FG Plans Audience Measurement Conference To Catalyze Broadcast Industry Growth

The Federal Government is to organize an Audience Measurement
Conference to provide broadcast industry stakeholders the opportunity
to contribute to efforts to establish a scientific Audience
Measurement System for radio television broadcasting in the country.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
disclosed this in Lagos on Tuesday at the Broadcasting Organisation of
Nigeria (BON) 3rd International Summit on Digital Broadcasting in
Nigeria, saying the event will hold 3rd Oct. 2017.

“It is imperative that we urgently put in place an industry framework
that will ensure that Content Producers receive their just due for the
value of the Content they create, as well as provide objective
guarantees to the Advertising community on their Return-On-Investment
on media placements. This will then have the overall effect of
guaranteeing greater spending by the Advertisers, who are all seeking
to grow their market share.

“This industry framework can only happen if the Ministry of
Information and Culture, which fortunately supervises both the
Broadcasting and Advertising industries, serves as a catalyst for
putting in place a robust Audience Measurement System that is in line
with global standards and supports the realization of the immense
potential that the Nigerian Creative and Entertainment industry
holds,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed said for the Digital Switch Over from analogue to
digital television to be sustainable for Signal Distributors, Channel
owners, TV Content Producers and Advertisers, the scientific Audience
Measurement System is critical to articulate the value of the content
to Consumers, as well as the value of the Audience to Advertisers,
particularly in the Television sector.

He said lack of a scientific Audience Measurement System has resulted
in under-investment in the sector, which is necessary to foster the
growth of the industry, as the Advertising community continues to rely
on subjective factors when making decisions on the Content they want,
as opposed to how many viewers the Content truly attracts.

The Minister said as a consequence, television platforms are subjected
to renting out space on their Channels to sustain their businesses and
Content Producers have become increasingly over-reliant on sponsorship
which, unfortunately, skews the authenticity of their creative output
in favor of a few decision makers and not the millions of TV viewers.

“Further, the value of Nigeria’s Broadcasting Advertising Market is
not proportionate with its population when compared to the Top 3
Markets in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. Despite having a population
three times more than South Africa, Nigeria’s Television Advertising
Revenue in 2016, at US$309m, was behind that of South Africa, at
US$1,301m.

“By 2020, the gap between South Africa and Nigeria is projected to
marginally decline to 72%. Similarly, in the Radio sector, the value
of Nigeria’s 2016 Advertising Revenue of US$81m was behind its peers,
South Africa and Kenya, both at US$343m. Kenya is projected to
overtake South Africa in 2017 as the leading Radio Advertising
market,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed stressed that in both South Africa and Kenya, the
value and growth rate of the Broadcasting Advertising Revenue is
largely influenced by the availability of a scientific Audience
Measurement System that provides confidence to Advertisers in
measuring their Return-On-Investment.

He noted that bringing Nigerian TV advertisement market into line with
benchmarks that is 2 to 3 times the current size could result in
additional $200-$400m of revenue to the industry, based on current
comparisons with other African countries.

The Minister said the Federal Government had already taken a critical
long-term decision to support the Nigeria Creative and Entertainment
Industry by ensuring and funding the inclusion of a middle-ware that
is capable of scientific Audience Measurement on Set-Top Boxes, hence
the need to develop the framework.

“The existing model will never enable the Nigeria’s Creative and
Entertainment Industry to reach its full potential. It stunts the
quality of the Content that can be created and it also limits the
capacity of Television platforms to invest in dynamic offerings that
Consumers will be attracted to,” he noted