REVIEW OF 2012 MEDIA CONSUMPTION IN KENYA
How are Audience Engaging with the Traditional Media Platforms?
As has been the trend over time, of the three traditional media platforms, radio continues to have
significant levels of interaction amongst Kenya’s adult population (persons aged fifteen years and
above). The latest census results puts this population at twenty two million of which 9 out of every 10
people listen to the radio on a weekly basis according to the latest Audience measurement survey. Radio
continues to be king as it has high penetration or levels of access; and there has also been a significant
growth of community radio stations which has increased the geographical footprint compared to other
media platforms. The survey findings further indicate that on average, a weekly radio listener tunes in to
four different channels in an average week. Although on average, rural and urban radio listeners tune in
to the same number of radio stations in a week, the rural radio listener spends one and a half hours
more than the urban listener, listening to radio.
For the urban dweller, radio competes not only with other media platforms which have higher
penetration in the urban areas but also with the content they desire. Across gender, weekly male radio
listeners listen to more radio stations; four compared to their female counterparts, who listen to an
average of three radio stations in a week. The male audience also spends slightly more time listening to
the radio compared to their female counterparts. On average, a male radio listener spends about 35
hours a week (5 hours a day) listening to radio whilst their female counterparts spend about 33 hours. A
review of consumption patterns indicates that news is a significant driver of radio listenership amongst
the male audiences. They tune in to a number of stations in search of a variety of content relating to
news items.
Weekly radio listenership across the age bands shows that the 15 – 17 year olds tune in to the highest
number of stations and spend more time listening to radio compared to radio listeners in other age
bands. Persons aged 45 years and above, show more loyalty to the radio stations they are listening to
compared to those aged 34 – 44 years, as both age bands allocate the same amount of time listening to
the radio, however persons aged 45 years and above, listen to fewer number of radio stations. Over the
last three years, weekly television viewership has remained fairly stable. On average about 45% of
persons aged 15 years and above watch television on a weekly basis.
The weekly urban television viewer watches an average of 3.3 different television stations compared to
the rural counterpart who watches an average of 2.8 television stations owing to penetration and level
of access. Whilst this is the case, the amount of time spent watching television between the two
audiences does not vary as significantly as the amount of time spent listening to radio. On average, the
urban television viewer spends an average of 3.6 hours watching television on a weekly basis compared
to their rural counterparts who spend 3.4 hours a day; a difference of 0.2 hours. A review of television
viewership trends shows that viewership across both rural and urban population peaks during prime
time, between 6:30pm and 9:30 pm, a fact that can be attributed to the way of life which cuts across
both rural and urban set up. News programmes during prime time are a significant driver of viewership.
The weekly female television viewer spends an average of 3.8 hours watching television which is about
half an hour more compared to their male counterparts. Male viewers largely opt for news programmes
whilst females opt for entertainment programmes, key amongst them being soap operas. Television
ratings indicate that quality local content garners viewership, more so content which is entertaining, for
example reality shows and humorous or comical skits and programmes.
The affluent spend slightly more time watching television compared to the less affluent. On average, a
person who falls in the AB social economic class spends 20 more minutes on an average day watching
television compared to the social economic class, DE. Across the age bands, persons aged 15 – 17 years
and those aged 45+ years allocated more time to watching television, with an average of 20 more
minutes compared to the other age groups.
Of the three traditional media platforms, newspaper readership has the lowest incidence of weekly
engagement amongst the adult population. Six million out of the twenty two million persons claim to
read newspapers on a weekly basis; which is about 22% of the adult population. About three quarters of
the weekly newspaper readers are male and affluent - LSM 5 – 11. In addition, over a half of them are
aged 18 – 34 years. Survey findings indicate that out of every 5 weekly newspaper readers, 4 read
multiple newspapers in an average week. This is a trend which is consistent amongst both rural and
urban weekly newspaper readers, however a slight disparity can be seen across gender where the
number of women who read a single copy in an average week is slightly higher compared to men.
Newspaper readers are high media consumers, indicating that more often than not, they can access the
same content on print media, across the other media platforms. Almost all weekly newspaper readers
listen to the radio on a weekly basis; three quarters watch television on a weekly basis and half of them
access the internet on a monthly basis, which is substantially higher compared to the nationwide
average (18%). Cost has often been cited as a key barrier towards accessing a newspaper especially
amongst the rural population. Aside from purchasing their own copies, newspaper readers also source
for newspapers from other household members and also from the office or workplace. A slightly higher
proportion of the rural population who read the newspaper weekly, purchase their own copy compared
to the urban population, where a higher proportion of the readers access the paper from the workplace
or office. In addition, with regards to content, females largely prefer local news, lifestyle and sports
content in newspapers, compared to male who prefer local news, sports and international news.
Looking ahead!
There are two developments which are bound to shape the media scene in Kenya; the digital migration
of television broadcasting and the devolution of power and regional governments. One of the key
challenges that media owners have faced is the requirement to provide content as well as increase their
geographical footprint. With the digital migration of television broadcasting, the role of signal
distribution will be outsourced, leaving media owners to focus on content and not on ensuring the
optimum geographical reach of their signal. For households to access digital Free to Air television, they
will need to have a set-top box. This might affect viewership, particularly during the initial phases of the
transition, where although surveys have indicated that there has been a growth in affluence amongst
the population, the level of compliance amongst households will vary given the cost of the set-top
boxes. Nevertheless, this may only be a temporary situation; viewership is expected to pick up over
time.
Digital television guarantees better picture and sound quality which has often been sighted by audiences
as a key physical barrier to their choice of television station to watch. Thus there might be gains and
losses of market share across the different television stations. Furthermore, the digital migration will
also free up more signal bandwidth, resulting in more frequencies available for television and a potential
growth in the number of television stations given the reduced cost of set up of a television station. This
will mean that the audiences will have more options available to them, with the overall amount of time
spent watching individual television stations expected to decline rather than increase. The radio
landscape will be highly fragmented and we expect to see a mushrooming of radio stations, given that
the freeing up of bandwidth will also mean more frequencies will be available for radio could ride on.
The average number of radio stations listened to may increase significantly in an average week,
especially amongst persons aged 15 – 24 years, where we are also likely to see a decline in the average
amount of time spent listening to individual radio stations. Radio stations will also have an opportunity
to increase their geographical footprint as they will be able to partner with signal distributors of choice.
The growth of the electronic broadcast media is expected to threaten newspaper readership. The
content which has traditionally been on newspaper will be available ‘real time’ across the different radio
and television station. This will be driven by the need to provide content to drive listenership and
viewership. Print media will therefore need to be dynamic to be able to maintain and also generate
audiences. Key for growth will be the need to provide local news which is a key driver of newspaper
readership, more so with the redefined regional governance. There will be a need to provide content at
both a regional level and a nationwide level; and customize content to suit the media consumption
habits of the different demographic profiles. We have already seen major dailies introducing contentspecific newspapers, particularly mostly on sports and also county editions. Whilst print will be rivaled
by electronic media, a key factor which will ensure that it remains relevant is the shelf-life and the
opportunity to see. We definitely expect to see a highly fragmented media audience, the emergence of
sub-brands of major media houses and the demand for quality content development, tailored to the
various media consumers.
Written by: Tom Mzungu; Audience Research Manager – Ipsos Synovate Kenya
Written on: March 2013
Please feel free to the writer Email: Tom.Mzungu@Ipsos.com