Coronavirus: As TV remains powerful while cinemas, print and events suffer during Covid-19 in South Africa, ad agency head Chris Botha cautions against knee-jerk reaction in favour of a long term view: 'Keep spending but adapt to where you're spending it'.

by Thinus Ferreira

While TV ratings surge and television remains the most powerful advertising medium in South Africa during the global Covid-19 pandemic, cinemas, print and eventing will suffer during the country's national lockdown period although influential ad agency head Chris Botha cautions against spending less but advising clients to rather look at spending the same amount of money but to adapt where they're spending their advertising rands.

TVwithThinus spoke with ad agency boss Chris Botha, group managing director at Park Advertising, who says that says "television remains the best medium to use because people watch TV a lot and it remains the highest penetrating medium in South Africa".

"Television remains powerful. It's how you use television that people need to be a bit more adaptable about."

"How you use it will change. You might focus a bit more on entertainment programmes, or daytime television to move away from sport. Sport is under a lot of pressure with there being no live sport at the moment."

"We believe that during the Covid-19 national lockdown people are going to be watching a lot more television that what they did before. So it's just a question of  'What are they watching?' that will change and 'When are they watching?' There will be more daytime viewing, more entertainment viewing, less sport viewing, and more TV news channel viewing - those are the big changes that we'll see."

Chris Botha says that "all of the children are at home at the moment with an extended school holiday. We always see an uptick in kids viewing during the school holidays and without a doubt we will see that again during this period".

"Kids programming - a lot of parents have their kids at home during a longer time period where they didn't plan to have kids at home. Now, in order to keep those kids entertained and occupied I think television and the internet will be powerful mediums for advertisers to use."

Chris Botha says "Cinema will suffer - chains like Ster-Kinekor and Nu Metro are closed".

"So cinema will take strain because in terms of release windows a lot of the good content has also been moved out to later during the year - for instance the James Bond movie has been moved out; there are a few other movies that have been moved out to a later date because they're worried about audiences".

"Similarly, the school holidays are always big for cinema because they release kids movies which now isn't happening."

"So I think the big kids movie in March was going to be Disney's Mulan and Mulan has also been moved out because of exactly this."

"Cinema will struggle. I think print will struggle as well  - a lot of people buy their newspapers in the shops. Because of Covid-19 the shops are empty, so fewer consumers are going to be buying newspapers and magazines. They're already struggling and now they're going to struggle even more."

"Outdoor isn't as directly measured so I don't think it will struggle as much," he says.

"The guys who are really going to take a hit are events. I feel deeply for event organising companies. With so many events being called off, I think event companies are going to take a lot of hits and I think we're going to see a lot of job losses and we're going to see a lot of companies close their doors."

"If they're not hosting events they're simply not making money and they're not making money at the moment."

"You need to have a long-term view," says Chris Botha. "Advertising spend is always a symptom of revenue. The more money you make, the more money you spend on advertising. I think as companies make less money they tend to look at that expense line of advertising first. So a lot of people are cutting."

"I would however like to tell people that there's a lot of research that's been proven that marketing in a recession helps a company and brand to gain market share. For you to have a big voice in your category is usually very difficult."

"However, if you do marketing during a downturn you actually gain more audience in the long run."

"My advice would be have a long term view. Let's not have a knee-jerk reaction in the short term. Keep the wheels turning. Keep going. Instead of spending less on advertising, rather look at spending the same amount of money but adapt to where you're spending it. Adaptability is absolutely key."

MultiChoice's Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel a massive viewership success story for DStv.

MultiChoice's Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel (DStv 199) is a massive viewership success story for DStv, lifting ratings on the South African satellite pay-TV platform to unprecedented levels, making the channel the 4th most watched TV channel on pay-TV in South Africa since the channel launched on 2 March.

The phenomenal viewership feat makes the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel, which has already earned millions, the most successful pay-TV channel launched in South African television history.

That's due to the short amount of time in which the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel has been able to amass thousands of riveted viewers, get them to watch television for longer - and during timeslots usually suffering from anemic ratings.

The channel has successfully also managed to grow a brand-new social media community and following around a specific topic of interest  - people who then also watch the channel and interact with the various TV presenters.

The sensational court trial in the North Gauteng High Court of the paralympic athlete who shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines Day last year, managed to push news coverage of Nkandlagate and South Africa's general election during March and April off of the front pages of newspapers and lifted viewership of the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel to unprecedented numbers.

The court trial since 2 March received major coverage from global media with print and electronic media who have dedicated journalists covering the proceedings.

It's now likely that the upcoming murder trial of Shrien Dewani, now in South Africa, will likewise be televised in a similar fashion, fueling South African TV viewers' obsession for dramatic, televised court room drama.

A staggering 90% of viewers of the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel said they would want to watch the Shrien Dewani murder trial of his wife Anni.

During mid-March the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel, produced by Combined Artistic Productions for MultiChoice's DStv platform, lured more viewers than any other pay-TV channel, taking fourth place on the most-watched channels list, only behind the free-to-air channels SABC1, SABC2 and e.tv which remain the perennial front-runners.

The Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel proved more popular than premium pay-TV channels like M-Net, Mzansi Magic and kykNET which are supplied to MultiChoice by M-Net, and instantly shot up to the coveted top 5 list of most watched TV channels on DStv.

In a phenomenal performance and ratings boost for DStv, the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel managed to pull at certain periods, the same viewership and even slightly surpass it, of a show like for instance Carte Blanche on M-Net - the premium pay-TV broadcaster's number one rated show and which is broadcast during prime time when a bigger possible audience is available.

Even more astounding is that the channel managed this during morning and afternoon timeslots when overall daytime TV viewership in South Africa is usually extremely low.

The channel has pulled one of its biggest audiences on Monday morning between 09:00 and 11:00 for instance - thousands of viewers tuning in during a timeslot where there's usually few people watching, or available to watch TV in South Africa.

It means that the Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel not only brought thousands of viewers more to DStv and during times like mornings and afternoons when they wouldn't have been watching before, but also helped to lift the overall available TV audience in South Africa available to advertisers during those timeslots.

The Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel has also been a spontaneous upsell driver to prompt DStv subscribers to upgrade to higher and more expensive DStv bouquets in order to follow the televised court trial.

DStv subscribers like Cherise de Wet, a practising attorney from George, who decided to upgrade their TV household to a higher DStv bouquet for just a month in April in order to follow to murder trial, has remained on a more expensive package solely to get the TV channel and follow the proceedings.

"The Oscar Pistorius Trial: A Carte Blanche Channel has exceeded our best expectations having gained a large and dedicated audience in South Africa and around the world," Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's head of content tells TV with Thinus.

"The channel features consistently as one of the top 5 most viewed TV channels on the DStv platform since its inception in March 2014, unusual for a pop-up channel".

"We are very excited about the groundbreaking broadcast and social media integration and positive educational feedback we've received," says Aletta Alberts.

"The Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel has been performing incredibly well. It has attracted massive audiences," Chris Botha, the group managing director for leading media agency The MediaShop tells TV with Thinus.

"Most importantly for DStv, it has grown their audience share in non-traditional time channels. DStv's daytime audiences are generally quite small, but the Oscar Trial TV channel has changed it all around. Some of the daytime programmes have performed better than some primetime programmes".

"That is one of the reasons DStv introduced the channel - not to make millions of ad revenue, but to grow daytime audiences that will hopefully stay on the bouquet".

"The channel has done well because the trial is so much bigger than any one media type," says Chris Botha.

"The trial has received massive exposure not only on television, but also on social media like Facebook and Twitter. The interest in the trial then drives TV viewership".

"A lot of clients are still sceptical about advertising on the channel. They don't want to be associated with it, as it polarising to some audiences, and also as it is seen as distateful".

"I don't believe it is a missed opportunity for advertisers," says Chris Botha. "I rather believe it is a grasped opportunity for MultiChoice".

"This live trial has changed the way the world is exposed to real life, and real life tragedies, via the media," says media agency Carat SA which compiled marketing and media insights about the Oscar Pistorius televised trial and TV channel.

Regular TV viewing behaviour in South Africa has been impacted, with viewers shunning their usual schedule as they seek a blow-by-blow account of the highly sensational trial, according to Carat SA.

"This story has gripped the interest of millions, and has taken 'reality TV' to a whole different level, with consumers having access to virtually every comment and development," says Carat SA.

"There is a great opportunity for advertisers to tap into audiences. However it was to be expected that brands would not immediately jump to reach these audiences, because of the sensitivities around this new landscape".

"Yet it is worth considering now what the future strategy will be, should this altered media playing field become a regular feature in our lives. There is already talk about the potential for a dedicated court TV channel, and it is expected that media houses will once again apply to live broadcast proceedings during the trial of Shrien Dewani," says Carat SA.

BREAKING. 'The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience': Discovery Networks releases a massive and fascinating new TV behaviour report.

Discovery Networks just released in Johannesburg - and supplemented it with a fascinating and special panel discussion of TV industry leaders - a groundbreaking and massive new study in the form of a brand-new report entitled The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience showing unprecedented growth, change and evolution within the TV markets in South Africa as well as 9 other TV markets across Central Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

The thick 60 page report was compiled from quantitative research carried out by Discovery Networks in the Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region (known as CEEMEA) as part of its Discovery Insights series of special research reports.

ALSO READ: The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience: Discovery Networks reveals major TV trends impacting South African viewing behaviour.

For the report TV viewers were interviewed between May and June this year in South Africa as well as the United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation and Turkey. Included was also a panel of 10 TV and advertising experts from across these markets.

The research results are astounding, groundbreaking and fascinating and explores how television and TV viewers are adapting, evolving and growing to accomodate entirely new viewing behaviours in an increasingly connected, digital, social  media rich, time-precious and media fragmented world.

"It's an incredibly exciting time for the TV industry and TV viewers who are relishing the greater freedom they have to access and interact with content across multi-screens and social media," says Kaisa Kieli, the president and managing director at Discovery Networks CEEMEA who flew to Johannesburg, South Africa for the unveiling of the special report.

Jonathan Bennett, the director of communications for Discovery CEEMEA did the fascinating presentation this afternoon in front of a room of journalists, stakeholders and TV executives.

As part of the release of the report, Discovery Networks CEEMEA, which reaches more than 175 million subscribers with its channels across this region, presented a fascinating panel discussion with key industry players within South Africa from different spheres connecting to the television business: Aletta Alberts, the head of content at pay-TV platform MultiChoice; Ahmed Tilly, the executive creative director of ad agency Black River FC; and Chris Botha, the group managing director of The MediaShop.

"Young and early adopters show an increasing appetite for new TV services," says Kaisa Kieli. "These will complement existing viewing behaviours so that conventional linear television will continue to remain the central part of media consumption," she says.

The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience found unprecedented development in the way in which TV viewers not only watch television but are interacting with it thanks to the growing influence of social media in a digital world. Viewers "multi-screen", are rapidly growing in their use of catch-up services, interact through social media with the help of other platforms with TV and content and watch more short-form content.

Not only is TV viewing rising, and continuing to rise in the amount of time spent watching on other screens; the "first TV screen" remains central to people's entertainment and watching experience and the "centre of the house".

ALSO READ: MultiChoice looking to launch a new "connected box" DStv decoder in the first quarter of 2013.

ALSO READ: The speed of broadband and the price of broadband the biggest challenge to TV everywhere in Africa - MultiChoice.