By Luke Mulunda
Some big news is streaming into Kenya’s digital space: online content is beginning to attract the attention of big dollars. As the world becomes ever more digital, a lot of young Kenyan investors are pouring their little funds and tones of energies into online upstarts, creating blogs and websites to shell out news and other information.
The scope of the content is as diverse – ranging from the usual breaking news, business and investment to gossip and fashion. This has resulted in a vicious battle for readers online, especially on social media, forcing some websites to get sensational to attract a huge following.
The past three years have seen a shift to more serious online content, with websites getting into niches and branding themselves as credible sources of information and in the process developing a captive fan base.
Advertisers are noticing and some organisations, including businesses and government, are now advertising online. But that is just a fraction of the story of the emerging success of websites in Kenya, or what many call digital publishing.
Perhaps the most important development over the past one year or so is the entry of foreign investors into Kenya’s digital news industry.
In March last year, Russian digital media giant Genesis, started its viral news site, TUKO, which has been growing steadily to become one of the most read news sites in Kenya. The Russians invested millions in the outfit, even poaching some experienced journalists from mainstream media to drive content generation.
Almost a year later, TUKO has started attracting advertising from some corporates. This prompted the Russians, who run a similar operation in Nigeria, to pump in more cash to develop the website and strengthen its editorial and advertising team. It is said they are shopping around for other websites to buy in Kenya.
Meanwhile, a number of websites are making big cash from local ads, affiliate marketing and Google Ad Sense cost per click arrangements as well as native marketing by running promotional content.
One of the most popular websites in Kenya, Ghafla, which made a name in the gossip and entertainment segment, has been turning heads lately. It’s been a target for takeovers for the last two years and finally found a successful suitor.
First it was Radio Africa Group, which sought to buy it out and ride on its popularity to get a space in gossip and celebrity news segment. But it was repulsed by Ghafla founder Samuel Majani whom sources say thought Radio Africa’s offer of Sh5 million for a total buyout was an ‘insult’.
Then big money came knocking in 2016. After courting for some time, Swiss media firm, Ringier Africa Digital Publishing, finally got Majani to the negotiation table. A deal was hurriedly hammered for Ringier to buy a majority stake in the website and run the show. The transaction has been estimated at close to Sh80 million though information about the deal remains sketchy.
Ghafla is among the top 30 websites in Kenya, playing in the league of mainstream media-owned websites like Nation.co.ke, Standardmedia.co.ke and Star in terms of site visits, which contribute a significant amount of ad revenues for the big media. These are the numbers the Radio Africa was salivating for when it tried to acquire it. After being spawned, Radio Africa started MPASHO, which is another Ghafla in a different name, just adding fuel to the digital media growth in Kenya.
Many young Kenyans are buying domains and launching websites that they hope will generate them ad income or even attract huge investors. It’s bound to get more crowded and niched – and, hopefully, wealthier.
“Digital publishing is way to go for now as every aspect of life goes mobile and online,” says Eric Mbotela, a digital content generator at Afridig Media based in Nairobi. “Most people are now accessing news and other information online, so it follows that soon even advertisers and investors will come.”
The challenge, however, is packaging original but exciting content that will not only attract readers, but also convince advertisers to bet their budgets on digital. That’s where consolidation will come in, where different content providers team up to increase their variety and readership.
“Competition online is cutthroat,” says Eric Nyakagwa, a former newspaper editor who runs madam.co.ke, a social news website. “Content is king, and that’s where the challenge for many websites is – getting the king costs money.”
Mainstream caught off guard
Standard Group, Kenya’s second largest media house, is also investing more in digital publishing in an effort to commercialise this segment. Like other media houses, Standard had not initially taken digital media seriously, choosing instead to focus more on its traditional media of print and broadcast. Now it has online platforms for its radio, TV and newspapers and a strong team for the online editions.
Standard Group CEO Sam Shollei says Standard is diversifying to remain relevant in a changing media environment, balancing traditional and broadcast media with digital media. “Digital media is growing and we are looking at it as a strong revenue source in the very near future,” Mr Shollei told this writer. “We can’t ignore the fact that more people are getting news online.”
Media houses have lately been feeling a financial squeeze brought about first by digital technology that has ushered in more competition and, recently, a move by government to centralise advertising, which has tightened the public ad spend purse. Advertisers are also moving to cheaper and more targeted online platforms while digital migration has brought in stiff competition for broadcasters.
According to Patrick Quarcoo, Radio Africa Group CEO, the company is boosting its investments in digital technology to deliver “aggressive” returns. In fact, there are real possibilities that Radio Africa could follow Nation Media Group’s June 2016 decision to shut all its radio studios and move broadcasts online.
Shifting consumer trends
Those who shop or read news online know that the virtual world is no longer the lonely place it used to be. There’s always someone online on social media, shopping sites or even on news portals – never mind the fact that that has created silence in most public players these days. People are always engrossed on their smartphones, swiping and typing away to the point of forgetting themselves.
That’s how the digital revolution has engulfed a developing country that is struggling to turn itself into a middle class economy through adoption of technology and moved eyeballs from newspapers and TV stations to smartphones and PCs.
At the centre of this revolution, of course, is the Internet, and the mobile phone. More than 70% of mobile phones being sold currently are smart phones, meaning they can access the Internet at a very fast rate – exposing Kenyans to lots of information and news from virtually every corner of the world. Some have started writing obituaries for the hardcopy newspaper.
These smart phones have applications that allow consumers to access digital newspapers such as Nation, Standard and others as well as different e-commerce sites like OLX, Kilimall, Jumia, Rupu etc.
The strong youth factor
Majority of the youth, who make up almost half of the population, are always on their mobile phones. If not texting, they are on the Internet and it is likely that that is where they get their information, according to Beth Chebet, in a paper on how Digital Revolution in Kenya is changing consumer behaviour.
This constant presence is the source of audience that digital publishers are serving and what mainstream conventional media is losing out on. Social media – especially Facebook and Twitter, and now Whatsapp – is popular among the young and the not-so-young Kenyans. This is where they access most of their information and spend most of their free time. They chat, mock news and events, upload photos and even report news, in the process building a huge virtual fan base that digital experts are capturing. And this is often done through their mobile phones.
“Businesses should really think of exploiting this online space,” says Ms Chebet, a marketing expert based in Nairobi. “One of the most fundamental ways that the digital revolution has changed the consumer behaviour is their ability to adapt to new products in the market. New businesses have adopted the new changes to reach their consumers.”
Thanks to the Internet, the consumers are now able to locate any product they desire using intelligent agents. They can locate the products around the globe, around the clock, at the comfort of their homes. They also have access to more information about products by subscribing to online communities of people with the same interests as them. Moreover, the consumers have access to a variety of products by different companies at the comfort of their homes.
The same now is happening with news industry, where readers can access virtually any website. If you are interested in knowing what’s happening in China, you simply key in China on search engine and select news.
Power of the Internet
The Internet is the core technology involved in defining the new digital era. The Internet has not only empowered the consumers by changing the way they access information about products, but they have also changed the way businesses are conducted.
For businesses to survive (in this case media companies) and beat their competitors, they have to respond to these changes. The businesses have to give rise to new ways of conducting marketing by making use of search engines, social media and emails. The new marketing technology may be email advertisement, affiliate marketing, display advertisement, social media advertisement, and search engine advertisement among others.
In the media industry, news is being delivered on email, SMS alerts, social media engineering and content targeting, something traditional media cannot achieve.
For marketers to meet the fast-changing environment, they have to acquire digital skills and be conversant with the new marketing agenda. Businesses need to appoint digital officers to champion everything digital and build key relationships with agencies and third party providers in this space called the Internet.
“They have to get in touch with the consumers and take advantage of their online presence by advertising online,” says Ms Chebet. The digital revolution in the market place allows producers to be customized and promotional messages to reach consumers. Thus, businesses must take advantage of this.
The marketers should build sophisticated back-end technologies to allow them collect and analyse customer’s personal data. This will enable the businesses to make speedier informed decisions and then personalize and customize messages more accurately.
The mobile phone-based digital revolution has greatly affected the behaviour of consumers and the businesses in Kenya need to change the way they conduct their businesses in order to keep up with the evolving technology.
Those are the trends thousands of bloggers are watching every day in their offices or houses. No one wants to be left behind as news consumption trends change because, dollars will follow the consumers.
