I really know that the average media planner in South Africa is guided more by subjective factors than objective ones. This is then justified to client and media owner alike by using the absolutely nonsensical phrase “gut feel”. Gut feel? What the $*?%! is gut feel? I’ll tell you – it’s just a shortened version of “I actually have no rational argument to justify my decision”.
And gut feel, coupled with subjectivity, has both historically and currently left Afrikaans media dramatically under-supported in advertising terms. Sure we know so-called black media has suffered at the hands of the Sandton, 25-year-old English speakers. But so too have the Afrikaans media. There is a different reason for the two occurrences – black media isn’t used because of uncertainty, non-familiarity and ignorance of the nuances of the individual brands. Afrikaans media isn’t used because of embarrassment. Not cool. The language of the oppressor. Politically persona non grata. And it just doesn’t make sense to me. Surely we should have moved beyond this level of pettiness? And to accept the glib statement that “Afrikaans people read, watch and listen to English too” is to gloss over the reality on the one hand, but more seriously on the other, to do the client, his product, and his sales a major injustice.
But not all is lost — we are seeing what could be the start of some sort of sanity in the market. We’re definitely seeing new titles, more money, and new interest. Of course you still get the anomalies that you can’t explain to anyone, like:
- Volksblad sells around 29,000 copies, around the same number as Pretoria News. So they in theory should pick up the same amount of revenue. Now explain why Volksblad took around R47-million in revenue (12 months to February ’05) and Pretoria News R86-million! This gap is astonishing, the reason mystifying.
- Sarie and Rooi Rose sell around 137,000 and 120,000 average copies a month respectively. Fair Lady sells 88,000 and Cosmo 117,000. Their respective revenues are: Sarie R26,6-million; Rooi Rose R22-million; Fair Lady R38,8-million; Cosmo R39,6-million. This despite the fact that the English-title market has far more competitors: Femina, Glamour, Marie Claire, Elle, and more — all in the fashion/beauty arena.
Back to the hope, though. In the past year Beeld‘s revenues grew 10% and Die Burger‘s 19% – compared to The Star at 7% and Cape Argus and Cape Times at 13% to 14%. RSG, with a reposition, showed a healthy growth of 32% (12 months to February) and OFM an even healthier increase of 39%.
In addition, we have seen a number of new titles enter the market, including Weg (the infamous Afrikaans alternative to Getaway), and Sunday title Die Wêreld (although it’s viability remains to be proven). Also, the runaway success in the Western Cape of Son has seen it move from weekly to daily.
And none of the above is very surprising when you take cognisance of the market’s worth. Remember, Afrikaans speakers are 40% of LSM 10, 45% of LSM 9, buy 38% of new cars sold, and have 35% of all credit cards in their pockets!
Lastly, I’m pleased to say that the regeneration of interest in the Afrikaans consumer couldn’t be more starkly demonstrated by the fact that Loslyf’s revenues are up more than 200% in the past year! Now we know what media planners actually read—
Harry Herber is group managing director of the MediaShop.