Darren Dickerson Named Pres./CEO Of BlackTree

Darren D. Dickerson

BlackTree TV, YouTube's #1 distributor of urban entertainment content and a leader in lifestyle broadcast programming, named Darren D.Dickerson president and chief executive officer.  As president Dickerson assumes responsibility for BlackTree Media Group and BlackTree TV (BTV), which also acquires Dickerson's successful entertainment PR firm, DSD Publicity Consulting, in a deal brokered by FaithMight LLC to bring the companies "under one tree."

"It is an exciting and important time at BlackTree Media, we are growing to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse marketplace and Darren's experience is perfectly suited to expand our brand," says Jamaal Finkley, chairman of BlackTree.  "As an early-adopter in the digital space we continue to lead the new media revolution by adding original content and broadcast platforms to our successful digital brand."

Most recently, Finkley and BTV orchestrated a deal at Netflix to stream the original animated series Da Jammies; and after a successful 54 episode run of its popular half-hour entertainment series BlackTree On TV on the Soul Of The South Network, BTV is now syndicating the show to national cable and local broadcast channels.  In January, BTV began creating a series of webisodes for Revolt.tv, the digital extension of  the Revolt Television Network owned by Sean "Diddy" Combs. 

Dickerson's hiring, and the DSD Publicity merger, marks a shift in strategy to better focus on advertising, event marketing and brand integration as the BlackTree expands to original programming.  A 20 year veteran of the entertainment industry, since 2009 Dickerson served as CEO of DSD Publicity, a boutique PR firm representing a unique mix of clients like the RCA Records, UP Network, ASPiRE Network, Cedric The Entertainer's Kyles Family Foundation, actress Tamala Jones(Castle), Vanessa Bell Calloway (Shameless), Lil Mama (CrazySexyCool) and the Tankard Family from Bravo's Thicker Than Water to list a few.

"BlackTree's YouTube viewers total over a half-billion and we impact 95 million additional viewers across various platforms monthly, the natural progression for our company is the successful  implementation of advertising and brand integration programs that provide unprecedented access to our diverse audience," says Dickerson.  "We are positioning the company to better support the needs of multicultural consumers and advertisers."

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About BlackTree TV
Conceived in a dorm room, in less than a decade BlackTree TV is now ranked in the top 25 of Most-Viewed channels on YouTubes and has grown to become a leading distributor of entertainment content and lifestyle information. The company formed a partnership with YouTube in 2008 and to-date received more than a 600 million views and maintains a subscriber base in excess of 170K.  BlackTree TV content is featured on over 3,000 websites, including popular urban sites like AllHipHop.com and XXLmag.com.  BlackTree TV content is also broadcast on top distribution platforms including iTunes, TiVo, Sony DivX and Roku. The Los Angeles-based entertainment company offers advertisers an ideal avenue for reaching multicultural consumers with an affinity for urban-oriented lifestyle, music, entertainment, and products.  The company also boasts a distribution deal with Iz-On-Media, a global leader in digital place-based media, which currently broadcasts BTV content nationally on TV Wall, Dwell TV and Checkout TV Networks, located in more than 11,000 retail locations such as Walmart, Fresh-N-Easy Markets and Costco - reaching more than 90 million monthly.  BlackTree TV content ranges from coverage of celebrity parties, fashion events, award shows and red carpet events such as movie premieres, TV show premieres, the BET Awards, MTV VMAs, American Music Awards, Academy Awards®, SAG Awards®, Grammy Awards, Fashion Week and more.

About Darren D. Dickerson & DSD

Darren first launched DSD Consulting as a marketing company in 1998 providing event planning, lifestyle event promotions and minority media relations services for AT&T, Universal Pictures, Gramercy Pictures, FOX Sport West, Magic Johnson Foundation, and The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to list a few.  In 2007, with the help of his mentor PR icon Patricia "Pat" Tobin, Darren transitioned to public relations serving as Director of New Business Development for Tobin & Associates, the agency run by Tobin. Representing clients that included Toyota Motor Sales, Nestle, Sony Pictures Television, and Hallmark Channel Darren learned Pat's unique brand of corporate/community relations.  In 2009 after the sudden passing of Tobin, Darren re-launched DSD securing a highly competitive contract to serve the minority PR agency-of-record for Festival Companies and Capri Partners during the $30 million renovation of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in the Los Angeles. From 2012 - 2014, he simultaneously  served as CEO for DSD and Senior Publicist for The FrontPage Firm supporting clients like Bishop TD Jakes (MegaFest) and TDJ Enterprises (Sparkle), TV One (R&B Divas), TV Land (The Soul Man), Kevin Frazier (ET) and Roland S. Martin.