: PR Newswire

Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →