Afrigather Kenya’s largest telecom operator, Safaricom, has suspended its promoting spending on Nation Media Group (NMG) platforms following vital protection of the corporate, in line with two NMG executives aware of the choice.
NMG-owned publications just like the Day by day Nation, Enterprise Day by day, and The East African have run tales vital of Safaricom up to now month.
One story by The Day by day Nation was a few $800 million public healthcare system contract awarded to a consortium that included telco and corporations linked to Indian billionaire Gautam Adani. One other report highlighted the shut ties between Safaricom’s chairman, Adil Khawaja, President William Ruto, and Adani.
Nevertheless, the important thing set off for the promoting suspension seems to be a Day by day Nation investigative report revealed on October 29, 2024. The report claimed Safaricom shared consumer information—together with calls, texts, and placement—with out correct consent, a declare the corporate has firmly denied.
One week after the privateness story was revealed, Safaricom ran adverts in The Customary and The Star, reaffirming its dedication to buyer privateness. These adverts coincided with the corporate’s twenty fourth anniversary.
Safaricom additionally selected to not publish its H1 2024 monetary reviews in any NMG-owned publications, a primary since its 2008 IPO. It opted to publish in The Customary and The Star to fulfill authorized necessities.
The suspension highlights the rising stress on unbiased media shops to melt their protection or danger shedding advert revenues. Kenyan information shops have seen a decline in advert revenues as banks, telcos, and the federal government reduce promoting spending.
Safaricom is one among Kenya’s greatest advertisers, with a month-to-month advert price range of $4.8 million (KES619.2 million).
This isn’t the primary time Safaricom has withheld promoting following vital protection. In earlier situations, the corporate would nonetheless publish its monetary statements in NMG publications, however that is the primary time it has avoided doing so.
In October 2024, Safaricom officers visited main Kenyan newsrooms to steer them to tone down protection, stated one senior PR govt who requested to not be named so they may communicate freely. The officers met senior editors and reporters through the visits.
The corporate has vital affect available in the market and, sometimes, withholds adverts in response to vital protection, the general public relations govt stated. It has by no means publicly admitted to suspending adverts.
Safaricom didn’t instantly reply to a request for feedback.
The media group’s troubles lengthen past Kenya. In October, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) suspended Mwananchi Communication’s web sites–a subsidiary of NMG–after one among its publications ran an animated advert depicting President Samia Suluhu and referencing current abductions and killings of opposition teams.
These pressures may compound NMG’s monetary challenges, because it faces its first loss in a long time and a shifting media panorama that’s more and more digital.
