We all know just how obsessed South Africans are with anything regarding race, colour and language. Want to cause waves at a dinner party? This is the surest way of ensuring a huge amount of interaction with no possibility of agreement ever being reached!
And so it is with the ad industry. However, I think it would be fair to say that the obsession is now focusing on more meaningful debates such as employment equity and enterprise development. Real support of ‘Black’ and more specifically African language or vernacular media appears to have become a non-issue. The fact that those media delivering a viable market segment through a quality product, with good service and pricing, are getting their share is finally penetrating the industry’s psyche. And those that don’t deliver, simply don’t get.
Ok, but just how well are the media aimed at a predominantly Black audience doing? Well to tell the truth it’s hard to tell with any degree of accuracy. Not only are we faced with the inexplicable anomalies of Adindex, but somehow one would have to factor in the discounts that have been given, as well as the inappropriately named ‘added-value’ – just another way of saying ‘free space’.
This being said, overall I would say that ‘Black’ media growth is ahead of the rest of the market. The market, year-on-year to October 2005, showed a healthy (claimed) growth of around 20%, while Black and vernacular media was up round 24% and 25% year-on-year. And surprisingly the growth wasn’t from TV! To look at the three major individual media types briefly.
Television
Here SABC 2 showed year-on-year a healthy growth of almost 15%, and SABC 1 was up around 11%. Both of these are probably close to reality and illustrate a very bullish situation. With pressures on inventory, and day-after ratings on the horizon, I think rates are set to escalate in 2006, and revenues in all probability grow at a greater rate than 2005!
Radio
Radio is the star of 2005. Adex indicates growth rates of 30%, 40%, 50% and even 60%. Personally, I feel it’s inexplicable why it has taken until the boom of 2005 for the medium to be recognised as an invaluable asset to the marketing community. Huge audiences delivered through an intrusive medium, at a shuddering good price! Watch this space as the airwaves continue to be exploited commercially. But I can’t but wonder if the fact that the ad industry and marketing fraternity are ever increasingly attracting people of colour, people who know, understand and importantly consume these media, is not the prime reason for the growth we’re now seeing?
And the print media?
The print sector is doing fine as far as revenue is concerned. All titles appear to be attracting more business – though a number should really start being concerned about their inability to sell more circulation. But what the hell, I know selling less copies can in fact increase profitability – after all rates don’t come down, even when circulation (and printing costs) decrease. But discounting these exceptions, the print sector is looking healthier than it has for a long while. Newer titles are establishing themselves, and paving the road for the brave to enter into a previous risky arena.
More and more I think race and language are in a media sense becoming non-events. Increasingly we’re looking at products, markets and solutions. And isn’t that the way it should be?
Harry Herber is group managing director of the MediaShop