IMC sectoral groups hail FG over task team on audience measurement, as committee submits report next week
Facts emanating from the Nigerian Integrated Marketing Communications sector have revealed that sectoral groups in the nation’s sub-sector of the economy have applauded the recent move by the Federal Government of Nigeria to put in place an audience measurement policy aimed at creating value and return-on-investment for all stakeholders.
Specifically, industry operators and sectoral leaders in the Nigerian media advertising eco-system are unanimous in their views that the current attempt would at the end of the day boost industry growth and performance across the board while also helping the government achieve its Digital Switch Over of the Television from analogue to the new era of digital revolution.
Recall that the Hon. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had earlier last month virtually inaugurated an 8-man Panel Committee member to come up with strategies and ideas on how to fashion out a world-class, objective and scientific audience measurement system that articulates the value of the content to consumers, as well as the value of the audience to advertisers, particularly in the television sector.
Setting up the committee, the minister had said: “Audience measurement is the missing link in the entire ecosystem and will make our digital switch over sustainable for signal distributors, channel owners, TV Content Producers and Advertisers.”
Continuing, Alhaji Mohammed noted: “Without it, we will not see the growth in our television and the value creation in the creative industry that the economy and the people of Nigeria so need.”
He pointed out that the absence of a world-class measurement regime had resulted in under-investment in the sector. This, he stated, has become necessary to foster the growth of the industry, as the advertising community continues to rely on subjective factors when making decisions on the content they want, as opposed to how many viewers the content truly attracts.
Applauding the initiative, President of Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Mrs. Bunmi Adeniba, said the latest development is a highly welcome elixir to resolve age-long riddles on accurate and value-driven audience measurement metrics.
Confirming ADVAN’s belief and confidence in the initiative, Adeniba said: “It is a collective industry initiative with key stakeholders that engage with audience measurement, to evolve a more precise and technology-driven system which helps advertisers to better appraise contents they invest in.”
Speaking further, the ADVAN President noted: “ADVAN is clearly in support of the need to improve our current system and collaboratively engaging in the modalities/framework that help to have a sustainable system that benefits all stakeholders and the industry at large.”
Similarly, the newly elected President of Media Independents Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Mr. Femi Adelusi, has hailed the federal government efforts on audience measurement strategy plan, saying that the effort is a step in the right direction.
According to Adelusi, “the initiative by the federal information ministry is good because “there is need for us to move forward, beyond where we were”, adding that “for twenty years, there have been issues around audience measurement”.
Although he stated that Media Planning Services (MPS) has provided the industry with tools to do audience measurement, the industry has not been widely covered as this has elicited criticism from key stakeholders.
Not only that, the MIPAN boss argued that “the rate and pace at which things happen more frequently, the time frame and all others, we need a tool that provides media information at regular interval”.
He commended the role the ministry of information has been playing, disclosing that the committee set up is quite representative, and noting that MIPAN is backing the initiative because it believes very strongly in making sure that there is solution to the problems at the end of the day.
A former Director General of Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), Mr. Olusegun Olaleye hailed the initiative as novel and worthy of support. He stated that the development is long overdue as it will address sundry issues in the industry which have affected smooth business operations.
His words: “The drive by the ministry to put in place an audience measurement is a good one. It will help to reduce lots of problems between the advertisers, agencies and the media.”
However, he expressed fears over the funding of the project, adding that could be a major challenge for the industry.
Also responding to the development, president of Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) Mr. Emmanuel Ajufo said the OOH sector welcomed the initiative as the sector had before now been engaging MIPAN to see how it could consider OOH while reviewing its present media planning tools.
Confirming that the idea of an audience measurement system is a good one, Ajufo said inclusion of the sector will greatly reduce the issues of justification for the money spent on OOH platforms.
The OAAN President also stated that notwithstanding his group’s support for this initiative, the group Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) launched into the industry still remains relevant.
His words: “Our Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is still very much on the front burner. This is because the way we do business within the industry has to be reviews for an all-round growth to be witnessed in the industry. This is why we came up with the SOP.”
Terms of reference of this committee are:
– Identify best practice Audience Measurement System that will support the sustainable growth of the Nigeria Creative Industry;
– Recommend a Framework for supporting the sustainability of the Audience Measurement System, independent of the Federal Government;
– Recommend a Payment and Disbursement Framework among the key stakeholders in the industry, that is, the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN) and the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN).
The committee, which has received in-puts from almost all sectoral groups in the IMC industry, is expected to submit its report next week. Disclosing this in a brief phone conversation with MARKETING EDGE, Chairman of the Task Team Committee, Alhaji Bello Garba Kankarofi, the former Chief Executive Officer of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), said the committee had gone far in the task assigned to it.
He pointed out that all sectoral groups had submitted their in-puts which the committee is presently putting together as a working document for the government. While thanking the federal information minister for giving its committee members the special privilege to serve, he expressed delight about the goodwill and positive disposition of industry operators over the planned government initiative.
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