What changes globally are impacting on the South African media sector? And what is staying the same? In our Insights 2016 series, we asked local thoughtleaders in the media space to look at the topic of change in the media.
The only thing that will unfortunately stay the same in our industry is my receding hairline.
The media landscape is forever changing and nothing really stays the same; consumers have access to more than ever before and are choosing the way they want to consume media.
Over the past three years we have seen an increase in digital spend due to its measurability and accountability as it is easily tracked. The growth of digital is attributed to the platform becoming increasingly more accessible to the consumer via cheaper mobile data packages and increased bandwidth.
The smartphone evolution
The accessibility of cheaper smart phones entering the market has also increased access to the platform in the lower segment of the market giving this “new user” a whole new experience.
Television, one of the highest reaching media, has also evolved as the platform is becoming more fragmented in terms of content, time and place thanks to multiscreen devices and VOD. Gone are the days where a couple of channels will achieve mass awareness.
The evolution of radio is also eminent, while slowly entering the digital space this will with no doubt increase giving the platform access to a new audience and another avenue to increase spend and revenue.
Prestige cinema
According to PWC’s Entertainment and Media Outlook, the unique nature of the live experience means consumers still devote a significant share of their leisure time and entertainment budgets towards attending live events. The increasing roll out of prestige cinema and the launch of the new Ster Kinekor theatre experience in Eastgate Mall, where we will experience the first ever self-service terminal showcasing how the cinema experience is too evolving.
The media industry will also in the next year or so see a huge change in the way we extrapolate data. With AMPS falling away, we will see the introduction of the Establishment Survey.
This new survey will change the way we mine our TAMS and RAMS data due to the ES foundation being different to AMPS. How will this effect trending moving forward? There is also talk that LSM’s in their current construct will not exist after March 2017. They will however be replaced with a bespoke segmentation tool that better reflects the SA socio-economic landscape.
As you can see nothing really stays the same, whether the change is significant or not.
Robert Nortica is client service director at Carat.
Image: Ster Kinekor Prestige Cinema
