The scramble for listenership and viewership, the world over, is getting stiffer by the day as social media takes up space in mainstream media. Traditional media is facing unprecedented times but they are still holding the lion’s share of the audience in Kenya.
Recent media surveys, which are a gateway to unlocking the power of audience analytics, have shown which Kenyan stations are leading and by what demographic. These studies are comprehensive media and audience measurements to help one understand and navigate the dynamic landscape of media consumption, optimization, and statistics.
Radio Numbers
From the Infotrak poll, done early this year, 72% of Kenyans said they still listen to the radio as their primary source of news, with only 28% saying they don’t.
As usual, Nyanza and Western regions have some of the highest rates of radio listenership, at 79% and 74% respectively. Rift Valley also tune in with quite a high number of 77%.
Radio listenership is balanced among males and females. Gen Zs are the lowest number of listeners with the highest among them being 55 years.
Swahili radio stations are the first among the pack, in terms of awareness, the top 5 stations are all broadcasting in Swahili. Radio Citizen still maintains the lead, SK Macharia must be doing something right. He should be studied. Of much interest is Radio47. The newcomer came in 3rd at 20% awareness, beating some old guards like Kiss 100. Radio Jambo, Radio Maisha, and Milele finish in the top five.
TV StationsViewership in Kenya
When it comes to TV viewership, TV47 is also killing it, despite being the youngest entrant in the market. It currently ranks ahead of established brands like KBC and K24.
As expected, Citizen TV is still king of the airwaves, but the Royal Media-owned station is slowly losing its fan base. About 17% of the viewers said they stopped watching it.
The old stations are suffering the same fate as they are all shedding numbers. NTV and KTN are each losing 15% of its viewers who state that they no longer watch them. Only about 5% stopped watching TV47.
The History of TV stations in Kenya
In 2007, on average, Citizen TV was leading with the highest share of 33.7% of viewers, followed by the Standard Media stations, KTN and KTN News, at 11.1% and 8.5% respectively. Nation Media Group’s NTV was placed fourth with an average of 8.5% in the share of viewers, like KTN News.
Though commanding the bigger pie, Citizen TV’s share has dropped significantly (over 40%) since Dec 2014. Back then it ran with the tag “Kenya’s fastest-growing TV station.” The drop in numbers can be attributed to the Digital Migration which was effected in February 2015. The move saw the emergence of smaller stations which are now eating into the dominant media viewership numbers.
It will be interesting to see how dynamic market the market will get in a few years to come. Social media brands like ONPoint News are now the new source of breaking news and pop culture and their dominance is reaching its peak. An exciting future awaits.
