At the start of March 2021, GeoPoll undertook a national media establishment survey to inform the station mapping used in our daily GeoPoll Audience Measurement (GAM) surveys.

Survey Methodology

The survey was national for a sample of 1905 respondents. The male/female split was 54%/46%, respectively. The age distribution was 15-24 (31%), 25-34 (32%) and 35+ (37%). The study covered all the 11 media topographies in Kenya and was carried out via Mobile SMS.

This article highlights some interesting findings from a part of the survey data. It covers the below information areas:

• Past 30 days media interaction for selected media, including by age, gender, and parental status.
• Radio listenership places and platforms/devices.
• TV viewership places and platforms/devices.
• An overview of social platforms.

Access to Media in the Last 30 Days

The media landscape has been shifting over the years especially following the digital migration, increased access to the internet and digital platforms, and continued proliferation of mobile devices. This has led to the fragmentation of audiences.

Radio was the most accessed form of media, with about 9 in every 10 respondents in the survey having accessed radio in the last 30 days. The internet has caught up with TV. For both media types, 8 in every 10 people had access in the last 30 days. According to the Communication Authority (CA), there were 44.4 million data/internet subscriptions during the second quarter of FY 2020/2021 in Kenya. CA reports that internet usage is expected to continue “evolving rapidly” with increasing innovation in technology, availability of more affordable smartphones in the market, and enhanced connectivity (3G, 4G, and 5G) in the country.

Print readership is accessed by just above half of the sampled respondents. On the other hand, podcasts are still niche, with ¼ of respondents saying they had listened in the last 30 days. Amongst the 3 in every 4 who had not listened to a podcast, close to 60% do not recognize what a podcast is.

Access to Media in the Last 30 Days by Gender

Media use incidence varies for some media by gender. Males recorded higher access to the Radio (+6%) compared to females. This was further differentiated in newspaper readership where +9% more males were recorded juxtaposed to females.

Just about +5% more males access the internet over the last 30 days compared to females. TV, Magazine, and Podcast access incidences were the same for either gender.

Access to Media in the Last 30 Days by Age

While being high (above 80%) across all age groups, radio listenership had a higher skew as respondents get older. TV viewership also recorded higher numbers amongst those aged 25-34 & 35+ compared to the younger 15–24-year-olds.

Print media – newspapers and magazines – are more popular amongst those aged 25-34 years. Past 30 days internet usage as expected is higher amongst the younger age groups 15–24-year-olds and 25–34-year-olds than those aged 35+.

Access to Media in the Last 30 Days by Parental Responsibility

Across all media channels, parents/caregivers index higher media usage compared to those who were not: Radio (+9%), TV (+12%), newspaper (+10%), Magazines (+15%) and Internet (+6%).

In this survey, parents/caregivers were defined as parents/caregivers of a child/children 14-years-old or younger. Higher media usage amongst this demographic could be linked to the need to provide their children with entertainment/edutainment at home.

Radio Listenership Dynamics

Radio listenership predominantly happens at home. Outside the home, people reported listening to the radio at work or in transit/in a vehicle. There were recorded differences in places of listenership by age, gender, and location (Request for the data ?)

Traditionally, radio listenership was done via a radio set/receiver, especially at home. Despite about 80% of listenership happening at home, device usage is split between radio set/receiver (57%) and mobile phone (49%). With internet access reported to be high (at par with TV), the mobile device presents an excellent opportunity for broadcasters to optimize how they deliver radio content. The use of mobile apps and streaming services should be proactively explored. There were recorded differences in device usage by age, gender, and location. (Request for the data ?)

TV Viewership Dynamics

Like radio, TV viewership is mainly done at home, unlike radio rarely on the go. This makes TV viewership patterns a little more predictable across the day compared to Radio. There are differences in at-home compared to out-of-home viewership by gender with men. For instance, men are twice as likely to be watching TV social places than females.

Television viewership is predominantly via the TV set. While the numbers are not as high for mobile phone viewership (21%) compared to radio, this is expected to rise in the future. Increase in internet connectivity especially home broadband, and the need for split screens would likely drive this. However, this will occur in an ecosystem (mobile device) that will be crowded with options for the consumer. TV channels would not only be competing amongst themselves but also with other media, including radio, video-on-demand/streaming services, social media, and other apps and functions for a share of the mobile screen.

Besides looking at the above data for TV by demographics, we also collected data on the platform used for TV broadcast and the type of television broadcast. (Request for the data ?)

Social Platforms Overview

Overall internet access is high as reported earlier. According to the CA, internet access in Kenya has mainly been driven by the availability of more affordable smartphones and enhanced connectivity. There has also been a recorded increase in home broadband connectivity. We sought to find out the most used social platforms and found that WhatsApp (82%) recorded the most use in the last 30 days followed by Facebook (75%). (Request for the data ?)

Conclusion

In conclusion, the media landscape is evolving rapidly, and GeoPoll will continue keeping a pulse on it. Through our daily GAM surveys, we track TV viewership and radio listenership every 30mins and 2 hours, respectively. This data is available off the shelf and can be accessed at any time. Contact us to get in touch with one of our representatives for a demo. Using our various remote data collection platforms: Mobile SMS, Mobile Web, Telephonic calls/CATI, and Mobile App, GeoPoll is able to support any client to reach consumers rapidly via dedicated panels/one-off Adhoc surveys.

The post Radio, TV and Internet Audience Statistics in Kenya – Q1 2021 appeared first on GeoPoll.

All of the data presented in this report reflect the average viewership numbers for the following time periods: January 1^st, 2019 through September 30^th, 2019 and January 1^st, 2020 through September 30^th, 2020.

Average Television Viewership Month Over Month: 2019 vs 2020 Comparison

From January to September of 2020, there was an average of 7,318,111 Kenyan television viewers, which was 513,445 viewers less than the average for the same time period in 2019. The chart below shows close-to-opposite trendlines of average viewership month-over-month between the two years. In 2019, Kenyan’s began the year watching the least amount of television of the time period, while the opposite was the case in 2020. January showed the most television viewership of the time period and by March of 2020 viewership declined significantly.

The year over year comparison between 2019 and 2020 shows just how television viewership was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Thus far in 2020, television viewership reached its lowest point in March when the virus safety guidelines were released by the Government of Kenya. As people were staying home more, television viewership rose in April and May; It was at this time the trendlines overlapped, yet in the month’s following, 2020’s viewership dipped as 2019’s viewership rose.

It is likely that many factors contributed to the lower viewership numbers in 2020. However, there are a couple of factors that we feel are worth specifically mentioning in this report. First, we believe that the overall decline in television viewership numbers is in part due to the increased penetration of alternative media platforms—like Video-On-Demand, streaming VOD, YouTube, and creative content on social media platforms—that are direct competition to television viewership. In fact, earlier this year, a GeoPoll study found that the top 3 influencer personalities have been playing their trade mostly on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook—which emphasizes the impact that internet-based forms of entertainment have had on the media landscape in Kenya.

Another factor that likely has led to a decrease in viewership is the financial strain caused by the pandemic. With so many Kenyan’s unable to work due to social distancing, more people are living hand-to-mouth than before the pandemic. In fact, in a recent GeoPoll study on the financial impact of Coronavirus in 5 sub-Saharan African countries, 49% of respondents reported that their incomes decreased significantly due to the pandemic. In the same study, 71% of respondents reported that they were more concerned with paying expenses now than they were before the pandemic, and Kenyan respondents were covering expenses with loans and credit more than any other source. The findings from this financial impact study, combined with the trends seen in television viewership throughout 2020, lead us to believe that Kenyan’s had tighter budgets and television viewership was limited in-part due to electricity and cable costs.

Kenya’s Top Television Stations year over year: 2020 vs. 2019

When we take a look at the viewership levels of the top stations on average during the time period, we can see that Citizen TV’s viewership increased from 2019 to 2020, even though there was a decline in television viewership overall in 2020. This finding shows that Citizen TV was even more popular in 2020 than it was in 2019.

A few factors may have led to an increase in viewership for Citizen. First, our 2020 data presented in this report was predominantly from months effected by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, news content was consumed more often than average because people were seeking the latest updates on the pandemic. Additionally, children were at home, rather than school and day-care, during the lockdown period. Due to children being home constantly, parents have been seeking out more educational, yet entertaining, television content for their children. We believe that these two reasons are the primary drivers behind the high viewership of Citizen, as well as the viewership of stations that kept their viewership similar to last year’s viewership, despite average television viewership numbers lowering overall in 2020 compared to 2019.

Average Viewership Month Over Month By Age: 2019 vs 2020

The chart above displays how each of the age groups engaged with television content each month from January through September and shows the changes in trends over time from 2019 through 2020. The data displayed shows some stark differences in viewership patterns by age group. In 2019, viewership by age group changed pretty significantly each month, yet in 2020 the viewership by age group stayed much steadier.

When analyzing each age group’s trends individually, the 35+ age group showed the least variation month over month and when 2019 trends are compared to 2020 trends. The 35+ age group’s average viewership numbers stayed mostly in the 2.5 million to 3 million viewers per month range, and more often than not, the 35+ age group had more viewership than the other age groups in both 2019 and 2020.

The younger two age groups, 15-24 and 25-34, had significantly more variation month to month in 2019 than was seen in 2020. In 2019, the 15-24 age group had a range of 1.3 million between the lowest and highest viewership months, and the 25-34 age group had a range of 1.4 million. In 2020, both age groups only had a range of approximately 300,000 between the lowest and highest viewership months. These changes in viewership trends were most likely caused primarily due to changes in daily life, priorities, work schedules, income, etc. that have emerged to do the coronavirus pandemic.

GeoPoll’s Audience Measurement Services

GeoPoll’s proprietary Audience Measurement platform collects data from thousands of respondents, multiple times a day, on media consumption. The data is available in one-off reports, recurring reports, or an all-access monthly subscription. To learn more about how GeoPoll’s Audience Measurement data and tools can help inform your next campaign, contact us today.

The post Kenya’s Television Landscape Throughout Q1, Q2, and Q3 of 2020 appeared first on GeoPoll.