The relative success of the annual multi-billion Naira advertising spend on brands has been linked to the establishment of media monitoring service in Nigeria.
Media monitoring is simply the capture of media compliance on the exposure of clients’ materials. It also involves the provision of vital media, marketing and research information to stakeholders to enhance project and campaign planning and execution. In the past, clients were shooting in the dark but with media monitoring, they can plan accurately, know whether their adverts ran in the media and how the campaigns were running.
Speaking to BusinessDay recently in Lagos, the CEO of Media Monitoring Services Nigeria Limited, Uche Aligbe said media monitoring agencies provide media planning and buying firms the pre- and post-information they require to do their job.
Media planning firms give expert advice to advertisers, informed by data from media monitoring agencies. “For example, you can’t plan for a station you really don’t know whether it exists, you don’t know how much it is airing; you don’t know the volume of advertising that is passing through it. Not even those people who are watching or not. In the course of our business, we found out that there were electronic media outfits in this country that would come on when there is public electricity, if there is no electricity, they shut down. Sitting down here you won’t know that, you would think that they are running your campaign.
“There are times station breaks down for months and they keep quiet and the planner keeps buying into what is not in existence. That is our job to identify this and save clients’ money, ensure compliance so that messages will reach the target audience”, Aligbe said.
He said advertisers can take proactive steps based on the available data media monitoring agencies provide to them not just what is happening around them but around their competitors.
“There is what we call competitive advertising service, we tell you how well you are doing and how well your competition is doing, not just in terms of numbers but in terms of all the parameters you required to be effective in reaching your audience. Apart from telling you who you are, we also provide the industry the growth, the trend, and area you are growing and in what direction you are growing”, Aligbe said.
He said his company has invested about N800 million on technologies to serve their clients effectively.
Daniel Obi
