Media urged to go digital to tap shifting consumer trends

There is a need for African print media to focus on going digital in the face of changing consumer needs and digital disruptions, a high-level media meeting heard yesterday.

Delegates attending a two-day Digital Media Africa 2024 conference at Aga Khan University, Nairobi heard that going digital will help withstand the current disruptions that have been brought by the internet and technology.

The meeting also heard that going digital will help media organisations diversify revenue streams through paywalls as many people shun buying hard copy newspapers.

Standard Group PLC Chief Executive Officer Marion Gathoga-Mwangi reiterated the company’s continuous plans to invest in digitisation to meet the changing media consumers’ needs.

Ms Mwangi said that the future for news consumption is digital and as a company, it has to be part of the transformation.

“As the company, we shall continue to focus on things that make our business successful by investing in digital transformation because it is a game changer then everywhere else, since our consumers have changed even as we seek to provide standardised, bold and factual news,” she said.

She was part of the panelists during a discussion on; ‘The Digital Future We Need Now.’

Twelve years ago, the company unveiled two refreshed news products including Standard Digital World in response to the needs of its audiences and advertisers, making it more exciting and interactive.

Later in May 2021, the company launched the e-paper platform that hosts the digital version of The Standard newspaper. Ms Mwangi said the company started with convergence as the foundation towards digital transformation.

The conference is organised by World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) under the theme; Innovative Solutions For Today’s Media.

The meeting offers opportunity to media industry players from Africa to discuss issues affecting the industry amid the changing advertisers and consumers’ behaviours, fueled by internet, Artificial Intelligence(AI) and declining revenues, especially from print media among other factors.

Media houses were also challenged to be strategic, and innovative, use data to know consumer behaviours and engage their audiences to know and get feedback on what kind of news they want.

But even as the push for digital consumption emerged, research by South Africa’s Daily Marverick, revealed that despite 82 per cent of people who still love reading newspapers, 34 per cent are not willing to pay for it as quality and trust remain key reasons.

And the situation, it delegates heard, is not different from Kenyan media companies, which have not broken even by using paywalls.

Lyndsey Jones, strategic advisor and author, and who is also a member of the WAN-IFRA expert panel in United Kingdom said planning is key for any media house to get it right in digital transformation.

“You’ll never get a one-size-fits-all solution, digital first includes breaking old structures and workflows,” said Ms Jones.

Ms Jones said media houses should not focus on establishing new markets, but transitioning the markets to online.

She said media consumers are willing to pay for quality news online so long as it’s available just like they are doing in e-commerce.

Monicah Ndungu, chief operating officer, Nation Media Group said years before, there was no news democratisation unlike now, when audiences have access to all sources of information. Now, the audience is looking for enough depth, innovative and trusted content rather than just news to make decisions for themselves.

“It, therefore, requires media houses to provide that news on various content platforms based on their needs and demographic since we already now have the tools and journalists to do that,” she said.

On issues of balancing print operation while investing in digital transformation, Ms Mwangi said there is need for financial matrix to be used when coming up with a strategy instead of using data analytics.

Ms Jones noted there is need for organisations to rope in journalists in increasing revenue for the company.

“Journalism is no longer a top-down affair. You’ve to hold a conversation with your audiences and build a rapport and journalists have to be part of this “

Churchill Otieno, President, The Africa Editors’ Forum (TAEF) there is need to recalibrate how media is regulated, confront the elephant in the room; media sustainability, stopping the theft of media’s intellectual property and the need for news organisations to invest in research and development (R&D).