Big data is the new buzzword. Interest in big data is transcending the tech world, where it was first coined, to become a topic of conversation in the corporate world, with NGOs, and even in the governmental and international development sectors.

According to Bernard Marr & Co. the term “Big Data” has been around for some time now, however, there is still quite a lot of confusion about what it actually means.

We are in the information age. Unlike the industrial age in which information was scarce, we are now dealing with information overload. Information (useful contextualized data) and data (facts or figures) is now everywhere and the sources continue to increase every day.

What is big data, why is everyone suddenly talking about it and does it spell doom for marketing research-based data in this digital age?

What is big data?

According to Gartner’s definition, circa 2001, Big data is data that contains great variety arriving in increasing volumes and with ever-higher velocity. Simply put, big data is defined as so based on the three Vs – volume, variety, and velocity.

If the data you are dealing with is large (several petabytes), complex (requiring extensive analysis) and comes from different sources, then what you have is big data. Publicly available website data and social media posts, retail purchase data, and healthcare data are just a few of the many examples of big data that are in use today.

Is there a difference between big data and market research-based data & which one is more effective?

Whereas big data can tell us what has happened in the past and can make predictions on future events, it is not able to explain “why” it happened. Market research-based data that is more targeted to a specific question and can also include qualitative data can answer “why”, which is a fundamental difference between the two types of research.

Many of us continue to get caught up in the semantics of which is more effective in understanding consumer behavior. Instead of focusing too much on the differences or which is better, the more important question is not how much data you have, rather its, what do you do with it.  The value of information obtained from the two methods of data collection and analysis (whether from large volumes of unstructured data – big data or from research-based data) is what determines the most effective one to your business.

If we were to focus on the desired outcome of research, which is most often getting information and/or insights to drive decision making, then we see that both big data and data from market research are both just a means through which we get an outcome. There are of course various other considerations to be made for each, such as the availability of the data in the first place, big data analysis capabilities, and the cost of marketing research among others.

While market research aims at solving particular research questions, big data tries to make sense of the information available where the topic/research question may or might not be in context ergo sometimes the need to have ‘influencers’ to drive the topic.

Big data takes a lot of time to get output from while market research could be scoped to a particular time reducing the time it takes to get the insights needed to make a business decision.

Does big data spell doom for market research-based data?

The question as to whether big data is going to render data from direct market research obsolete is one that continues to elicit huge debate in the research industry. In the developed world, big data is, in many aspects, providing insights that traditionally, only market research could. In the emerging markets such as Africa & Asia, due to lower adoption of technology, there currently isn’t as much data to prompt the concern as to the continued primary role and need for market research.

To answer this question, one needs to first contemplate the role of primary or secondary research in today’s world. The role of market research is to understand consumer behavior, perception and measure the consumption of goods or services- simply put, the “hows” and the “whys”.

Without context and connections, big data is useless. It is simply rows and rows of data that need to be compiled and manipulated in order to provide answers to a question.

Human beings are irrational and more often than not, why they behave in a certain way or why they make the decisions they make cannot be explained or even predicted. No amount of machine intelligence through big data analytics will have the capability to answer the “whys”.

According to Stantive, big data can’t replace the need for market research. Instead, the two complement each other, as each has its own purpose and benefits that if used correctly can be effective in understanding consumer behavior.

Where should business be spending their budgets?

Organizations still strive to understand and respond to shifts in demand and consumer preferences.  By having a clear understanding of the capabilities and challenges of big data and market research based data, businesses can effectively plan their expenditure  either on tools to collect and analyze their own big data, or go the primary research route by engaging a research agency such as GeoPoll to get a complete picture of consumer behaviour and preferences.

What is the future of research-based data in a digital age?

Technology continues to impact each phase in the research process, from collecting of data to analysis to eventually connecting the dots and communicating findings that drive decisions.

Big data is another facet that will continue to extend and expand the ability of researchers to identify and uncover critical demand and or consumer insights, but it’s unlikely to completely replace data sourced by market research any time soon.

Perhaps the best way to end this battle is to highlight a case study of Facebook which regularly polls its members about their experience on Facebook to understand “why” they do (or don’t do) certain things on their social network.

As of the second quarter of 2018, Facebook had 2.23 billion monthly active users. The sheer number of active users gives you an idea of the amount of data they crunch to determine what your feed looks like, which ads you are shown all thanks to big data analytics.

However, despite Facebook being one of the world’s best big data analytic experts with advanced algorithms to predict what we might like once we log on to our profiles, Facebook still turns to survey research  panels to better understand how we feel about the stories and ads in our feeds and to track how peoples’ attitudes toward the site evolve over time by collecting longitudinal data.

The post The battle between big data analytics and market research-based data appeared first on GeoPoll.

In April this year, GeoPoll ran a quantitative nationwide survey via mobile SMS to a sample of 1300 respondents whose demography had a 50:50 male to female ratio aged 18-45 years old. Our objective was to gain a deeper understanding of the Kenyan betting consumer, their consumption and gambling behavior, drivers, motivations and decision-making patterns.

In this article, we share some of the findings, particularly from the low-income earners who fall in the lowest social economic class according to Living Standards Measures (LSM).

In Sub-Saharan Africa, gambling has become a multi-billion dollar business. It is estimated that by the year 2022, the global gambling market could be worth $635 billion according to new findings by Dublin-based Research and Markets.

A 2017 PWC report put Kenya and Nigeria among the three largest gambling markets in Africa behind South Africa.  In addition, a 2017 GeoPoll study observed that gambling was becoming popular particularly among males in SSA due to their high affinity towards sports and technology, combined with the proliferation of local sports betting players and the convenience of the mobile phone as a tool for gambling.

Gambling: The Billion Dollar Industry in Africa

The gambling industry in Kenya has several sub-sectors including gaming, lotteries, sports betting and prize competitions. Kenya currently has more than 30 licensed betting firms and casinos.

A gambling outlook 2017-2021 report by PWC shows that the yearly turnover of the sports betting industry in Kenya is worth $20 million, and will reach $50 million in 2020 as demand grows. The formal Kenyan betting industry, which paid $28.3 million in taxes in 2015, is ranked third in Africa after South Africa and Nigeria, as reported by Business Daily.

Figures from the Kenyan gambling regulator, Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB), show that gross gambling revenue for the 2016/2017 financial year was nearly Ksh 20 billion ($198m) – equivalent to about half of the annual health budget according to businesstoday.co.ke.

Why Kenya has become a hotbed for Sport Betting

In Kenya, like in many other African countries, gambling is classified and positioned as a legitimate recreational and leisure activity. The rise of mobile and online based gambling has presented new challenges to the regulatory board amidst growing concerns on addiction towards sports betting.

Although gambling in Kenya has been around for some time now, the upsurge in sports betting has been due to the burgeoning of mobile phones and internet penetration, as our 2017 survey demonstrated.

The unprecedented success of sports betting companies can be seen with SportPesa- a betting company started in 2013, which managed to accumulate revenue enough to fund major premier leagues in Kenya before breaking into the international arena. Our study found SportPesa to be the most popular online platform in Kenya with 82% percent of gamblers subscribing to it, followed by Betin 40%, Elitebet 22%, Betika 12%, Mcheza 12%, and Betpawa 10%.

The success of this booming industry is also evidenced by the advertising spend of top betting companies. According to the latest data from Reelforge. the traditional top 10 advertising spenders have been overtaken by multiple gaming companies.

Understanding the Gambling Low Income Consumer

Low-income earners classified as LSM DE, who, according to a 2017 KARF establishment survey constitute 54% of Kenya’s population, offer a rich target market for the betting industry. According to our survey, the betting industry’s rags to riches narrative of poor rural folk holding huge cheques outside their mud huts, and stories of overnight millionaires has continued to resonate with the poor and low-income earners. While our study found that this group bets with amounts as low as KSH 10 – 50, their huge numbers multiply the tiny quantities into millions.

Their Demographic Profile

The gambling low-income consumers are spread out across the various demographic breaks such as age, gender, location with higher skews on particular profiles such as those of males of a certain age based in the urban areas. Both males and females participate in gambling, though our data show that males participate more often.

Across the age groups, it is notable that about half of low-income gambling consumers are 18-25 years. It is likely that the youth are most involved given the high affinity to mobile phones, sports, and unemployment rates.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics 2018 data, 7 million Kenyans are unemployed and out of this 1.4 million have been desperately looking for work. Our survey found that the highest proportion (40%) of the low-income gambling consumer is unemployed, and a third (29%) are students. This shows that a significant percentage of the low-income gambling consumer hope that gambling will turn into a source of income for them.

Custom Gambling Surveys

If you would like to commission a bespoke survey to understand the share of wallet effect that gambling is having on your goods and services, contact us today.

The post Understanding the Kenyan Gambling Consumer: Insights on Sports Betting appeared first on GeoPoll.

One of these research terms is ‘a panel’ which, more often than not, is used interchangeably with ‘sample’. What exactly is a research panel, why is it often confused for a sample, how does it work and are there tips on working with panels?

Understanding Research Panels

A research panel is a group of respondents recruited by research companies to that take part in a survey by answering specific research questions in several sessions over a period of time – a week, month or even years.

Many panels are constituted for quantitative research as a representative sample of a general population. Research panels are more often than not created around interests or around specific products and services such as media audience measurement or consumer insights for the FMCG sector. Through a panel, a researcher is able to track changes in behavior over a period of time – this is also referred to as longitudinal data.

Is There A Difference Between A Panel And A Sample?

A sample is a pool of survey respondents recruited by a research company who are eligible to participate in surveys which can or daily surveys meant to understand behavioral change. A panel is a subset of a sample where survey respondents within the large pool of a research company’s database are recruited based on similar traits to answer questions for the collection of longitudinal data (data from the same person over a set amount of time)

Importance Of Panel Research

The most important trait of panel research as a marketing research method is the quality and usefulness of the data (pdf) which is ultimately determined by the measurements applied by using statistical methods in data analysis that translate the data into information and eventually insights that drive decision making.

The analysis of panel research data such as the continuous consumer purchasing behavior can provide guidance in areas such as pricing, competitor analysis (share of shelf) advertising effectiveness and sales projections.

Benefits

• This method gives you a high response rate as the respondents have expressly opted in and are willing to set aside time to participate in the surveys.
• Due to the diversity and size of panel members, marketers are able to record behavioral changes across different demographics.
• There is more depth in detail in the panel research insights as data analysts are able to co-relate psychographic & demographic data to have a better understanding of the research subject.
• Recruitment of research panels on mobile and internet are cheaper and more convenient due to the growing population of mobile and internet users in the world.
• The cost of recruitment for mobile/online panels is minimal as there is no need to print out questionnaire or travel (focus groups). However, the form of incentives to respondents can drive up the cost.
• Because the panel has been created around a specific focus area of interest it is easier to engage the respondents as they are familiar with your organisation and the information you are seeking from them

Challenges

• The cost of acquiring and retaining a panel can drive up the overall project cost due to a high churn rate which is sometimes as a result of the length of questions or low incentives.
• Sometimes respondents can compromise the quality of data by failing to give honest information about themselves or their behavior. More often than not, such respondents are in it for the incentives and didn’t sign up to help you. It’s therefore important to routinely validate your panel for authenticity randomly and on a regular interval to preserve the quality of data.
• Although emerging markets such as Africa are seeing increased mobile and internet penetration rates, there is still a huge percentage of the population that remains offline. Naturally, those who will be recruited to join mobile or online panels are those with devices or are online. It is therefore advisable to combine various modes for your panel depending on topic or area of focus and if there is a need to have a nationally representative sample.

Panel Research Methods

In order to carry out research studies using a panel to evaluate the thoughts and feelings of a population, there are several different styles of collecting data that you may choose depending on your needs. These include:

1. Filling out a diary
2. Focus groups
3. Online surveys
4. Mobile surveys

The Growth Of Mobile & Online Panels

Traditionally, panel research has been used as a qualitative method. Under this method, the most popular and effective tool for collecting longitudinal data has been focus groups which are interview based sessions in which moderator interviews panelists to collect the data from the same sample over and over again.
Another tool within panel research has been the diary method where respondents take notes in a book or journal documenting what they did, watched or bought over time. This diary tool has been very popular in the past especially in collecting audience measurement data.

Due to advancements in technology coupled with the need for market research agencies to deliver fast, reliable and cost-effective solutions to a data-driven marketplace has led to the adoption of mobile and online surveys which have proved effective in efficiency, quicker turn-around times, and at times, at a fraction of the cost.

Recruiting A Research Panel

There are various channels and modes that can be used to recruit respondents who will become an active sample in a panel. GeoPoll has found that two modes, mobile & online, are the most effective for recruiting new panels of survey respondents, with mobile being the most ideal in emerging markets.

The channels within the mobile mode can vary, going from text messages (SMS), mobile web or mobile app, to voice calls such as those used in Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) methods. Online recruitment modes include email, social media, and digital advertising. In order to effectively recruit a panel, we send them a short survey that collects crucial demographic information such as their gender, age, education level, and social economic status. 

Our Panels & Capabilities

We currently have a database of over 240 million active users. As the leading mobile surveying platform in emerging markets, our media audience measurement, brand health tracking and customer satisfaction tracking solutions provide marketers with consumer insights drawn from our numerous mobile-based research panels.

Apart from recruiting panels for our research solutions, GeoPoll provides multiple ways for market research agencies who need to use our platform to recruit panels through either mobile SMS, mobile web or mobile app.

If you have questions on how to utilize our sample or you’d like to partner with us to recruit a panel, please get in touch with us

The post Understanding Research Panels; Mobile, Online & How They Work appeared first on GeoPoll.

The World Cup finals in Russia had the highest viewership in Sub-Saharan Africa of all matches, GeoPoll data shows. An average of 36% of all TV viewers in the 6 countries observed by GeoPoll (Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and Rwanda) witnessed the fast-paced match which saw France beat Croatia to win its 2^nd World Cup title. Channels that had secured FIFA broadcast rights experienced the highest TV ratings recorded during the last one month, with some locking in up to 58% of all TV viewers in their respective countries.

Audience Ratings record highest increase
After witnessing the loss by England and Belgium to make it to the finals, the third-place match didn’t garner as much interest, drawing an average of just 20% of viewers. Despite a decline in viewership as seen in the semi-finals, where the average viewership was at 29% of all TV audiences, down from an average of 33% share during the quarterfinals, viewers of the final match shot up by 7%, with Kenya recording the highest share of TV viewers who watched as France took the trophy at 58%.

TV Ratings Skyrocket

TV ratings for the channels beaming the World Cup in Sub- Saharan Africa recorded the highest ratings during the final clash of football titans as the French team – Les Bleus –  secured their place in history.

As national broadcasters had secured broadcast rights to screen some of the matches, this saw a significant drop in audiences during the quarterfinals. However, they quickly regained their share of viewers of the game during the semifinals and an increase during the final match. The channels that gained significantly during finals were; Rwanda TV with a 31% share of TV viewers; TBC 1 in Tanzania with 25% share;  NTV in Kenya with a 32% share. Kwese Free Sports channel had an audience share of 15% in Ghana, 10% share in Nigeria and 17% share in Uganda respectively.

World Cup audience measurement insights report

The GeoPoll Audience Measurement service has been running in 6 African countries namely Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and Rwanda, collecting TV ratings and viewership numbers throughout the World Cup season. Contact us now to get a copy of our World Cup audience measurement insights report with a breakdown on:

• The number of people who watched World Cup games
• Viewership numbers broken down by age and gender
• Comparison of game watching across countries
• Game viewership by tournament round
• TV ratings during the World Cup season

The post Africans Tune in as France Wins The 2018 World Cup appeared first on GeoPoll.

The TV ratings were conducted in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Nigeria where both Pay TV and free- to-air channels were beaming the matches. Could this be as a result of the once traditionally favored teams such as Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Uruguay being eliminated in the earlier rounds?

France Vs Belgium Viewership in Africa

France’s national team, Les Bleus, has been christened as the only remaining ‘African team’ due to the high number of players with African origins. However, this did not reflect in the audience numbers for their game against Belgium.  Even in Rwanda, a French speaking country where the national broadcaster Rwanda TV has been broadcasting matches, the viewership was at 35% of all TV audiences, lower than the England vs Croatia match that drew 37%.

England Vs Croatia Viewership in Africa

‘The Three Lions,’ England’s team, were hoping to crush the Croatians, urged on by the slogan that the trophy was ‘going back home’. The showdown between England and Croatia drew a high viewership in most of the countries polled. Kenya had the highest total audience share with 48% of all TV viewers during the game. NTV had the highest share of the numbers with 25%.

Quarters v/s Semis – Dipping Audience?

In the respective countries polled, the audience numbers dropped from the quarter-finals to the semis. Even in traditional footballing nations such as Nigeria and Ghana, the viewership of the quarter-finals polled higher numbers than the semis.

In the quarter finals, the average audience in 12 out of the 36 states Nigerian states was at 15%, compared to just 12% during the semis. In Ghana, 25% TV viewers watched the semis, a 16% drop from those who watched the quarter-finals.

Channel Share

Kenya’s NTV achieved the highest gain in TV viewers among other channels broadcasting the matches across the polled countries. An estimated 11% of new viewers switched to NTV during the semi-finals from an average of 15% during the quarter-finals.  In Tanzania, TBC’s audience also grew by 3% during the Semis from an average of 14% during the quarters. In Rwanda, the national broadcaster gained an additional 9% of tv viewers during the semis.

TV ratings as France face Croatia

Will the TV ratings recover come Sunday during the finals? On a global scale, more than one billion fans tuned in to watch the final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, according to final figures from FIFA and Kantar Media. We will be following the viewership in the African continent and providing you with viewership insights from the final in the days following the match. Contact us now to get deeper insights into World Cup viewership in Africa or to sign up for our audience measurement service, which provides daily TV and radio ratings for multiple countries in Africa and beyond.

The post World Cup 2018 TV Ratings Weaken in Semifinals as Dominant Teams Stumble Out appeared first on GeoPoll.

Viewership of Quarter-Finals by Audience Share

A majority of football fans in the continent tuned in as Sweden conceded 2 goals to England. The 33% average total share drawn from 6 African countries may be attributed to the timing and the ‘English Premier League’ factor. The match aired at night which is more convenient, unlike the day matches which caught many fans at work and/or away from their favorite viewing venues.  England’s whole squad of 23 players come from the Premier League whose popularity in Sub-Saharan Africa is only rivaled only by Asia. An estimated 276 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa watch the Premier League every year.

The 2^nd most watched quarter-final was between Brazil and Belgium. The match also aired at night with an average of 30% of all TV viewers watching as the Brazilians were sent packing. It was sad for many fans to see the one of the most favored World Cup football team go home. In a recent survey by GeoPoll a month to the start of the 2018 World Cup, A majority of the respondents (22%) drawn from 6 African countries predicted Brazil as the winners.

As the French team sent Uruguay home with a 2 nil defeat, an average of 30% of all TV viewing audiences tuned in. There has been a peculiarly keen interest by African fans towards the French team due to what is now been termed as the ‘African’ element. According to the South African, 17 players on France’s 23 man roster at this year’s World Cup have African roots.

The least watched quarter-final was as Croatia beat Russia on home soil to secure their chance in facing England tomorrow, Wednesday 11^th July. An average of 26% of all TV viewing audiences watched this match from across 6 countries.

Viewership of Quarter-Finals by Channel Share

NTV achieved higher audience share compared to other World Cup broadcasting channels in Kenya throughout all the matches. Their highest peak was during the Uruguay vs France where they commanded 19% of all TV viewing audiences.

In Ghana and Nigeria, Supersport had the highest channel share of 29% during the match between Uruguay vs France and a tie in channel share in Nigeria at 11% as England beat Sweden and Belgium beat Brazil to qualify.

In Uganda, Supersport and Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) had the highest viewership during quarter-finals with strong competition been observed between the 2 stations which attained an average of 9% channel share for each game.

In Tanzania, TBC1 achieves the highest audience share in all the quarterfinal matches with a 20% channel share lead during the match between Uruguay vs France

France vs Belgium Showdown

Today’s first semifinal match between France and Belgium will most likely spike the viewership from the continent as a cross-section of football fans continue to view the France team as the last standing ‘African’ team.

According to CNN, Tuesday 10^th will be the first time Belgium has contested a World Cup semifinal in 32 years. The same article notes that for Thierry Henry, his loyalties are ‘split’ between his country team France where he remains as the all-time leading scorer for the French team and his current role as the assistant coach for the Belgium national team.

Football coming home

According to FIFA, England is known as the home of football as the history of football can be traced back to Britain. Shouts of ‘Football’s coming home’ which started at the quarterfinals have now become deafening. As they face Croatia on Wednesday 11^th July, we will be following all the action to bring you the viewership numbers from across Sub-Saharan Africa

GeoPoll has been and continues to collect media audience measurement data throughout the World Cup in Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, and Rwanda.  Contact us now to get these deeper insights into the World Cup viewership in Africa or to sign up for our audience measurement service.

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Soaring over Iceland

The Super Eagles have been soaring high after beating Iceland 2:0 on Friday 22nd June. This was their 2nd match in this year’s World Cup. Ahmed Musa emerged as the hero after he delivered the two classic goals for Nigeria. This win restored the much-needed hope for millions of fans in Africa and beyond who have come to admire the team on and off the pitch.

The viewership in the West African region was highest in Nigeria. Over 40% of all TV viewing audiences surveyed in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states were glued to this fast-paced match. Supersport channel commanded the highest audience by a channel to capture 26% of all TV audiences as the match aired. In Ghana, over 31% of all TV audiences tuned in with Kwese Free Sport having the highest audience share of channel at 17%.

In the East African region, Rwanda had the highest share of TV watching viewers watching the match commanding a 53% of all TV audiences. The reason for this high number is due to the national broadcaster Rwanda TV having bought the local rights to air the World Cup. The station had a channel share of 45%. In Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, those who tuned in were at 32%, 34% and 32% of all TV viewing audiences respectively.

A Disappointing Start: Nigeria Vs Croatia

Nigeria’s start at this year’s World Cup was a disappointing one. Their first match with Croatia on Saturday 16th June ended in a 2:0 score dashing the hopes of many African football fans who have pegged all their hopes on these African football giants.

In the West African region, over 21% of TV viewers surveyed in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states tuned in to watch this match with Supersport having the highest viewership by channel share at 7%. In Ghana, over 34% of all TV viewers tuned in with GTV having the highest channel share of 16%.

In East Africa, those who tuned in the game in Kenya took 38% of all TV viewers during that period with NTV having the highest channel share at 21%. In Rwanda, the World Cup viewing audience was at 49% during the airing of the match with Rwanda TV commanding the highest share at 38%. In Uganda, Supersport had the highest audience share at 24%  out of a total share of 35% of TV viewers who watched the game nationally.

Faceoff with Argentina determines their fate

As they go into today’s match, Nigeria currently has 3 points following their win against Iceland. They cannot afford to lose or even draw in their game today against Argentina. Today will be the 5th time that the two teams are facing each other in the World Cup since 1994. In all previous World cup matches, Nigeria lost to Argentina.

So what are their chances?

The Super Eagles were placed in a very tough group together with Croatia, Iceland, and Argentina who are a favorite to many football fans. However, Argentina’s performance so far has been underwhelming after they drew 1:1 with Iceland and lost 3 goals to Croatia.

From a World Cup kit to Fashion Statement

“Very.” When they ask just how Nigerian you are. The Nigeria National Team Collection launching June 1st. Super Eagles all the way because Naija no dey carry last. #soarsupereagles #nike #nikefootball #worldcup #cawcawwww #whispers #whoarethey #AbaBredandFed

A post shared by Yagazie Emezi (@yagazieemezi) on May 30, 2018 at 12:37pm PDT

Away from the pitch, the Nigerian team has received recognition and admiration beyond the pitch due to their World Cup kit.

Their kit this year become the most anticipated jersey after it was unveiled by Nike three months transforming the apparel from a football kit to a fashion statement. According to GQ magazine “Since that February reveal, the jersey’s picked up an alleged three million pre-orders”.  When the collection went up for sale on June 1^st, it sold out within 3 minutes, confirms Fader.

As reported by CNN Africa, the huge demand for the jerseys in Nigeria has fueled the market for counterfeits as more Nigerians seek to identify with their heroes as they represent them on the world football stage.

Apart from Cameroon, Nigeria is the only other African team to have the most qualifiers to the World Cup. This year’s event saw a unique list of qualifiers from the continent that has previously been represented by Ghana and Cameroon

Nigeria Africa’s hope at the 2018 World Cup

In our recent World Cup survey on awareness, interest and viewership habits of Africans during this year’s world cup, Nigeria team had the highest number of supporters across the 6 countries where the survey ran.

Super Eagles are a darling of many African fans. 9% of African predicted that this team would beat all odds to bring the trophy home. Nigeria is the only African country second to Cameroon to participate in the most World Cup games. This year marks the 6^th time for Nigeria to qualify.

GeoPoll has been and continues to collect media audience measurement data throughout the World Cup in Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, and Rwanda.  Contact us now to get these deeper insights into the World Cup viewership in Africa or to sign up for our exclusive World Cup offer!

(Image credits: Premium Times Nigeria)

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Well done @msk_kenya and @GeoPoll for this excellent event. #worldcupinafrica insights by African fans survey report launch pic.twitter.com/6nC6VemdFO

— Joel Karubiu (@joelkarubiu) May 17, 2018

The colorful event was graced by such sports personalities as Carol Radul, renown Kenyan sports journalists, media buying agencies, and marketers. It was an opportunity for MSK members and brand owners seeking in on the World Cup season action to get fresh insights into how Africans will be watching this global event in less than a month.

#WorldCupInAfrica. Numbers and insights on trends around the World Cup done by GeoPoll. pic.twitter.com/fKo5hJlj8m

— Warothe Kiru (@warothe) May 17, 2018

The 20-page report is the product of a multi-country survey conducted by GeoPoll in 6 African countries to gain an understanding of the popularity of the World Cup in Africa, predict viewership trends for the tournament, and give insights into what teams Africans are rooting for in 2018. The report includes in-depth data on World Cup enthusiasm from 6 Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania.

The evening event was held in Nairobi. The program included a presentation of the main report highlights, a panel discussion by media owners and sports enthusiasts and a World Cup trivia competition.

The report presentation by J.P Murunga, GeoPoll’s Senior Client Services Manager opened up the stage to a moderated discussion amongst the invited panelists. The panelist were: Monicah Ndung’u – General Manager, Kwese Free Sports Kenya; Carol Radull – Sports presenter & enthusiast, Radio Africa Group; Akinyi Okulo, GeoPoll’s Senior Client Services Manager – media. The session was moderated by Michael Kwambo, Media and Communications Manager at the Kenya Rugby Union. The discussion dwelt on what the insights meant for all the stakeholders, lessons learned, and the next cause of action for marketers, media owners and media buying agencies.

Some of the highlights of the panel discussion were: the lack of brand awareness amongst respondents of the survey; the growing interest towards football and the World Cup among female fans; the need for marketers to look at the event as one that happens every for years hence the need to find creative ways of appealing to fans beyond the 90 minutes of each game.

Team flags at the event of countries representing Africa at the world cup #worldcupinafrica @msk_kenya @GeoPoll nice touch pic.twitter.com/YGOEUdSs6S

— Joel Karubiu (@joelkarubiu) May 17, 2018

The World Cup Trivia session that followed the panel discussion was an opportunity for the guests to test their skills and knowledge of the sport as well as marketing around the World Cup season. GeoPoll conducted the 18 trivia exercise via a mobile web interface that contained multimedia based questions such as audio, videos, memes and photos. Analysis of the correct responses and the corresponding winners was completed within 5 minutes. Three Winners of the trivia walked away with some exclusive GeoPoll merchandise.

Download the full report here, or contact GeoPoll if you are interested in gaining access to our daily TV ratings during the World Cup or running a custom survey around World Cup activities, contact us

The post GeoPoll Partners with Marketing Society of Kenya to Launch 2018 World Cup Insights Report appeared first on GeoPoll.

Since GeoPoll’s launch, we have grown to now facilitate research in over 60 countries, including 25 countries in Africa alone. During this time, GeoPoll’s team has amassed a trove of knowledge on best practices when carrying out international marketing research. We have also encountered some challenges, and with them, invaluable learnings regarding international research.
Based on these learnings, we have put together a how-to guide on the marketing research process , including tips on regional nuances to look out for as well as the dos and don’ts when engaging a research agency, and how to understand basic research terms and get the most value out of the data you are gathering. We hope you find this useful as you start your own marketing research process. If you have specific questions about embarking on a new project feel free to contact us.

Getting Started With Your Marketing Research Process

a. Conduct Preliminary Research

Carry out some preliminary research by going online and searching for existing survey reports on your topic of interest. There might not be much especially if you are looking for very specific information, but you might find something close either for a different country or a report that gives you some ideas on how to go about your primary research.

While gathering international research data has been difficult in the past, in the last 10 years, information about Africa and other regions is more available online. Governments, the private sector, and international development organisations throughout the world are continuously churning out research data. One example of this can be seen on GeoPoll’s very own blog, which contains troves of research reports on various topics on commercial and international development research. This secondary data can be used to help structure your research brief.

b. Develop a Research Brief

To get the most out of your marketing research project, put together a brief with the objectives of your data collection. What exactly do you want to understand better? Be as specific as possible, for example: “What percentage of adult working females aged between 25 and above living in urban areas use my product brand?”

Which aspects of the 4 Ps of marketing (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) do you want to best understand? The more detail you can provide the better. This helps later when designing the project.
A brief document should contain the following information: Company background, the business objectives, the research objectives, your target market, your competition, the geographical focus and your research project budget.

c. Identify the Right Marketing Research Agency

Research agencies come in all shapes and sizes. It often helps to understand an agency’s main data collection method which, more often than not, tells you what their strengths are. What you will note is that many of the international marketing research agencies have wide-ranging capabilities in data collection and use multiple data collection modes. However, often the cost for these agencies is higher than for agencies that only specialize in one data collection method. For you as the consumer, the scope of your project will determine which agency you will work with.

When talking to various research agencies, counter check their website and social media pages to look for any published reports online, which will give you an idea of the quality of their research and topic areas they focus in. Another crucial due diligence aspect of deciding on what agency to work with is their capabilities and country coverage – too many companies claim to be in markets that they are not in, and they end up sub-contracting. This practice means you are further removed from the data collection process and can also result in a higher cost.

You can verify the company’s coverage by requesting for a copy of their panel book; this is a comprehensive document that gives you details of the agency’s research panel and includes their geographical coverage as well as the demographic details of the panel. Also request copies of case studies, either of projects on the same topic or in the same geographical location, to further assess their past experience in the area you are interested in.

Last but not least, confirm that the agency is a member of either local, regional or international research accreditation bodies based on the geographical scope of your project. These associations have strict policies around marketing research ethics and how data is collected from respondents. GeoPoll is a proud corporate member of ESOMAR,  PAMRO, and MSRA.

d. Determine Your Data Collection Mode

Once you have listed your objectives, deciding on which of the following research methodologies to utilize becomes easier. Deciding on which type of research to run also helps further narrow down the agency best suited based on their capabilities. The data collection mode you use will impact both the type of data you collect and how it is collected.

Data is generally grouped into two categories, qualitative and quantitative. Simply put, qualitative data is unstructured and is often exploratory by nature. When analyzed, responses may be grouped into similar categories but they cannot be ranked in the same way quantitative data can.

Quantitative research is the mathematical approach to collecting data, which can more clearly be measured and structured. Quantitative data includes survey data where respondents have a clear choice of answers, and quantitative questions often appear with radio buttons, check boxes and Likert scales which are easy to measure and compare. The two data collection methods are often referred to as simply quant and qual. It is important to note that qualitative research tends to be more expensive than quantitative research, as it requires more manual data analysis.

Different research modes will often lend themselves more easily to quantitative or qualitative data collection. Focus groups, unstructured interviews, and open-ended questions are typically collecting qualitative data, while surveys with answer choices collect quantitative data. Understanding the different modes and what type of data they can collect is important: Text message surveys can collect some qualitative data, but perform better with quantitative questions that are easily answered from a list of choices.

You also need to consider how robust and agile the different modes of data collection are. Can your selected mode work across multiple countries and languages? How much data are you looking to collect and in what time-frame? The level of scalability of the mode is important, especially if your project will entail a multi-country survey. In addition, some modes will collect data more slowly than others.

Some examples of different modes of data collection include:
• Face-to-face
• Text message (SMS) survey
• Online survey
• Mobile web survey
• Mobile application survey or passive data collection
• CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews)
• CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interview)
• Focus groups

Marketing research agencies can often give you guidance on what modes would be best for your project, and you should also consider if the agency has experience in that type of data collection. Another question to consider is how relevant each methodology is to your needs – if you are looking for a lot of exploratory data, a focus group may be your best bet, but if you want to reach a wide group of respondents in emerging areas, text message surveys would be a better mode.

e. Conduct Data Analysis

The most important aspect of market research is being able to analyze the data once it has been collected. A thorough analysis should guide you on how to act on the insights you have gathered. It is therefore crucial that the research agency, through their insights report, address the questions you had set out at the start of your survey. For example: What is my product’s current position in the market, who are my actual customers, and which aspects of my 4 Ps do I need to work on? Analysis capabilities of the agency and the tools being used by the analysts and if they meet your needs

f. Complete A Post Project Review

Having a session with the research team after completion of your project to share feedback and discuss the project execution is sometimes overlooked. Such an undertaking involves various departments but is important to understand why a project did or did not go as smoothly as planned. A post-project review session helps in both parties knowing what areas worked and which ones the agency or the client will need to improve for their next project.

In summary

Conducting international marketing research is often a large undertaking and there are various details you need to consider before embarking on your project. Language, infrastructure, internet penetration, and the type of data you are looking to collect all have an impact on your project and how easily data will be collected from your target population. To be successful, you must engage the right company: One that has a wide range of experience in the area you are researching can utilize multiple modes with ease and can give you advice on questionnaire design, regional nuances, and more.

GeoPoll has a team of experts in collecting data around the globe, and specifically in emerging markets in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. We are always happy to advise you on your data collection needs: To ask a question or contact us about an upcoming project, please get in touch with us 

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In addition, as more countries make a concerted effort to move towards fuel sources at the top of the energy ladder, which is cleaner and more efficient, it is important for governments and energy companies alike to understand the driving factors behind fuel purchase and consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa.

One of the most extensive studies conducted on household fuel and energy use in developing countries was conducted in May 2003 by the World Bank. 15 years later, GeoPoll has conducted a new study on this topic to examine current trends in fuel usage and observe the variations in fuel use between three countries in Africa: Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda.

GeoPoll Report on Cooking Fuel Consumption in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda

Our findings show that there has been a significant uptake of modern fuels such as LPG, charcoal and paraffin in urban areas, whereas firewood remains the most commonly used fuel in rural areas. We also found significant variations in fuel usage by country, with each country having a different most commonly used fuel.

Download the full report for data on:

• Most commonly used cooking fuels in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda
• Which countries and areas have seen an uptake in usage of more modern fuels such as LPG
• How urban and rural households differ in their fuel usage
• Frequency of fuel purchase and how often households switch fuel type
• Average fuel costs for each country and percentage of monthly income that is spent on fuel
• Most preferred LPG brands in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda

The data for this study was collected through GeoPoll’s mobile research and engagement platform, which facilitates data collection and communications with communities around the world. The survey was conducted via SMS to 1,302 members of GeoPoll’s panel in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda, and data collection was completed within three days in January 2018.

Download the full report on Household Fuel Consumption in Africa here, or to run your own survey using GeoPoll’s platform and panelists throughout emerging markets, please contact us today.

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