“Doing Digital Media in Africa” was the focus of the latest Africa Media Leadership Conference held in Uganda’s capital Kampala in May 2008. An anthology on how African media companies are embracing and experimenting with digital media to increase their audience reach and income is now available. The book is published by Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatjie Institute for Media Leadership (SPI) and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and is edited by SPI Director Francis Mdlongwa.

The following are summaries of two contributions featured in the book.

Mobile media for Africa

Churchill Otieno, Online Editor of the Nation Media Group in Nairobi, contributed an article on the role of mobile phones in the dissemination of news in Africa. The fact that more and more Africans are obtaining their news from mobile phones is important for everyone involved in the media business - reporters, editors, advertisers, and publishers.

Although the number of Africans who get their news from mobile phones is low compared to the rest of the world, the numbers are growing. According to a 2008 study by Reuters, there are 3.3 billion people who access news from mobile phones. This is compared to 1.5 billion TV viewers and 1.1 billion who access the web from desktop computers.

In Africa, the fast growth is especially astonishing. Twenty years ago, virtually no one in Africa had a mobile phone. The only mobile telephone networks on the continent were in South Africa and Mauritius. By 2007, 30% of the continent’s population were mobile users and in that year alone there were 65 million new users.

The growth of mobile phone use gives media organizations more ways to share news with consumers and gives media consumers an avenue for “user-generated content”.

Since mobile phones have many features, such as video, photo and audio, media organizations can use all these platforms to share content with consumers. The popularity of SMS also gives media organizations an easy way to communicate news. Mobile users can receive text alerts on breaking news, weather, traffic, or the stock market.

Mobile phones also allow media consumers to generate their own news content by sending audio, video and photos they captured themselves.

The business model for mobile phones is better than that for the fixed lines, since the firms are not state-owned like most fixed telephone services. In 2006, 50% of fixed line services were owned by a monopoly, compared to 8,7% of mobile services. High competition in mobile services means lower prices for consumers and more innovation by the mobile companies in order to stay competitive.

As the mobile use grows, challenges remain to getting all Africans connected. High costs for mobile Internet are an obstacle for many Africans. A one-month subscription is 50 USD, nearly 70% of the average per capita income. However, costs are likely to go down in the future, thanks to a fiber-optic cable on the sea bed surrounding the continent.

The money game: a South African perspective

Riaan Wolmarans, Editor of South Africa’s Mail & Guardian Online, offers in his contribution suggestions on a business model for online news websites.

The Mail & Guardian Online, launched in 1994, was one of Africa’s first news websites. In June 2008, a redesigned website was introduced to keep the publication up to date with international web design trends.

The M & G Online has worked to increase readership while experimenting to find a profitable business model. The website contributes 15 to 18 % of the newspaper’s total revenue.

One element of this business model is an increased focus on online advertising. About five years ago, M & G Online created a position for an online advertising manager. Until that time, the online advertising had been done by the print ad department and was more or less a “second thought.” It did not generate much revenue, nor did it attract many advertisers, and thus there was low customer satisfaction.

However, within a year of creating a department for an online advertising, the M & G Online’s advertising income soared. There are several reasons for this success. One is the concentration on the online ad sector: the pricing, technology, terms and sales pitch are all different than those for print advertising. Furthermore, the online ad manager shares an office with the online editorial team, so the two can easily communicate and plan items such as sponsored special reports on big news events.

Wolmarans says that it is crucial to analyze the audience, by using measurement tools such as Neilson//Netratings or Google Analytics. Knowing the age, education and other demographics of the audience helps to produce more targeted advertising.

Also important is the placing and design of the ads - Wolmarans says the trend now is to have fewer but larger ads online. He also suggests expanding the web offerings to have more options to place ads. The M & G Online started several niche websites, to give in-depth online coverage of topics such as sports, technology and entertainment. Thus online advertising related to each of these topics can be placed on these sites.

Wolmarans suggests giving the reader options, such as email or SMS alerts that the reader can choose based on his or her interests. He also says another idea is to offer “mini TV ads,” which use video or audio.

Another way to bring in revenue is through sponsorships. Have the editorial and advertising staff work together to create a package that can be sponsored before a big news event such as the 2010 World Cup.

Finally, the M & G Online ended its subscription-only content, as other newspapers such as The New York Times have done. It found that readers would not pay for content that they could get for free at other similar sites. Since making all the news content free, the paper has seen record readership online.

To read more about “Doing Digital Media in Africa: Prospects, Promises and Problems”, please visit the webiste of Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatjie Institute for Media Leadership at http://www.spiml.co.za/