The past few years have proven that black-language media, especially newspapers and radio stations, are lucrative with enormous potential for growth.
After all, since its inception four years ago, Zulu-language newspaper Isolezwe‘s circulation has grown by an average of 21 percent year-on-year, from less than 30,000 in 2002 to 88,456 (ABC, July – September 2006). The newspaper last year made R29-million, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Its more senior counterpart Ilanga which, at 104-years-old is the oldest vernacular newspaper in the country, continues to sell well over 80,000 copies weekly and made nearly R23-million in advertising revenue between January and December last year.
Durban-based Ukhozi FM reigns supreme at 6.3-million listeners a week – a dominance it has maintained for more than six years. The station raked in about R131.1-million in advertising revenue last year alone.
Sesotho-language radio station Lesedi FM continues to have the most-listened to breakfast show in the country with 1.2-million people tuning in every morning.
The station, which is most popular in the Free State, has a weekly listernership of 3.8-million (RAMS, November 2006). In the past year, there’s also been a noticeable increase in the station’s higher income LSM 7 audience.
Other black-language radio stations that continue to grow include: Ligwalagwala FM whose listenership now stands at 1.47-million, up from 1.26-million last year and is the most listened to station in the Siswati-speaking part of Mpumalanga; Xhosa-language Umhlobo Wenene FM which dominates in the Eastern Cape; Phalaphala FM which has a large penetration in the TshiTsonga speaking population of Limpopo; and the Durban-based Gagasi FM, which broadcasts in Zulu and English.
Sandile Zungu, chairman of Zungu Investment Corporation (Zico), says it is this segment’s potential that spurred his company to purchase a 33.3 percent stake in Izimpondo Communications, publishers of UmAfrika.
”What has been ignored in South Africa is the development of African languages. When a person launches a publication for example, it is almost taken for granted that it will be in English,” says Zungu, whose company also has interests in healthcare, financial services, human capital, mining, cleaning and cash management.
”We want to take UmAfrika to the next level where we continue to strive for the highest professional level and make sure that it also makes money,” says Zungu, adding that the newspaper’s distribution network needs to be improved.
Of most interest is the possible come-back of the first black-owned and black-controlled newspaper in the country, Imvo Zabantsundu (”black opinion” in isiXhosa), which closed down in 1998.
In its 2005/2006 annual report, the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) announced that it had commissioned a feasibility study looking into the possibility of reviving the old newspaper.
The agency says it has received an application from a business person in the Eastern Cape interested in investing in the publication.
Imvo Zabantsundu was founded in 1884 by John Tengo Jabavu and bought by Perskor in 1960. It was shut down soon after Perskor and Caxton/CTP merged in 1998. The group at the time said the newspaper was not profitable enough. However, many believe its new owners were too pre-occupied with other projects to focus on the newspaper.
But now the media landscape has changed. Does this increase Imvo Zabantsundu‘s chances of survival?
”It is never easy to start new newspapers, as it requires a rare combination of big balls and deep pockets,” comments Professor Anton Harber, whose company Big Media is doing the feasibility study for the MDDA.
”But it seems to me there is scope in languages other than isiZulu. The Eastern Cape is an obvious second choice, given the strength of isiXhosa and the history of publishing in that region. The biggest drawback might be that the advertising industry is often cautious and conservative, and may be slow to see the importance of such papers.”
The SABC’s vernacular radio stations are facing similar hurdles.
SABC radio’s national sales and marketing manager, Kgaugelo Maphai, says marketers seem to forget that language is an integral part of culture, and not necessarily a reflection on the financial status of those who consume media in the vernacular.
”Many marketers still make the mistake to think vernacular means poor, that only the rich consume English-language media. They don’t realise that speaking one’s own language does not define you as a poorer consumer. And this is why our stations are undervalued.”
In an effort to increase advertising interest in their radio stations, the SABC’s radio division recently embarked on a study, in conjunction with Nielsen Media Research, into the effectiveness of radio.
The study considered various aspects of the medium, ranging from the nature of popular programmes to how listeners perceived on-air personalities.
”What we found out was that consumers of black-language radio stations want to be informed. They want intelligent conversations that go beyond the sensationalist stories about crime and witchcraft.
”They also like competitions and sponsorships, and rank holiday getaways as the second best, after cash prizes. While we knew some of these things, we just needed numbers to back us up and to show to advertisers and marketers.”
News and current affairs programmes still remain a favourite in this sector. The same applies to local community issues.
SABC radio’s national media strategist, Moses Mmutlane, says the study also reinforces the Truth Campaign, an educational initiative exposing marketers to the lifestyles of black consumers. It illustrates, for instance, the difference between lifestyles in Langa in the Western Cape compared to those in Mamelodi, Pretoria or Soweto.
”What we have also observed is that while there is an increasing number of people who listen to English-language radio stations, they will still tune in to the vernacular ones. So does this mean there is something that they are getting from those stations which they aren’t getting anywhere else? For me, this just proves that black-language radio stations are here to stay,” says Mmutlane.
Harber believes the time is ripe for growth in the vernacular media.
”I believe we are failing as a multicultural society if people from significant language groups cannot get media in their first language.”
While sentiments and cultural loyalty may be the driving forces behind the existence of black-language media, those in the sector have yet to fully discover their money-spinning potential.
The (vernacular radio stations) money spinners
Radio station Ad spend (January – December 2006)
Ukhozi FM R190.5-million
Umhlobo wenene FM R112-million
Lesedi FM R102.5-million
Thobela FM R61.7-million
Motsweding FM R61.5-million
Munghana Lonene R23-million
Ligwalagwala FM R19-million
iGagasi FM R14-million
iKwekwezi FM R13.4-million
Phalaphala FM R13-million