Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said putting in place a scientific audience measurement system will boost investments in Nigeria’s broadcast and advertising industries.
”We are committed to delivering an empirical audience measure system
that will catalyze investment in broadcast and advertising industries,
ensure the success of the DSO project as well as fire the imagination
and boost the morale of creatives.
”We are undaunted by the enormity of the challenges we face in this
regard, because we have a bunch of committed, patriotic and
hardworking men and women to tackle the challenges headlong,” the
Minister said while inaugurating the 15-member committee, which has
Mr. Tolu Ogunkoya as Chairman.
He said the inauguration is the culmination of a series of events that
included the setting up of the Task Team on Audience Measurement and
the selection of First Media and Entertainment Integrated (Nigeria)
Limited, a marketing research company based in Lagos, to deliver
audience measurement services in Nigeria.
Mohammed said the absence of a scientific audience measurement
system has resulted in under-development in the broadcast and
advertising industries and stunted their growth.
”Nigeria’s broadcast advertising market is punching far below its weight, especially when the country’s population is taken into
account. Despite having a population more than three times that of
South Africa, Nigeria’s television advertising market revenue in 2016
was $309 million, compared to that of South Africa, which was $1.3 billion. Nigeria’s broadcast advertising market is also third in Africa, behind that of South Africa and Kenya.
”The immediate challenge before us, therefore, is to bring the
under-performing Nigeria TV and radio advertising market to what it
should be – which is two or three times what it is now. If we do that,
it could result in additional
US$400 million revenue or more in the industry in the next three
years,” he said
The Minister said a scientific audience measurement system is also
critical to the success of the DSO, adding:
”The existing model will never allow Nigeria’s Creative Industry to
reach its full potential. It stunts the quality
of the content that can be created and also limits the capacity of
television platforms to invest in dynamic contents that consumers will
be attracted to.”
He charged the Task Force to Identify best practice audience
measurement system that will support
the sustainable growth of the Nigerian Creative and Entertainment
Industry; supervise the established framework for supporting the
sustainability of the audience measurement system, independent of the
Federal Government; and recommend a payment and disbursement framework
among the key stakeholders in the industry, that is; Broadcasting
Organizations of Nigeria (BON), Media Independent Practitioners
Association of Nigeria
(MIPAN) and Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN).
Mohammed also challenged the Task Force to urgently grow the
Nigerian television advertisement market to two or three times its
current size.
Responding, the Task Force Chairman, Mr. Ogunkoya, promised that his panel would take the charge by the Minister very seriously, adding:
”If we get this right, we would have done the industry and the nation
proud.”
Other members of the Task Force are Mr. Femi Adelusi, Mr. Steve
Babaeko, Mrs. Bunmi Adeniba, Mrs Jibe Ologe, Mr. Yinka Oduniyi, Mr Guy
Murray Bruce, Ms Kadaria Ahmed, Mrs. Pauline Ehusani, Mrs. Ijedi Iyoha,
Alhaji Garba Bello Kankarofi, Mrs. Sa’a Ibrahim, Mr. Mahmoud Ali-Balogun, Mr. Obi Asika and Mr. Joe Mutah (Secretary).
