The advertising landscape in Cote D’Ivoire is quite robust following the recent economic growth in the country and boosted by a young consumer base. In 2016 it was estimated that the total advertising spend was $110 million, and international retailers such as the French multinational Carrefour have increased their footprint in Cote D’Ivoire. While traditional media including radio, TV, print, and outdoor advertising remain strong, as higher percentages of the population come online, it is expected that digital modes will also increase in power.

A recent GeoPoll study in Cote D’Ivoire, run in conjunction with GeoPoll Audience Measurement’s regular data collection in the country, examined the usage of traditional and new media, along with purchase habits for several fast-moving consumer goods.

Traditional Media in Cote D’Ivoire

GeoPoll’s study of the media landscape in Cote D’Ivoire finds that Television is the most-consumed traditional media, with 48% watching TV for more than two hours a day, and an additional 43% watching at least some TV each day. The youngest age group (15-24) report slightly higher viewership than older age groups. Radio also performs well, with 32% listening for between more than two hours per day, and a total of 84% listening to radio each day.

Both radio and newspapers are more popular with the older age groups, who are more likely to read a daily newspaper and report listening to the radio for more than two hours. The older age group is also slightly more likely to read a magazine every day than younger populations.

Billboards are found to be a polarizing medium, with 38% saying they would not be likely to read or react to a billboard advertisement, and 21% saying they would be highly likely to read or react to an out-of-home ad.

TV Ratings in Cote D’Ivoire

Looking at the ratings of TV stations in Cote D’Ivoire for January to February 2020, we can see the dominance of RTI1 and RTI2. RT1 or La Première had a total share of 23% of the TV viewing audience in January 2020, and 16% in February 2020, while RTI2 had a share of 13% in January and 8% in February. Canal+ Sport was the next most popular station, with 8% of share in January and 11% of share in February. Demonstrating the diverse interests of the audience in Cote D’Ivoire, other top stations include Canal+, NovelasTV, NollywoodTV, France24, National Geographic, TraceTV, and SyFy. Stations that are more popular with female audiences include NollywoodTV and Novelas TV, which are both entertainment channels. 

Internet and Social Media in Cote D’Ivoire

Internet usage in Ivory Coast is low compared to other West African countries such as Nigeria, and GeoPoll found that 41% of our SMS respondents access the Internet on most days, but for less than one hour a day, with only 13% accessing the internet for one to four hours per day. Despite this, several media outlets have started using social media and messaging applications to reach their audience, including La Monde, which has used WhatsApp to grow its audience in Francophone Africa. This study confirmed the dominance of Facebook and WhatsApp in Cote D’Ivoire, with Facebook having the highest levels of use: 39% state that they use Facebook for more than two hours a day, compared to 9% who say the same for Instagram, 20% for YouTube, and 34% for WhatsApp.

Get Data on Ivory Coast TV and Radio Ratings

GeoPoll collects regular audience measurement data through GeoPoll Audience Measurement, which displays daily TV and Radio ratings in Cote D’Ivoire through an interactive dashboard. To get access to GeoPoll Audience Measurement data in Cote D’Ivoire, which is run in conjunction with Harmonies Media and PHD, please contact us here.

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Internet usage continues to grow, in large part due to increased smartphone penetration in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. As at March 2017, Nigeria has the highest number of internet users in Africa at 91.88 million, with 81 percent generated via smart phones. GSMA predicts that, in 2020, there will be more than 700 million smartphone connections in Africa.

In our previous segment in this series, we sought to understand perceptions of free speech as it relates to social media through a straw poll survey among 4,213 youth in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. Read the report here.

In this segment, we explore insights into internet access, the role of the internet, and digital security among these same youth.

Data Costs & Affordability

Data costs continue to be a barrier to internet access for most Africans. Among countries surveyed, a majority of respondents in South Africa find the price of internet to be expensive (58%). A majority of Ghanaians (54%) also find their data costs high. More than half (52%) of respondents indicate that the cost of data in their county was affordable. However, 40 percent find the cost of internet data to be expensive.

South Africa has the lowest cost internet among the surveyed countries. Despite the lowest data cost compared to the other countries in the poll most South Africans feel that the cost is still quite high.

Youth on Social Media

Mobile data continues to be the most used means by which African millennials access the internet. In February 2017, GeoPoll conducted a rapid poll on mobile usage and media consumption: social network platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter form an integral part of everyday life with over 60 percent using social media as their primary source of information. Television comes a distant second at 25 percent, with newspapers being the least important source (6%).

Among the 4,213 respondents from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda, 17 percent (one in five) of respondents indicate they post more than 20 times a week on social media. Ten percent said they posted to social media between 11 and 20 times; 28 percent post 6 to 10 times per week; and 45 percent post less than 5 times per week.

 Internet Access & Net Neutrality 

There are ongoing projects by Facebook and Google to provide free internet through initiatives such as Free Basics and Loon, respectively. We sought sentiments on access to internet and awareness of these initiatives.

In response to “Do you agree with this statement: ‘some form of internet is better than no internet at all’ 1) I completely agree 2) I somewhat agree 3) I disagree 4) I strongly disagree,” most respondents (55 percent) completely agreed with the statement.

With regard to internet access initiatives, GeoPoll found that the program with the largest awareness is Free Basics with 74 percent, followed by Project Loon by Google (25%). In Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Ghana, Free Basics has the highest awareness.

Digital Security 

GeoPoll found that 38 percent of respondents have used a digital security software before while 62 percent have not. Most South African respondents indicated using multiple types of digital security software at 42 percent when compared to other countries. Uganda has the highest number of users who have used a Virtual Private Network (VPN) in the past.  Antivirus software is the most known and widely used form of Digital security software among youth in the polled countries. There is still low awareness and usage of any other forms of Digital security software.

About GeoPoll Straw Polls

GeoPoll is the world’s largest real-time mobile survey platform, reaching a growing network of more than 320 million users in 31 countries worldwide on a deeply granular level and at unprecedented scale. Through partnerships with telecom providers—and a multimodal platform powered by text, voice and web-based communications—GeoPoll enables organizations to gather quick, accurate and in-depth insights on anything from consumer preferences to access to basic government services.

GeoPoll leverages its platform to engage mobile users through ad hoc “straw polls” that provide insights into real-time sentiments of current events. This GeoPoll rapid survey was conducted in April 2017 among 4,213 youth in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda using the GeoPoll mobile application.

Straw Poll Specs

• Countries surveyed: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda
• Language: English
• Mode: GeoPoll App
• Questionnaire length: 22 questions
• Median survey completion time: 20 minutes

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