Nigerian media industry has done well in digital migration – Lekan Otufodunrin
By Ibidunni Banjoko
Lekan Otufodunrin, Managing Director of Media Career Development Network, has said that Nigeria media industry has gone a long way in migrating from analogue to digital, adding that the sub-sector is living up to its responsibility of holding the government accountable by providing useful information for the masses.
Disclosing this during an exclusive interview with MARKETING EDGE, the media expert, however, added that there’s always room for improvement, noting that Nigerian media should endeavour to catch up with digital global best practices to serve the people better.
“We see efforts to catch up and there’s a lot of progress. It is not just about us; we have so many other players in the field, but we’ve not done badly. The challenge has to do with understanding what is digital in the sense of light, it’s a new world where there are so many players,” he said.
“Before, you have to recognise media organisation (traditional media), but now you are talking about new media. Sometimes it’s hard for some organisation to transit. There are lots of digital distributions, we can’t do those things we used to do again; the competition is high and lack of capacity is also a problem,” he explained.
Mr. Otufodunrin averred that media practitioners need to be trained to be able to fit into the digital world, while linking lack of patronage on media businesses to digital gaps.
“There are lots of financial issues that we need to bother about and that’s a big problem because if you are not making revenue, you can’t even live up to your expectations, especially now that you even need more resources to invest.”
Commenting on the effect of pandemic on Nigerian media, he said: “The pandemic taught us a lot of lessons; it demystified some of the things we thought were impossible before; people could actually produce their paper and do broadcasting without getting to the office. People now use new gadget that have changed the way they used to do things because there’s a shift in terms of approach.
“In terms of getting mass appeal, technology is a real global player that reaches the audience where they are. All we need is to provide the content that can meet the expectation of different publics. Because the audience is multidimensional, especially on social media, you have to be a truly multimedia platform and no longer just a newspaper or a radio or television. You are now a media company and you have the option of being able to use your content to achieve a lot,” he concluded.
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