Conference discusses navigating Africa’s changing media landscape

As always, the conference attracted a mix of African and international speakers, with the sessions including panel discussions and presentation of papers. There were also opportunities for informal interactions and for delegates to experience the sights, sounds and hospitality of Morocco.

The winning paper this year was presented by Matt Angus-Hammond, Regional Director for West Africa at GeoPoll.

His paper – the ‘Democratic Republic of Congo Media Landscape Survey 2023: Context, Execution and Insights’ – shared the story of why and how GeoPoll conducted the largest media audience survey in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s history, and what insights it revealed about this important, but poorly understood, market.

The second-placed paper was presented by Mehdi Aman, Technology & Analytics Director, and Siham Malek, MD at Integrate, a Kantar affiliate, for their paper titled ‘Overcoming Memory Bias: A Non-Invasive Methodology for Tracking Digital Behaviour in Morocco’.

Digital landscape continues to evolve

According to the pair, as the digital landscape continues to evolve, capturing in-moment digital behaviour of consumers becomes increasingly vital. Traditional survey methods often depend on respondents’ memory, resulting in recall biases that can distort the data.  

The paper was based on research that introduces a non-invasive, agile, respondent-friendly and automated data collection approach designed to track real-time digital behaviour and counteract memory bias. By using self-reported data, it avoids the necessity of intrusive tracking apps on the respondent’s device, enhancing user privacy.  

Operating under tight timelines and utilising an offline approach, Integrate employed a mobile panel representative of Morocco’s digital population for the study. The innovative methodology, combining segmentation and diary methodologies with Integrate’s data collection tool, Nfield, and automated data quality checks, facilitated rapid fieldwork, operational responsiveness and emphasised data quality.  

Conference delegates heard that within one week, the company had collected 2,985 data points, leading to the first digital segmentation in Morocco and attracting significant media attention. In-moment studies such as these hold immense potential for understanding usage, attitudes and media consumption habits, signalling a new era in the study of digital behaviour.  

To find out more about the current state of media planning in Africa, read the latest issue (Issue 4 2023) of ‘Strategic Marketing for Africa’. You can browse or download a free copy of the magazine here.