The Kenya-Uganda Media Insights Landscape Report 2022
The past few years have been characterized by immense change. Kenya's GDP grew by 7.5% in contrast to the -0.3% decline in 2020. Despite the semblance of a return to normalcy, the doom of poly crises repurposed "the new normal" to a "constant normal."
Despite the uncertainty, businesses remodelled operations to meet exceptional needs across media models and consumerism. Advertising investment has continued to grow, with innovation and research leading across many sectors.
The pandemic indefinitely remodelled the media industry, driven by the transformation of media patterns in consumption, usage and internet influence.
Highlights of the Kenya-Uganda Media Landscape Report
Advertising Trends In Kenya
Being an election year, the overall ad volume dropped by 1% in 2022. This drop was majorly linked to low advertising activities in August (General election month) where most media houses dedicated slots to political campaigns.
- In 2022, radio accounted for 64% of ads. Ad counts on radio and print increased by 3% and 9% respectively and declined by 7% on TV.
- State bodies held a 27% advertising share in print led by NEMA, Kenya Power and Kenya Revenue Authority dominating print advertising.
- The top advertiser was Safaricom with a 10% share in advertising activities recording a total ad count of 161,051 ads. Significantly, MediaMax Network and Royal Media Services ad count rose by 187% and 122% respectively.
- Citizen TV accounted for 19% of TV Ad activities in 2022, with the finance sector generating the highest advertising activities on the channel.
The Plight of the Media
During the pandemic, the remarkable growth of mobile-first content for news and entertainment charged the development of on-demand media. Traditional media houses created platforms to fill in the need for homegrown content. For instance:
- Royal Media Services: Citizen Radio, Citizen Digital and ViuSasa as a content aggregator.
- Nation Media: Nation Mobile, Nairobi News, Kenya Buzz, Swahili Hub and Nation Africa.
- Standard: Standard Digital, Standard Entertainment, Eve Digital, Farmers. co.ke, The Standard Sports.
Consequently, print media circulation fell by 14% from 80,000,00 copies between 2020-2021 while the average of daily visitors grew to 4.5 million users.
75.6% of internet subscribers in Kenya access the internet through a mobile phone. As audiences look for immersive experiences, the predictive differentiator will be personalized content which is different from typical news content.
Advertising Trends in Uganda
In likeness to Kenya, elections have been anticipated as a low ad investment period. However, 2021-2022 was different as brands played catch up from one of the most devastating years of 2020.
403 Billion UGX was spent in 2022, in comparison to 374 Billion UGX in 2021.
- TV was the most promising medium, in line with huge media budgets for the World Cup and mobile money campaigns. 43% of the spend was allocated to Radio, and 4% to print.
- Telecom industry ad spends grew by 14% with an even higher share of voice margins, as beverage sector ad spends dropped by 3%.
- Video on Demand and live streaming tendencies increased as observed from Entertainment/Games/Music and Watching TV shares of 18% and 5% respectively.
- Online Banking and Online Shopping account for marginal shares of 2%, an indicator that Ugandans neither trust making online transactions nor online purchases.
Whenever consumer behaviour has changed, advertising has to be re-aligned to purpose-changing consumer needs especially in the post-pandemic era. Onward, earning brand salience in boiling economic pressures in the midst of unloyal consumer segments will demand creativity in crafting communication strategies.
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