Tag: Reach Africa

Not long ago, watching television was a shared ritual. Families gathered around the same screen, tuning in to the daily soaps or the Sunday night 8 pm movie. Today, the experience has become deeply personal. Each viewer chooses what to watch, when to watch and even which ads they see. For marketers, this shift is not just a technology change; it is a change in attention. And attention is the currency that drives modern advertising.

South Africa is on the brink of one of the most game-changing moves in media measurement in decades. In September, the Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRC) announced that it had appointed GfK, an NIQ company, to design and deploy the next-generation Total Video Measurement service.

For decades, television was the heavyweight of media spend. If you wanted mass reach, you bought primetime TV. Simple. However, audiences no longer consume video in the same way. The living room screen is still central. Yet, it is now connected, streaming, and personalised. This shift is pulling advertising budgets in a new direction.

Connected TV (CTV) isn’t new. It’s simply the next step in how we watch television. For media planners, that shift unlocks bigger budgets, sharper targeting, and more engaged viewers.The media industry loves shiny acronyms. Over-the-Top (OTT), Advertising-based Video on Demand (AVOD), Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) – and now CTV. But in the rush to label every shift in viewing habits, we often forget something simple.

Once upon a primetime, advertising had its place. It was neatly slotted between soapies on TV or nestled between the pages of your favourite magazine. Sure, it interrupted, but in a predictable, acceptable, run-of-the-mill kinda way. Then the internet age arrived. Along with it came borderless content and collapsing licensing windows.

The TV licence system is on life support. Less than 20% of South Africans with a licence actually pay. The costs of chasing payments often outweigh the revenue collected. People simply don’t see value in funding a public broadcaster anymore. They have an endless stream of content available elsewhere. That said, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) still matters.

At the beginning of every year, a barrage of trend think pieces flood our favourite news sites and inboxes, courtesy of whatever newsletter we don’t remember subscribing to – from the useful; “Three factors influencing your investments this year” to the downright absurd; “Why that cuddly kitty of yours is a killer.” And no, we didn’t make that last one up – it’s a bona fide New York Times article!

Who would have guessed that a couple of angry birds with superpowers would have gained such a cult-like following, amassing five billion downloads by 2022 (more than both Instagram and WhatsApp), spurring a movie and even a sequel, and earning fans like Angelina Jolie and David Cameron?