Sustainable Audience Research in Africa:

A Case Study in West Africa

George E Thorpe
NonNon-Exec Director, Media Planning Services (MPS) Lagos. Aug 2008

The Challenge

Problem Definition


Sustainability of the finance & administration of audience research for media planning in Nigeria


Research providers offer periodic media habit studies

  

Rampant piracy of media research reports with huge costs/risks Generate intense controversy/frenzy among media/press houses Fell short of minimum requirement for scientific media planning Industry rarely collaborates (even to compete) in Nigeria Who Pays/How would be most problematic in Nigeria With GAMPS at PAMRO 2000..somewhat stalled since then

Model in RSA could not be replicated in Nigeria anyway

 

Frustration in Nigeria then warning signals from Ghana



Problem Definition


Sustainability of the finance & administration of audience research for media planning in Nigeria


Focus on providing media planning services, not just researching media habits and consumption
 

Current & reliable data for GRP = Reach x Frequency Appropriate technologies to read data for media planning

Establish commercial basis & business model for sustainable scientific media planning in Nigeria


Admit to role & limitations of current marketing research methodologies in measurement of media advertising in a rapidly changing technology & media environment re best practice

The MPS Solution

Media Planning Services



From conception to delivery in 2 long years



Identified champions of change for commitment



Good mix of advertisers & advert/media agencies Advertising and Media Agencies ONLY Advertisers & Media Houses expressly excluded

Formation & biz/fin prospectus to target investors

 

Very slow & limited equity investment & client uptake almost crippled MPS re commitment of stakeholders
 

Ad industry collaboration for syndicated audience research Lots of lessons as shared at Ad industry meeting in Accra

MPS


Data Sheet


Reps of Industry Sectors

Date of Incorporation


Rep of Shareholders

24 Oct 2000
Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) Akin Odunsi Chairman (Rosabel) George Thorpe (OMD)

 

Board of Directors Share Capital

 

Issued Paid Up

$144K $72K

Shareholders
 

Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) Media Independent Association of Nigeria (MIPAN) Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON)

# Agencies 14 Min $800 to highest $24K x1 ED x2 Staff

Layi Afolabi (Exec Director)

Staff
 

MPS


Value Chainonly 3 Exec + strategic partners

Procurement of Audience Research

Formatting of Data

Subs to Data Sets & Techno

After Sale Support

x1 AMPS + x4RAMS + x4TAMS per annum AMPS; 20K sample Diaries in 13 locations Similar to SAARF

Data is formatted to be read exclusively on only MPS licensed technologies

User Groups for referral, best practice & support

MPS - Offerings & 2008 Prices

Offerings Annual subscription to data  x1 AMPS + x4 RAMS + x4 TAMS for media planning  x1 AMPS for market analyses Various AMPS Data Reports eg  Media


Pricing

Target Market

Comments

$13,300 $6,000

Advertisers Advertisers

Data loaded to agency PC Data loaded to advertiser PC Purchase of hard or soft copy Purchase of hard or soft copy Machine specific software is installed and timed Machine specific software is installed and timed

$750 $1,250

Product

Media Owners Advertisers

Annual License of Technologies  Media Star for media planning Marketing Star for market analyses


$3,000/ $1,500 $1,000

Advert & Media Agencies Advertisers

MPS Sales
2002 6 6 3 2003 19 9 10 2004 30 20 15 2005 36 23 16 2006 46 29 20 2007 50 31 44

Subs (# Data Sets) Technologies - Media Star - Marketing Star/ESPRI

MPS P&L (Indexed)

MPS


Recent & LRP Initiatives

     

 

U&A section improved to max exploitations (warn) Expanded product categories (80-110) (80Introduced upgraded version of Media Star now closer to Telmar Launched ESPRI to replace Marketing Star Program rating now available for TV & Radio wef AMPS II 2003 Migrated from ABCDE social class typology to LSM wef AMPS III/Dairies Wave 8-11 (2006/6) 8AMPS Data every 12 months (vs 18 month) wef Jan 2007 Continuous daily tracking in x4 locations out of current 10 Diary locations wef Jan 2007 To replace current Dairy surveys with Peoplemeter per roll out plan for more accurate, real time data Offer 2 levels of software re Media Star, Telmar & IMS

Conclusion


Sustainability of the finance & administration of audience research for media planning in Nigeria


MPS as a fully viable value-add platform for media valueplanning solutions in Nigeria; research as key input


Procured $1.5m worth of media audience research from 2 leading providers since 2001; probably now #1 research user in Nigeria Plan to procure some N1.1m worth of media research in 2008-10 2008subject to impacts of new technology & media developments PAMRO 1999 for showing us the audience research way (re Piet) Ghanas GAMPS 2000 for a rude awakening in/to Nigeria MPS subscribers for bringing some science (sanity) to the largest, most dynamic and complex advert media market in Africa

My special thanks to
  

Thank You
George Thorpe
georgethorpe@marketgeorgethorpe@market-space.com