The African media landscape is growing ever more diversified. Brands and broadcasters no longer need to make decisions based on outdated information risking valuable advertising dollars.  The GeoPoll overnight media ratings deliver daily insights on audience measurement data for TV, Radio and Print.

The GeoPoll Media Measurement service has been examining ratings and audience share for the top stations in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Afghanistan to provide media insights into markets where data is scarce.

The 2nd Quarter 2017 Report Highlights

Uganda

Amongst the top 10 radio stations in Uganda, CBS Radio takes the lead in ratings as from 6AM-10AM and between 8PM-10PM while Capital FM leads between 10AM-8PM. NTV takes the lead in ratings during peak hours followed by Bukedde and NBS respectively. View the Full Report

Kenya
Radio Citizen maintains the lead in ratings throughout the day in Q2 with its highest ratings being 5.39 between 6-8AM. Citizen TV has the leading spot in ratings during peak hours at the national level. Citizen maintains its highest rating being around the primetime. View the full Report

Nigeria
There is a stiff competition between Wazobia FM and Ray Power FM for the first position in ratings.  Zee World consistently is the leading station in ratings during peak hours at the national level. Its highest point lies at 7PM with an average of 3.55. View the full Report

Tanzania
Clouds has the highest radio ratings throughout the day in Q2. Its highest point lies between 2-4PM with an average of 8.43. ITV has the clear top spot in ratings between 8-9PM, with more than twice the ratings of the nearest competitor.  View the full Report

Ghana
There is a stiff competition for the first position in ratings between UTV and Adom TV in Ashanti Ghana.  During peak hours in Greater Accra Ghana, UTV have the most ratings with its highest point being at 8.30PM with an average of 6.65.  View the full Report

Ethiopia
In Addis Abeba region in Ethiopia, Sheger radio station is consistently leading in ratings throughout the day followed by Bisrat except between 6-8AM. Kana TV station in Ethiopia tends to have more ratings during peak hours as compared to other TV stations. View the full Report

Afghanistan
Arman FM maintains its highest ratings throughout the day in Afghanistan with its top spot being between 2-4PM with an average of 4.48. Tolo TV station has the most ratings during peak hours as compared to the other TV stations in Afghanistan. View full Report

Rwanda
Radio Rwanda maintains having the most ratings throughout the day in Q2 with its highest ratings being between 8-10PM with an average of 15.28. Rwanda TV achieves the highest share of 45.2% followed by TV1 with an audience share of 9.3%. View full Report

About GeoPoll’s Media Measurement

GeoPoll is the largest provider of overnight media ratings in Africa, delivering daily data insights, 365 days a year.  Our Media Measurement service uses panel-based mobile surveys to collect audience measurement data for TV, radio, and print.

Stay ahead of the curve when you use Media Measurement data to view next-day ratings, analyze campaign performance in real-time, or target key audiences.

Request for a Demo, subscribe to GeoPoll Media Measurement or be notified when GeoPoll Media Measurement launches in other countries

The post GeoPoll Releases African Media Ratings for Quarter Two 2017 appeared first on GeoPoll.

So just how big a problem is fake news in Kenya and what impact is it having on the way people consume information? This is a question on the minds of communications professionals and political campaigners alike, as well as the media and citizens.

The findings from a joint survey report from GeoPoll and Portland Communications are both surprising and revealing and provide much food for thought for communicators, campaigners and brands looking to cut through and communicate to Kenyans in the digital age.

What is Fake News?

There are varying definitions of fake news but for the purposes of this research, we defined fake news as deliberate spreading of false information.

A broader definition of fake news could be false or misleading information published as authentic news, generally understood to be deliberate, however possibly accidental.

Of course, this is an issue of fundamental importance to democracy, because it can skew and influence election results. As such, fake news is a bigger problem than previously thought, with potentially far-reaching consequences. This research by Portland and GeoPoll aims for the first time to quantify and explain its impact on Kenya.

Fake News & Elections

For the first time, deliberately false news stories, or fake news, appeared to influence the outcome of an election. In the run-up to the United States 2016 presidential election, research showed that fake news stories were more widely shared on Facebook than mainstream news items. The most popular fake news stories favored Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, leading commentators to ask whether they had contributed to his unexpected victory.

Following the fake news scandal that has spread around the world after President Trump’s election in the USA in November 2016, we were particularly interested in exploring the prevalence of news that was deemed to be true/accurate versus the prevalence of news that was suspected of being false/inaccurate, either deliberately or accidentally.

While many people expressed shock at what they saw as a new phenomenon, this effect will have been a lot less surprising in Africa, where deliberately false or inaccurate news is commonplace during elections.

Fake news is not new in Kenya 

Despite Kenya having a history with fake news often referred to as propaganda during the one-party rule of Kenya’s 2^nd president Daniel Arap Moi, we were still surprised to find that 90% of people suspected having seen or heard false/inaccurate information regarding the election. There is a chance that some of this was accidentally false, simply misrepresented through human error or misjudgement.

However, 87% of people have seen information that they suspected was deliberately false – the more commonly used definition for ‘fake news’. So it appears that whilst this might be emerging as a new concept in some countries, ‘fake news’ is not a new concept in Kenya and most Kenyans are able to identify it.

These do not appear to be isolated incidents that are getting widespread attention either. Rather, most of potentially false stories about the general election that they have seen in the recent past. In fact, many people said that this was very much endemic in political news and presented itself in a range of different ways.

Fake News in Kenya’s 2017 General Election

                                                                                                                                                                        In April 2017 a fake front page of the Daily Nation was circulated in Busia County(Image Courtesy: Daily Nation) 

Fake news is a pervasive problem surrounding the Kenyan elections. 90% have seen false or inaccurate information and 87% view this information as being deliberately false. There are differentiating sentiments of trust surrounding traditional news versus newer media channels. Trust levels in different information sources was an unexpected result, with most Kenyans trusting traditional media sources such as TV with a trust level of 76%.  The most distrusted sources for information regarding the election were friends and family (69%).

The news consumption of the general election is high and there is a desire for more detailed and factual information. The level of political investment expressed by Kenyans in this survey was surprising. Kenyans are critically engaging with their news consumption, they are not passively taking in their newsfeed or the articles they read. With 67% actively wanting comprehensive and detailed information and 78% wanting factual and accurate information.

Politics is a HOT topic in Kenya

Politics is a core part of our national conversation. A whopping 91% of sampled respondents have seen/ heard about the 2017 election in the last 1 month, about 3 months before the election! 89% of them daily/ multiple times a day. Surprisingly this cuts across age groups even amongst the 18-35 who its normally assumed to be apathetic to politics. As per Kenyan 2009 population census, close to 60% of those above 18 fall in between 18-35.

According to the Independent Electoral and boundaries commission (IEBC), 9.9 million ( 51% ) of the registered voters are aged between 18-35.

This research by Portland and GeoPoll aims, for the first time, to quantify and explain the impact of fake news in Kenya.

Download The Reality Fake News Survey Report

The post Fake News in Kenya’s 2017 General Election Widespread – Survey Report appeared first on GeoPoll.