Unlike in the events leading to 2015 elections when multi-billion Naira campaign messages passed through the traditional media, it is now really different for the above- the-line media in the political campaign for the forthcoming 2019 elections.
With the belief that the 2019 elections will be similar to 2015 when PDP and APC, two leading parties spent about N4 billion in adverts on traditional media alone, various media organisations had positioned for such business, but they are facing disappointment.
A report by Compliance and Content Monitoring Limited, CCM, a technology player in media monitoring in Nigeria had put 2015 presidential elections media advertising spend by PDP and APC on Above-the-Line communication platforms at N3.23 billion.
The body said then that it monitored the two prominent parties’ presidential election campaigns between December 2014 and March 2015 and based its report on campaigns on radio, television, press and billboard across the country.
But this time, the traditional media seem to be losing out as below-the-line operators are reaping the campaign funds. Above-The- Line (ATL) advertising is where mass media such as television, radio, print and internet are used to promote messages. The messages are targeted at wider audience.
On the other hand, Below- the-line (BTL) advertising involves one to one, distribution of pamphlets and banners usually on the roads.
Assessing the trend, Kayode Oluwasona, former president of Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, AAAN agreed that campaign funds are not going to ATL media and to agencies who are professionals.
“The politicians are rationalising expenditure as they are employing list cost producers and printers for their jobs but what they are getting is disappointing quality of campaign materials.”
He regrets that the politicians are not deriving value for the little they are spending because they are not using professionals in their communication.
Tola Bademosi, the CEO of BD Consult, a top PR firm based in Lagos, said that the politicians have changed game pattern with more involvement of grassroots mobilisation.
He said for instance, APC strategy this time is door to door approach and funds are moving to those agencies handling this area. “People have realised that this election will be different unlike in the past. It is more of one on one. With this, it will be difficult to calculate actually how much will be spent on political campaigns in 2019”, Bademosi said.
In 2015, CCM report showed that N1.62 billion was spent on television, N243.4 million on radio. Total spent on press was N1.16 billion while Out of Home media platform had a share of N206 million. CCM had analysed over 260 broadcast media (Radio and Television), 48 print (Newspapers and Magazines) and over 1,000 outdoor billboards across the country.
Daniel Obi
