SA media consumption: Olympic Games 2012

More than 51% of the sample indicated that they watch televised international events to support their favourite sport stars. They felt however that online sources have some distinct advantages: live updates and breaking news (55%) and access to more information on events like details around schedules and participants (30%).

Consumers also felt that advertisers and sponsors could support most sport groups by running fund workshops, supplying them with equipment and facilities and promoting sport groups in advertising campaigns. This is indicative of the growing trend where consumers now interact with brands in a new and more interactive manner. Brands can longer blindly bombard consumers with branding - they need to offer something of value too.

The importance of having a social media presence

In addition, if consumers were offered the opportunity to interact with brands that brought something of value to their respective communities, they prefer to do so via social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook (41%) as well as face to face or telephonically (41%). This accentuates the importance of having a social media presence, but to also remember that there is most definitely still a place for the traditional communication channels. A mechanic such as a click to call ad on mobile is just a small example of the mediums can interact with each other.

Mobile is clearly a very important platform. Nearly 20% of South Africans in this sample used a mobile phone to connect to the Internet and get the latest sport updates.

About 42% used a mobile network (like 3G) to connect. Our landscape is clearly moving towards an anywhere and anyplace society.

Interestingly, there was a rather even split of language in this sample: 48% Afrikaans speaking and 57% English speaking consumers. This offers a great opportunity: speak to your market in their language of choice where possible.

Define what works best for each target market

The other standard demographics still apply: the online consumer is typically an educated person, generally a home owner and earning decent to high incomes. They have the buying power and have a strong influence on the purchase decision.

Says Brendon Ogilvy - regional MD for Middle East & Africa (MEA) of Effective Measure: "While brands are keen to align themselves with significant world events such as the Olympics, they can further win the support of consumers by defining what works best for each target market. This care and attention in finding out what consumers want not only enhances brand reputation, but also increases the likelihood of sales conversion."

In short, here is a handy infographic to illustrate the South African media consumption around the 2012 Olympic Games.

Contributions by: Sheeda Cheng, marketing manager - Effective Measure, and Brendon Ogilvy, Regional MD for Middle East & Africa (MEA) - Effective Measure

click to enlarge