By Emma Okonji
The report of the just released 2015 Mediafacts, which is a key media resource for marketing professionals in West and Central Africa, has shown that the telecommunications sector retained its lead position as the highest advertiser in Nigeria in 2015 with a combined total expenditure of N16.7billion.
According to the report, produced annually by mediaReach OMD, a specialist media company that provides media planning, buying, control and inventory management services, the figure represents 17 per cent of the total advertising spend in Nigeria of N97.9billion in the same year.
The report also identified other top advertising product categories that contributed to the total ad spend to include: Personal Paid (N12.2billion), Corporate Communications (N6.3billion), Banking and Finance (N5.8billion), Lager Beer (N4.6billion), Public Service (N3.8billion), Soft Drinks (N2.8billion), Cable TV (N2.5billion), Milk and Diary (N2.2billion) and Broadcast (N2.2billion).
Others are: Noodles (N2.1billion), Cocoa Beverages (2.0billion), Skin Cleansing (N1.8billion), Nutritional Drinks (1.8billion), Dental care (N1.6billion), Seasonings (N1.5billion), Online mall/Education imparting knowledge & Skill/Malt (N1.4billion), NSD Powder (N1.3billion) and others (N22.4billion). Mediafacts stated that these are the top 20 advertising product categories in 2015.
According to Mediafacts, “The top 10 advertisers in Communication and Telecommunications sector in 2015 include: Sundry Ad (other Inform. Service) – N13.5billion, MTN – N4.7billion, Airtel – N4.1billion, Etisalat – N3.7billion and Globacom – N3.7billion. Others are: Nigerian Breweries – N3.7billion, The State Government – N3.1billion, Sundry Advertisers (Services) – N3billion, Reckit Benkiser Nigeria – N2.7billion and Procter & Gamble – N2.1billion.
The report stated: “The top 20 advertisers contributed 64% of total spend and the top four telecom players contributed 17% of the total spend in 2015.” Mediafacts also revealed that the total advertising spend recorded in 2015 represented an increase of N4.8billion above the N93.1billion documented in 2014.
“The 2014/2015 electioneering campaigns and the successful change in government may have positively impacted on the advertising spends in 2015 as it records a positive growth of about 4.8% over 2014 total media spend,” the report further said.
Mediafacts further revealed that the television stations attracted the highest advertising expenditure of N39billion in 2015. The report also put the advertising expenditure attracted by the print media, outdoor and radio stations at N23.7billion, N20.1billion and N15.1billion; respectively.
Meanwhile, the advertising expenditure that went to the print media last year declined marginally by 4per cent from N25.8billion in 2014 to N23.7billion in 2015. Also, the outdoor performed better the previous year when it attracted N20.5billion advertising spend against N20.1billion in 2015. However, the TV and Radio stations in Nigeria attracted more advertising spends of 39.0billion and N15.1billion in 2015 compared to N34.6billion and N12.1billion the previous year.
Mediafacts put the advertising expenditure in the first and second quarters of 2015 at N23billion each, while it was N29.8billion and N22.1billion in the third and fourth quarters of the year. “The highest spend for 2015 was recorded in Quarter three (N29.8billion), which represents 30 per cent of the total spend,” the report stated.
Among the various regions in Nigeria, Lagos state attracted the highest advertising expenditure of N53.1billion followed by the North Central (N12.1billion), South West (N10.2billion) and South South (N10billion). “The highest spend for 2015 was recorded in Lagos, 54 per cent, followed by North Central, 12 per cent while North East took the rear position. The paltry spend, less than 1 per cent in the North East was traceable to the space of insurgency in the region”, Mediafacts revealed.
The Managing Director/CEO of mediaReach OMD, Mr. Tolu Ogunkoya, said: “Nigeria’s media is one of the most vibrant in Africa. State radio and TV have near-national coverage and operate at federal and regional levels. All 36 states run at least one radio network and a TV station. There are hundreds of radio stations and terrestrial TV networks, as well as cable and direct-to-home satellite offerings.”
According to him, television viewing in Nigeria is concentrated in urban areas. “There are more than 100 national and local press titles, some of them are state-owned. They include well-respected dailies, tabloids and publications which champion ethnic interests. By 2014, 70.3 million Nigerians were online (Internetworldstats.com). Mobile phones are commonly used to access the web. Most Internet users are young, educated and urban,” Ogunkoya said.
