Media consumption, audience tracking tool launched
The tool, which examines public usage of TV, radio, newspapers and digital, was launched by research and strategy company, Dashboard Marketing Intelligence, and advertising and media expert, Dave Kelly.
Peter Searll, Dashboard's managing partner, says, "Media investment in African countries is substantial. But there is little, if any, accurate or stable media consumption data. As more businesses develop their African footprint, this data is necessary to make the right media investment and sponsorship decisions."
Supporting more effective media buying in Africa
Pinpoint has been developed to support more effective media buying in Africa. Users are able to profile and size TV and radio station audiences, review ongoing insight into social media and internet usage and explore psychographic and attitudinal consumer mindsets. Marketers and planners are able to filter the data by users of any specific product category.
While initial research from the Ghana study reveals that nearly 35% of the urban population in that country is accessing the internet on their mobile phones, it tellingly highlights that 59% do not access the internet at all. There is significantly more online activity across key cities Accra and Kumasi than in Tamele and Sekondi-Takoradi, and Facebook is by far the most visited site, followed by WhatsApp. Blogs are also proving popular.
Soccer is watched by nearly two thirds of the urban Ghanaian population, with AFCON being the tournament watched most closely. Brand sponsors can access insight around where and how these tournaments are viewed and by whom.
Pinpoint will track media consumption across the countries where information is scarce or irregular and clients need data. Data will be tracked regularly, drawn from a demographically representative sample across each city in the survey. Specialised field teams capture and upload interviews in real time using mobile and GPS technology.
Simplified export for sharing and planning
Dashboard collates and reports the data via an interactive web interface which allows users to personalise their view of the information, as well as simply export it for sharing and planning purposes.
The Pinpoint data is available within two weeks after field, enabling media decisions to be made within a relevant time frame.
Kelly notes, "Typically much media data is only available months after the research, making it more of a rear view mirror than a current dashboard. Media planners need timely, accurate, rich data to make truly useful decisions."
Searll adds, "This type of information is long overdue and typically difficult to find. Technology has allowed us to overcome the traditional barriers to collecting this type data. We have a lot of experience in research methodology and we understand of the depth of insight needed to design the right media placement strategy. We are well placed to tackle and solve this issue. And we're eager to expand. We will be starting in Nigeria next, and future reach will be led predominantly by market demand."
Dashboard's Pinpoint is available as a syndicated study. Nigeria will be launched in the next few weeks.
