Cameroon Advertising Trends & Spends H1 2023
Cameroon has one of the most diverse media landscapes in Africa, boasting over 200 radio stations, 60 TV stations, and 600 newspapers. Despite abundant expression tools, the country’s media is highly censored. Cameroonian journalists face lethal threats and false legal charges as they pursue reporting amid Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict. Since 2018, Cameroon’s media freedom score stands at 0/4, currently at 15% in Freedom’s House 2023 report. As the media workers in Cameroon wait for reforms in perpetuity, acts of violent repression against journalists continue to escalate.
The base internet users are slightly over 9.1 million, comprising 33% of the population, Meta leading with 3.9M users. Cameroon's expansive media ecosystem encourages media spends for a larger and more diverse audience reach.
In H1 2023, overall advertising expenditure dropped by 16% in comparison to H2 2022 and by 32% compared to H1 2022. In comparison to H2 2022, television spending reduced by 16% whereas radio dropped by 20%.
The decrease was a result of reduced advertising expenditure in the Personal Care, Finance, Communication, Society and Beverages industries.
TV Advertising Trends
TV is the leading advertising medium channel in Cameroon, dominating 94% of the advertising spend. Canal II International was the most active channel in H1 2023 airing an average of 1435 brands, recording a high spend of 4,112,813,250 XAF.
Betting & Gambling and Media were the top sectors on TV with 13 brand campaigns.
Radio Advertising Trends
Radio Balafon radio station ran the highest advertising activities in H1 2023 a total of 3,794 advertising activities during this period, while RSI FM led radio spends at 95,425,070 XAF.
In radio, the beverage sector dominated advertising.
The nature of Cameroon’s media is highly reliant on mass media for news and entertainment, as its landscape overflows with ample opportunities in strategic communications. Bring to light where and how the top brands in Cameroon are advertising.
Access your Cameroon advertising spends and trends in the link below.