From CNN Contributor To Digital Powerhouse: How Roland Martin Built A Top 100 YouTube News Empire

Forbes

a day ago

Many Black journalists in today's mainstream media landscape are facing an inevitable fate: contraction, being sidelined, or silenced. For Roland Martin, none of those things are stopping his show. His journey from a familiar face on programming like CNN, Dish Nation, and TV One to an independent media powerhouse seemed like a savvy pivot. In a recent interview with the veteran journalist, he clearly states that is not the case.
'People like, 'Oh, you shifted to Black media.' I'm like, 'No, I never left,'' Martin states. This declaration is essential to understanding Martin's success and mission. While working at several mainstream platforms, he was quietly building a multi-platform presence brick by brick. He orchestrated carve-out deals for radio and television that kept him firmly rooted in Black-owned media. His work on major networks wasn't the destination; it was merely a vehicle.
Today, his daily news program, Roland Martin Unfiltered, is a force in digital media, boasting nearly two million YouTube subscribers and consistently ranking as one of YouTube's Top 100 podcasts globally. With DEI rollbacks hitting major networks and corporations, coupled with the exits of high-profile Black media voices like Joy Reid and Don Lemon, the stability of Black representation in mainstream media is uncertain. What is certain is that Roland has been anticipating this shift for over a decade and is building a media empire on his own terms.From Martin's perspective, the greatest mistake people make is that they "pivot when they're forced to pivot" after being fired or laid off. He took an approach different from the norm: he studied the moves of national networks, strategically anticipated the industry's future, and prepared well in advance. "I've always been thinking 10 to 15 years ahead of where folks were," he says.
This foresight manifested in a shrewd, entrepreneurial approach to his career. During a conversation with a CNN executive, Roland made a confident move and laid out all his cards on the table, explaining, 'I have 5 revenue streams. CNN is number 3.' This move demonstrated that Martin was more than just an employee dependent on a corporate check. He was a CEO leveraging an international platform to build his own enterprise. In 2009, after being denied a weekend show, he instantly decided, "CNN is now about to become my personal venture capitalist.' 'With what I'm paid by CNN, they're about to fund what I'm going to be doing in a decade.' He began purchasing his own studio equipment while still on their payroll.
A recurring theme in Martin's playbook is ownership. While at TV One, he noticed that the network was hiring outside production companies for all of his projects. He made them a compelling offer: to use his personal equipment, including cameras, lights, and a switcher, saving them overhead costs, under one condition. 'We have to co-own the content.' The network later canceled his show.
What seems like a setback was actually a masterfully orchestrated business strategy on Roland's part. Following the News One Now cancellation in 2017, the value of his decision to use his personal equipment became apparent. 'A lot of the content we did, I own,' he notes. That content became the foundation of a digital library of nearly 200 terabytes, an asset he can endlessly monetize without new production costs.Being committed to his long-term vision and goals required faith, patience, and difficult decisions. After canceling his show, TV One offered Martin a new contract with the same pay. He also spotted the devil in the details: a clause prohibiting him from working with any other Black-owned media for the contract's three-year duration. 'If I had signed that contract, then I would have been prohibited from doing anything with black media through the 2020 election,' he explains. This is another example of how Roland's foresight is critical to his success. He knew that the legendary Tom Joyner would be retiring in 2019 and that the 2020 election would require a strong Black media voice, a void he was intentionally aligning himself to fill.
Roland urges young Black creators to shift their focus from a content-centered approach to gaining a comprehensive understanding of financial realities. 'The problem for African Americans: we have always been the show. White folks have always been the business,' he says. A critical piece of advice he gives creators is to think like business owners and understand that to everyone on the payroll, "You are an ATM machine." 'Sometimes, that means forgoing the expensive camera or the extra audio engineer to ensure the business survives to create content next year and the year after that.'While Roland Martin Unfiltered has proven to be a success by any metric, it still runs into a historic problem as it relates to independent Black media platforms: advertising. Martin admits that the whole media ecosystem is dependent on advertising dollars, yet they remain scarce for Black-owned media. Armed with this knowledge, Roland's approach has been to relentlessly build a loyal audience. He is aware that where there is an undeniably massive audience, advertisers will follow. He strategically uses platforms like Instagram and TikTok not for direct monetization but as a funnel to drive audiences to his YouTube channel, where revenue can be generated.
With all of his current success and momentum, Martin is already looking to the future. "I don't plan on hosting a show at 65," he states. His focus is on building an institution that will outlast him. He is continuously reinvesting his profits in a state-of-the-art studio, a mobile production vehicle, and IT upgrades. The goal is to build a true network by elevating new talent and owning the shows they create together.
The one thing Martin fears most is that Black-owned media is "moving towards extinction," leaving audiences vulnerable to misinformation from sources that do not serve the Black community. He is aiming to create a system where the next generation of Black journalists will be trained to pursue truth and serve the community.
Martin isn't just building a show; he is establishing an infrastructure that guarantees Black media survives. For him, the power in media has never been just about being in front of the camera. "The power in media," he declared, "is with the person making the final decision." And for years, Roland Martin has been deliberately and brilliantly positioning himself to be that person.