Pay-television: Insights from consumers

Obodo Ejiro

There are a number of indicators that underscore the rising profile of television in Nigeria. For instance, last year, 1,115,985 flat panel television sets were sold across the six geopolitical zones. Also, in the first seven months of this year some 547,000 units have been sold already (based on data provided by GFK Nigeria).

What is even more interesting is that most of the television sets sold are of the 24, 32, and 42/43 inches range; confirming that the crop of Nigerians buying them have a preference for larger screens.

These days, the average Nigerian home has at least two television sets. There seems to even be a push to go beyond the second television set in most homes. (The trend is that when a flat panel TV set is acquired, it is placed in the living room. The cathode ray tube TV set which used to be in the living room is then moved to another room within the house.)

In the midst of this expansion in the number of television sets in use, there is evidence that more Nigerians subscribe to pay television services now than five years ago. Also, there are more pay TV service providers operating in the country now than half a decade ago.

HY 2015 TV and Smart phone sales fall short of expectation

Obodo Ejiro

Data released by GFK, a market research company, shows that compared to the first half of 2014, the number of Flat Panel TV sets and Smart phones sold in the corresponding period this year have been less.

By half year 2014, a total of 547,000 Flat Panel TV sets had been sold across Nigeria. In 2015 within the corresponding period only 462,000 were sold. On the other hand, while 3.23 million smartphones were sold in the first half of 2014, 3.41 million were sold this year.

Speaking on the development, the Managing Director of the company Kenneth Doghudje said the Flat Panel TV market in Nigeria is currently experiencing declining sales volumes when compared with the same period last year and growth in smart phone sales was marginal, around 6%.The elections conducted in the 2nd quarter of 2015 was a major determining factor of the market’s performance

Between seven and eight out of every ten Smartphones sold so far had an Android Operating System, this is expected because Android is the most prevalent Operating System, with several manufacturers churning out models while the Blackberry and Windows Phone operating systems are limited to Blackberry handsets and Nokia/Microsoft devices respectively.

“We expect to see more Android operated handsets with large screen sizes to continue to drive the market as these Smartphones meet the yearnings and aspirations of most Smartphone consumers in Nigeria. We are now witnessing more people carrying two Smartphones, compared to one Smartphone and one mobile phone in the recent past” says Doghudje.

On the other hand, in the Flat Panel TV market, sales are predominantly driven by 3 screen sizes – 32, 24 and 42/43. These screen sizes account for over seven out of every ten Flat Panel Televisions sold in the market. The 32 inch category has the highest demand.  Lower prices are thus an important factor in determining effective demand.

“We expect to see the market growth for Smartphone that are at least 4 inches and above continue to grow in the years ahead. Watching videos, browsing the internet and gaming are some of the activities people are increasingly using their phones for, and these require bigger screen real estate,” a statement from GfK indicates.