Nigeria Content Online

The minister of
information, Dora Akunyili, this week spoke about a problem that media
content owners, especially in the electronic media business, have cried
out about for years now: the huge debt profile they have to contend
with courtesy of advertisers.

It is not often
that the quality of our broadcast journalism is put under the
microscope, although some have complained about the quality of local
content when compared with that of the international reality show
formats and the big budget brand-driven productions. There is one big
reason in particular for this, according to the Independent Television
Practitioners Association of Nigeria (ITPAN). Its members will put it
succinctly and say the independent TV and radio producer is, to use a
popular catchphrase, on her own.

TV stations buck
the global tradition of buying TV shows from original content
producers, instead turning the international standard on its head by
requiring those producers to pay for airtime. With concept owners
impoverished and having to scrap to pay for the expensive airtime,
effort is concentrated on staying on air rather than improving the
depth and quality of their productions.

It is not enough
to point fingers at ‘greedy’ chief executives of TV and radio stations.
The major problem at the end of the day is the fact that advertisers do
not pay. In the big tug of war between media owners and advertisers
(both media buying agencies and the marketing departments of companies)
the independent producer and indeed the media owner who gives his
airtime ‘on credit’, can barely survive.

Media orders are
given for advertising, but even where payment is promised 60 days
after, in practice it can take up to six months for the payments for TV
and radio promos to come through. When there are complaints by
practitioners, these are sometimes accompanied by stories of subtle
attempts at blackmail and blacklisting.

There are two
bodies that have some regulatory power over this relationship between
buyer and seller – the Advertising Practitioners Council for Nigeria
(APCON) and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC). Both
organisations are under the purview of the Federal Ministry of
Information and so perhaps it is no small surprise why there has not
been a meeting of minds on how the decline in local content can be
stopped.

Perhaps it is time
for the three to step in and take pro-active steps to ensure that the
steady decline in homegrown productions does not continue. It is surely
not enough to wait for football tournaments and other epic occasions
before government officials pay attention to what is on television. We
should begin to pay close attention to international competition in all
our creative sectors, especially one that we have pioneering status in
with the Obafemi Awolowo-established (WNTV) Western Nigeria Television.

As advertising
professionals tell us, it is not that difficult a problem to engage.
With the deregulation of many sectors and the inflow of investment,
advertising budgets, if anything, have improved. Many companies, flush
with customer patronage, do not suffer for cash flow and so can pay up
in advance or within a legally enforced period without any discomfort
to their bottom-line. They get away with their present conduct only
because they can and because there is next to nothing that radio and TV
content owners, desperate to remain on air, can do.

That is where
government steps in – to ensure that the right thing is done where its
citizens are helpless. If these media buyers pay in advance or on time
for other services that they enjoy, there is no excuse – moral or
business – for them to treat the media so cavalierly.

Nigerians might
continue to complain about ugly sets, tired pictures and studios that
cannot even compete with productions in the rest of the West African
region, and many Nigerians might take comfort in boasting that they
watch only international or cable television, but at the end of the day
this is about developing sectors that can contribute to the Nigerian
economy and provide jobs.

If content
providers are unable to make monies back, there will be no improvement
in what we see on the small screen, and that industry will remain
stagnant. And for them to make their monies, advertisers have to pay
up. The minister has taken the first step by talking, now it’s time to
put her money where her mouth is.