- Advertisers spent Sh52 billion in the first five months of the year compared to Sh51 billion same period last year
- advertising spending by corporates tanked by Sh9.12 billion between April and May, translating to a 77.34 per cent drop.
Betting firms that have dominated Kenya’s advertising spend for the past three years have been edged off the top by Covid-19 messages.
A report by marketing and media intelligence firm Reelanalytics shows advertising expenditure on mainstream media rose by Sh1 billion in rate card value over the first five months of 2020.
This was driven by a rise in joint advertisement campaigns between the government and the private sector.
According to the report, government and private sector players spent Sh52 billion in the first five months of the year to buy advertisement space on radio, television and print media compared to Sh51 billion in a similar period in 2019.
Enock Mokaya, a senior researcher at Reelanalytics, says the social media industry which has over the years been a subtle industry sprung up from March to May as the government and the private sector joined hands to educate the masses to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
Coronavirus Awareness, Safaricom Skiza Tunes, Viusasa, GoK Kazi Kwanza and KCB and MOH Komesha Corona were the top five campaign spenders respectively during the review period.
Safaricom has consistently remained among the top spenders in the three years highly buoyed by its diverse campaigns. The company maintained the top slot spending Sh6.7 billion in the first half of 2020.
Royal Media Services was second with a spend of Sh3.3 billion followed by the Standard Group and KCB both at 1.9 billion while betting firm, Lotto was fifth with a spend of Sh1.7 billion.
The Ministry of Health emerged the top spender accounting for Sh1.9 billion in packaging messaging around the COVID-19 related publicity.
Television stations were the main beneficiaries with Sh31 billion worth of advertisement between January and May 2020 compared to Sh24 billion in 2019.
At 15 per cent, the media industry emerged as the top advertisement spenders in 2020. The communication industry followed closely at 14 per cent.
Finance and betting firms came third and fourth respectively at 13 per cent and 11 per cent respectively while firms in household and personal care segments accounted for a combined 9 per cent share.
The beverage industry, Agriculture and state bodies tied at four per cent.
However, advertising spending by corporates tanked by Sh9.12 billion between April and May, translating to a 77.34 per cent drop.
Brands in the manufacturing and hospitality industries were the hardest hit recording little to no advertising activity over the five-month review period.
“Other companies have had to revise their brand awareness messaging in order to be sensitive and relevant at a time when at least 90 per cent of media publicity is on COVID-19 pandemic,” Mokaya said.
There was a general fall in advertising expenditure from communication, finance, media, betting and gambling as well as industry players in Fast Moving Consumer Goods.
The ad scene is expected to hit an excess of Sh140 billion in rate card value in 2020.