COVID-19 Pandemic Reshapes Advertising Landscape in Africa

The 2020 quarterly report on advertising investments for professionals in Africa has been published by Big & Smart Data. The sector has not escaped the covid-19 crisis. We can read in the summary proposed by the daily aujourd’hui le Maroc that "advertisers had to redefine their investment and external communication strategies, thus impacting advertising revenues".

In Morocco, as in many countries, advertising investments remain the barometer that allows "defining the dynamism of the economy". With a figure of 1.4 billion dirhams, the investment for the first quarter of this year is slightly up, despite the cancellations of the last few weeks, compared to the amount of advertising investments last year over the same period which had been estimated at 1.38 billion, i.e. an increase of 4.4%.

The largest share, as is customary, "goes to television, with around 445 million gross spent, or 31% of the overall budget". It is closely followed by radio and the outdoor advertising sector, each with 27%, or an amount of 395 million.

Among the 6 media categories, four recorded an increase in investment in value, compared to the first quarter of the previous year. These are digital, television, print and cinema. As for outdoor advertising and radio, they fell by 3% and 6% respectively. As for advertisers, the telecommunications sector maintains its leading position with 36% market share thanks to the investments of Maroc Telecom (42% of the sector), Wana Corporate (31%) and Medi Telecom Orange (18%). The banking and insurance sector comes in second place with 9.6% and, in third place, the transport sector, with 6.7%, reports le360.

According to the report, "the first quarter had started on an upward trend that was hit hard by the health crisis related to the coronavirus".