Hello and welcome to the Evening Brief Newsletter where we are breaking down Citizen TV's highest-rated dramas and talking to the production manager behind the hits. Also, stick around for our iconic responder text.
Situational Awareness: Kenyans pay a much higher bribe when looking for a job than seeking any other services in government, EACC's National Ethics and Corruption Survey has shown
They fork out Ksh163,260 on average for work followed by Ksh74,428 bribes for passports and Ksh20,300 for a police abstract. (See list of services here).
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Ruling the Airwaves
The latest research by Ipsos Kenya measuring quarter four of 2023 has shown that Citizen TV continues to be the most watched station across the country with 39.68 per cent market share out of the total 48.13 per cent
Doing the maths, one easily realises that the station controls 13,133,100 views of the total Kenyan market of 33,097,640 viewers.
To understand the data and the scope of how the station's local shows perform, excluding news shows, I reached out to Citizen TV Production Manager Stanley Ngige who confirmed to me that they average between 6 million and 8 million viewers per episode and can go as high as 12.5 million depending on the time slot allocated.
Inspekta Mwala and Tahidi High, which air before prime time, average 4 million and 5 million viewers per episode.
The Explanation: "Becky and Mother-in-Law which are slotted at prime time after our News bulletin, Nipashe, go as high as 8 million viewers per day. There are times we have high peaks of up to 12.5 million viewers," Ngige told me.
He further explained that viewership for Maria, Sultana and Becky has been consistent 'because of the loyalty viewership on that time slot, coming back to back with our news viewership.'
The show, which succeeded each other respectively, dominated the 8 p.m. slot sandwiched between the prime time Swahili and English bulletins whose viewership blows through the roof.
Shamba Shape Up, which launched in 2012, has also continued to attract big viewership numbers topping 12 million in four countries, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia.
According to Ngige, local shows have over the years attracted top-tier ratings, surpassing soap operas which were once the station's money maker but now average 6 million viewers per episode.
"(Kenyans) see themselves in incidents that involve the police through Mwala and as students through Tahidi High and they see the gaps in Mother-in-Law, whereas the foreign shows have the tendency of a culture that is a bit inclusive. The Dos and Don'ts of African culture are not well catered for in the foreign content," he explained. (Check out our responder text with Stanley Ngege for our full conversation.)
Future Prospects: The Station is now stamping its authority in children and youth programming with Kenya's Gold (averaging 6 million viewers in its second month on air) and Citizen Junior, a magazine-style show targeting children aged between 7 and 13 years old.
Industry-wide comparisons: The Ipsos survey shows Citizen TV continues to lead with 39.68 per cent against its second competitor, NTV, which has 8.21 per cent market share translating to 2.7 million viewers.
The third competitor, KTN Home, averages 1.44 million viewers while Inooro TV, owned by Citizen TV's parent company Royal Media Services (RMS), commands a viewership of 1.41 million.
In Nairobi, Citizen TV retains lead of 44.55 per cent followed by NTV at 11.01 per cent and KTN Home (6.09 per cent).
Chat With Citizen TV Production Manager
To understand Citizen TV's continued dominance, I reached out to Production Manager Stanley Ngige who told me that the station prioritises viewer feedback to make decisions for its subsequent slate of dramas and comedies.
"Citizen TV has always been runinga ya Mwananchi. Our content is driven by viewership needs. We shape our local content on feedback that we get. We keep on changing strategically to meet the demand and the expectation of our viewers," he explained.
Here is our full chat:
Derrick Okubasu: How does local content on Citizen TV stack up against foreign shows like the Mexican soap operas?
Stanley Ngige: Local productions have for a long time attracted a higher viewership than foreign. With time, they have overtaken the foreign soaps. Soaps are doing about 6 million viewers per day while dramas average 8 million.
Derrick Okubasu: How are audiences responding to local content on TV?
Stanley Ngige: They are becoming popular driven by the fact that people can identify themselves with the stories. They see themselves in incidents that involve the police through Mwala and as students through Tahidi High and they see the gaps in Mother-in-Law, whereas the foreign shows have the tendency of a culture that is a bit inclusive. The Dos and Don'ts of African culture are not well catered for in the foreign content.
Television for us is family viewing. It is palatable when it is our stories and less palatable when it is foreign. There are some cultural things that will not be captured in foreign content.
Derrick Okubasu: What strategies are Citizen TV applying to keep the consistency of high viewership on TV?
Stanley Ngige: Citizen TV has always been runinga ya Mwananchi. Our content is driven by viewership needs. We shape our local content on feedback that we get. We keep on changing strategically to meet the demand and the expectations of our viewers
Here are five other stories we have prepared for you today
1.Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has unveiled a slate of new green-coloured number plates that will be issued to motorists who own electric vehicles.
2. Moi University suspends all academic trips until after the Easter holidays following an accident involving a bus carrying 65 students.
3. Lands CS Alice Wahome admits to mistakenly awarding a title deed of government land to a private developer in Nairobi.
4. Merch Freeze: The government bans all state ministries, agencies and corporations from procuring branded or promotional materials.
5. CS Kipchumba Murkomen boasts of unlocking 3 million jobs after signing a deal with the Government of the Netherlands.
This newsletter was written by Derrick Kubasu and edited by Brian Muuo.
Washington Mito contributed to the content.
Graphics prepared by Adongo Kyalo.
