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There has been much talk about the soon-to-be launched KissFM daily newspaper.
The skeptics feel that the Kenyan daily newspaper market is already overcrowded with no less than 6 daily newspapers and it is highly unlikely that any new entrant will cause any waves. The six are, Daily Nation, East African Standard, Kenya Times, Taifa Leo, People Daily and the most recent entrant Business Daily, from the Nation Media group.
Still there are those who are highly excited because they believe that the strong marketing approach that has made KissFM so commercially successful can be transferred to the proposed new daily making this new daily the most exciting thing that has ever happened on the Kenyan publishing scene for a long time.
Most keen observers agree that although daily newspaper publishing is quite a tricky game, chances are the new daily will create lots of waves in the market and the giant Nation media group does have cause for worry. So why should the Nation be worried?
I believe that the market has changed so much that the very strength of the Nation can easily turn into a disadvantage. Regular readers of this blog will know what the Daily Nation's key strength is. It is an amazing unmatched distribution system that reaches deep into rural Kenya. Smart Nation managers looking to cut down on the high expenses of this network as circulation continued to fall, stumbled on the idea of a courier service and today the Nation courier services division is one of the key profit centers and the fastest growing division in the media group.
But now there is a clear emerging market segment of younger workers and professionals with different needs and interests from those of the much older editors who call the shots at Nation. This is the soft underbelly of the Nation that the new daily will no doubt seek to capitalize on. It is instructive that the KISS radio station has been very successful in reaching this market segment and it likely that they will be able to find the right formula to reach the same market in the print media.
There is little doubt that the successful radio station will be heavily relied on to market and promote the new newspaper. It will be very interesting to see the direction the new daily takes.
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First congratulations to KissFM for promising to offer some alternative. we only hope that the alternative will be honestly and strictly that: different yet factual in the realms of infotainment.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I hope they have invested enough resources on both man and machine to realize this grandiose (Kalamari are you there Sir?) project. Otherwise it was one thing to have Mutoko and Nyambane engage in entertaining street talks and running a national daily. All you need for a radio is one pleasant and knowledgeable voice to plant a permanent smile on your accountant. Print media is a different kettle of fish that require VERY HEAVY investment and networking with ears on the ground - well trained and paid journalists.
I hope Quacko and co did their homework superlatively well and and not just entertaining some KissFM fantassy tranlating into a healhty balance sheet. They need more than just C. Gicheru to run the show. All the same welcome to the cut throat competition and flooded market. Maybe diversity will help quell partisanship and ....
Chris,
ReplyDeleteGood analysis. But I think their target first should be The Standard. Remember when the People Daily came on board as one of the four dailies, Nation worked overtime to limit them to some level. evetually, there was a massive walkout that has never subsided. Every hot name is scooped.
Lets just keep our fingers crossed and see the editorial shape first.
Good one
My mother’s advice has always been, “Young man, listen to the morning news before you venture out into the streets. You never know, you might be the only monkey that shows up on Moi Avenue on the day of the coup”. Due to the dire consequences that may befall me, you know, blissfully parking right next to an army tank and wondering why the ground is shaking after every loud bang, I have always “relied” on the government owned KBC at least for the headlines (even though I could easily listen to KISS FM na pia Metro). That also explains why I know by heart the song “ hata wewe jirani, amuka kumekucha!! kwani hizi ni sasa za kwenda kazii!!”.
ReplyDeleteThe point is that you cannot underestimate the loyalty readers have for their favorite publications. Just like smokers who find it harder to switch cigarette brands than to actually quit smoking altogether, I believe the Nation will retain a great chunk of their regular readers regardless of how marvelous a KISS newspaper may turn out to be. Should the Nation panic? Damn right!!.. but not for market share issues; rather for an entirely different set of problems. A KISS newspaper is bound to be modern, cool, hip, sensational and may be run by astute metro-sexual executives with freshly printed degrees. Their target may as well be the computer savvy “with it” younger generation (of which I’m desperately clinging on to) who lack the time to scroll through thirty pages of anything to find out if Man U is about to sign up Wilberforce Mulamba as assistant coach. I cannot imagine president Odinga trashing the Nation/Standard in order to view the political op-ed piece in KISS Daily.
In any case, the reality is that newspapers are slowly becoming dinosaurs.
More people are getting their news from Internet Sources, breaking news from Text Messages (forget the afternoon edition), talk shows on Radio/TV and fortunately for Chris, Blogs.
What KISS may do GRANDIOSELY better than Nation is possibly the creation of a truly concise and interactive online newspaper, in line with developing trends (even in a country of one computer per 30 million citizens).
All i can say is congrats kiss. I remember when Nation FM hit the airwaves in 1998 only to be silenced a year later by kiss FM. This forced them into a crisis control mode that only resulted to two powerhouses supplementing each other so well. When capital came, then it was a full house (They shared the market with each getting close to a third of radio listeners.) I want to hope kiss will try to provide that missing link in nation daily's coverage.
ReplyDeleteThe need for what i would call a national newspaper that is unbiased in the strict sense of the word cannot be gainsaid. Nation has faithfully tried to provide readers with just that but as we all know variety is the spice of life. The exorbitant profits enjoyed by the nation media group are partly attributable to lack of credible competitors. To those looking for NEWS and not propaganda, nation is a monopoly.
I dont ant to count those chics before they hatch, let's wait for the launch and distribution and then we'll know whether it was worth the wait.
kalamari, you have made my day. I think Chris should spare an award for you.
ReplyDeleteThe evening papers in the UK survive because they have many reporters, technology to got press quickly and finally a vert good dostribution system.
ReplyDeleteNow this is a lot of money which I seriuosly doubt Qaurcoo has done this.
But away from investment and Kenyan newspaper readership - would the evening paper survive?
The paper has to come out at 4 p.m. in order for those coming from work to buy it. This means the paper would have news that was on the 1 p.m. radio/tv news to allow for printing and beat the 4 p.m. deadline. Not a lot of news unless something earthshaking happened that morning! So to fill up the pages they will have to bring in yesterday afternoon news which again we shall have read in the morning editions.
So what is it that would then make the paper sell? It has been suggested that the paper is targetted at the young people, so 'celeb' sizzling rumours could be an attractive sell. But how many times will Nameless fart in public to make news? There is also the assumption that these young people actually DO BUY nespapers at all!!!
For the paper to survive, then it needs to take in quite a bit of advertising which makes more money than circulation and is a collolary of advertising.
Here is an eye opener; In the two big dailies today - 30-05-07 - the Nation had a total of 76 pages inclusive of a magazine that had a full page of colour advertising. The Standard on the other hand had 56 pages including a magazine that did not have a single advert. The Nation had 23 continuous pages of advertising from appointments, the "album" to the classified with 5 pages. The Standard had a total of 6 pages covering all the above.
The money is paid in those paid for pages - and this is what grows circulation!
Can the Kiss evening paper match this or even steal from this? I seriously doubt...but certainly wish them well!
I stopped listening to KissFM years ago, i am not looing forward to the paper
ReplyDeleteWho in his right senses buys that tabloid with sensational headlines. By 11 PM where I work, the newspaper stands are usually empty of Nation. The Standard takes abit of time. Despite their free classifieds, nobody in our office has ever bought the paper! I guess I'll try do a complete post on it on my blog
ReplyDelete