Afrikaans readers of Ads24 newspapers have high incomes. Earning on average R20 357 per month (which is almost R9 000 more than the South African (SA) average of R11 471), this market falls into the LSM 9-10 group. LSM 9-10 accounts for 43% of all spending in SA and 31% of LSM 9-10 is Afrikaans. This high income means they can afford the necessities as well as luxuries. Ads24 readers tend to be family oriented and are likely to be married with children.
“Another fact that should make you smile: the combined household value of the Afrikaans-speaking population is R377 billion per year,” says Adriaan Basson editor in chief of Netwerk24 and previous editor of Beeld, in Ads24’s trade newspaper ‘The Beat’ Afrikaans Reader community edition.
In an article on The Media Online editor of Rapport, Waldimar Pelser, believes that as the use of Afrikaans comes under increasing threat on university campuses, “Afrikaans media may become an even more important repository for acclaimed Afrikaans content.” It could, he thinks, even be an opportunity for Afrikaans media.
“There are many highly skilled Afrikaans people in academia or the professions whose use of Afrikaans in their professional lives may diminish. Afrikaans media is a valuable platform for the circulation of their very considered views on matters as wide ranging as politics or science and history,” he says.
Almost a third of the upper echelons of the South African market is Afrikaans and discerning, yet many marketers still do not see the value of producing advertising in Afrikaans, or the very least getting a campaign translated intelligently. Afrikaans readers find it insulting to find English advertising in their favourite newspapers and this harms not only the brand owner, but the newspapers reputation too.
Media24 have a policy to keep their newspapers seamlessly Afrikaans and marketers who stick to their guns with English only campaigns are missing out on a large segment of a high LSM market. Afrikaans readers are loyal to their newspaper title and are less likely to be promiscuous in their reading habits, therefore advertisers that refuse to speak to them will remain largely unheard.
In an article on The Media Online André de Wet, Group head copywriter at Draftfcb says, “Afrikaans media means that a brand actually made an effort – it took the time and spent the money to speak to me in my mother tongue. Some things are just better said in Afrikaans – take for instance the word ‘sommer’ as in ‘just sommer’. I don’t think there’s an English equivalent. Afrikaans is full of words like that. It’s worrying how many bad direct translations we see nowadays. Ads directly translated from English are riddled with grammar mistakes. Afrikaans ads should be conceptualised and created in Afrikaans and not fed into an online translator.”
Franette Klerck, GM of the Pendoring Afrikaans Advertising Awards, in an article on Media Update sums it up, “Research study after research study has confirmed that the Afrikaans speaking segment of the population continues to have considerable buying power, so companies that target this lucrative market with Afrikaans advertising should reap rich rewards as Afrikaans speakers tend to open their hearts; minds; and wallets more readily when they are addressed in their mother tongue; the language of their thoughts.”
Between press and online, Ads24’s Afrikaans newspaper combo reaches over 3.2 million people. This includes Netwerk24 and Beeld, Die Burger, Volksblad and Rapport, reaching 51% of the Afrikaans market, which is higher than the reach of any Afrikaans radio station.
IMAGE: Rapport Facebook page
