Outlet profile

TheGrio

U.S. center-left, Black-focused

Owned byAllen Media Group, owned by entrepreneur and media mogul Byron Allen

FundingAdvertising revenue — display and banner ads on the website, bartered national ad inventory across the TV network, and ad-supported free streaming app

On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

TheGrio launched in June 2009 as a digital news platform under NBC News — the first video-centric news site explicitly targeted at African American audiences. Its name is derived from 'griot,' the West African term for an oral historian and storyteller. NBC moved it under the MSNBC division in 2013, then sold it back to its original founders in 2014. In June 2016, Byron Allen's production and media company, then called Entertainment Studios, acquired the site. Allen relaunched it as TheGrio.TV in January 2021, building it into a full over-the-air broadcast network and free streaming app oriented toward Black viewers. In July 2022, Allen Media Group purchased the struggling Black News Channel out of bankruptcy for approximately $11 million and folded its carriage into TheGrio.TV, expanding the network's reach. In April 2024, Allen Media Group laid off roughly 300 employees — about 12 percent of its total staff — across all divisions, including TheGrio's video production team, podcast staff, and managing editor, citing strategic restructuring. As of 2025, TheGrio is the only television network remaining under Allen Media Group's umbrella. Editorially, the outlet has consistently advocated for racial equity, civil rights, and policy issues disproportionately affecting Black Americans, placing it in a progressive, center-left lane on most political and social questions.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-06-28; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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