Media and Corporate advertising spend for the year 2020
ReelAnalytics, in conjunction with Marketing Society of Kenya have today released
a report showing media and corporate advertising expenditure dropped by 31.8
Billion in 2020 mainly attributed to the impact of novel coronavirus. The 2020
advertising spends report shows significant reduction in brand marketing activities
and paid for advertising in 2020 that cut down annual ad spend by 21% from
Ksh. 154.1 Billion in 2019 to Ksh. 122.3 Billion.
“Almost all sectors of the economy were adversely affected by COVID 19. The top
most affected sectors were; communication, media and finance, sectors which
recorded significant drop in advertising spends in the year,” said Reelanalytics
senior researcher, Enock Mokaya.
The media industry recorded the highest advertising activity in 2020, highly
attributed to self-advertising by media houses which accounted for more than 12% of the total ad spend rate card value.
“Whereas the exact number of free airtime can only be accurately determined by
individual media houses, there was in excess of 8.2 billion rate card value spends
that can be directly attributed to self-advertising as well as unpaid for COVID-19
related advertising during the period under review,” Mokaya added.
According to the report, media-generated campaigns such as Viusasa, Shabiki and
Standard Group accounted for the highest spends.
Media was the biggest spender for the year 2020 with rate card advertising valued
at KSh 17.7 billion followed by finance at Ksh 16.5 Billion, as communication came
third at 16.3 billion.
New rules set by the government last year to restrict advertisement hours by the
betting industry has taken a toll on gambling firms who have recorded the biggest
slump in ad spends for the review period.
Advertising expenditure by betting and gambling firms dropped by 68% to
Ksh. 9.9 Billion in 2020 compared to Ksh. 30.4 Billion in 2019.
The country’s social industry recorded a 325% rise, the highest growth in ad
expenditure for all sectors in the year largely driven by huge campaigns by the state
and private firms on COVID-19 awareness campaigns.
“As the new normalcy set in, advertising messaging by most players carried a
COVID-19 sensitization component. It’s also important to note that there was a
huge chunk of unpaid for ads especially those on COVID 19 as well as
self-advertising,” according to Marketing Society of Kenya CEO Edward Oswe.
The social industry recorded Ksh. 11.89billion compared to Ksh 2.7 billion in 2019.
Other industries that recorded growth in expenditure were agriculture by 17% and personal care by 6%.
Ministry of Health Advertising spends grew by 10.38% in rate card value from
0.4% in 2019 to 6% in 2020.
Other firms that recorded increased advertising expenditure in 2020 were
GlaxoSmithKline by 128%, Standard Group by 41% and KCB bank by
18%.
Finance and beverage Industries increased their expenditure in outdoor
advertising by an average of 2% in 2020.
In spite of ravaging effects of COVID-19, EABL dominated The Out of Home (OOH)
space advancing their different brands across the country by utilizing different
platforms for maximum reach, according to MSK CEO.
The pandemic also led to a shift in TV media consumption compared to radio as
advertising activity was highest on TV, growing marginally by 1% year on
year.
Radio consumption declined by 39% compared to 2019.
Internet consumption trends through social media platforms changed in 2020 with
WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter ranking top three compared to 2019 when the top
three slot was controlled by WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube due to a growing
desire by youthful population to get updates and follow developments around the
pandemic from various parts of the world.
“In as much as the use of social media has helped people to interact with friends
and family during the pandemic, it has also helped many to boost their mood and
a sense of wellbeing especially during this difficult period. Moreover, the use of
these social media platform has also helped many to pass time by creating a feeling
that they need to be “busy” at a time when they had so much time in their hands,”
said Realanalytics senior researcher Enock Mokaya while launching the report.
Internet consumption on WhatsApp was the highest at 36% in 2020
compared to 32% the previous year. Facebook internet use grew from 31 %
to 35% in 2020 while Twitter came third retaining 10% use to
take YouTube’s 2019 position after internet consumption dropped from 12%
in 2019 to 7% last year.
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