•Betting and gambling advertising spend recorded a major drop compared to previous years.
•In the year to June, the communication industry was the top spender, accounting for 14 per cent of the total adverts spend. ReelAnalytics marketing manager Irene Chelimo during the release of advertising spend report for the first half of 2020,in Nairobi/COURTESY Covid-19 led to reduced marketing leading to a 30 percent drop in advertising expenditure in the first half of 2020 drop 30 per cent compared to a corresponding period last year.
This, according to a report by the Marketing Society of Kenya greatly hit the main revenue stream for media houses.
Total television, radio and print media advertising expenditure slowed to Sh 52 billion, Sh 22 billion shy of figures recorded during a similar period last year.
The largest drop was witnessed in betting and gambling advertising spend.
Data from MSK and marketing and media intelligence firm, ReelAnalytics shows spending on marketing activities markedly slowed across all categories in the first half of this year.
The analysis was based on gross rate card, according to the findings released yesterday by MSK chairman Pheodor Mundia and ReelAnalytics Marketing Manager Irene Chelimo.
The two said that thousands of jobs in the industry have been affected as a result of the slowdown.
“The betting and gambling industry is the hardest hit as their contribution to the total advertising spend dropped from 19 per cent to 11 per cent in 2020 due to changes in regulation made by the government,” Chelimo said.
The communication industry was the top spender, accounting for 14 per cent of the total adverts spend followed by the financial sector with 13 per cent.
The social industry, buoyed by the rigorous campaigns by the government and corporates to help sensitise people on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, posted the highest growth in share to account for nine per cent of the total advertising revenues in the period under review.According to the report, government and private sector players spent Sh52 billion in the first six months of the year to buy advertisement space on radio, television and print media compared to Sh74 billion in a similar period in 2019.Safaricom retained its spot in the top spender position boosted by diverse campaigns, where it spent Sh6.4 billion.Lotto was second with a spend of Sh1.9 billion followed by the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, which forked out Sh1.6billion. Glaxo Smithkline and Reckitt Benckiser spent 1.4billion and […]