Background
Akili Network launched Akili TV on 31st March 2020, Kenya’s first and only dedicated free-to-air family television network with imaginative learning programs that benefit children and that parents can trust and enjoy. Akili TV digitally broadcasts on free-to-air, DSTV, GOTV, Startimes, Zuku, K24 Plus, and over the Internet.
To determine the viewership of the Akili TV station versus the competition, Akili Network contracted GeoPoll, the world’s largest mobile surveying platform, to conduct an ongoing survey to gain a deep understanding of viewership, audience profiles, and media consumption habits of households with children 17-years-old and under. This would be the first measure of media consumption by children, who in Kenya account for 48% of the population.
Methodology
Over the last decade, GeoPoll has built one of the most robust and reputable media measurement platforms for Africa, Asia, and Latin America. GeoPoll Audience Measurement (GAM) runs 365 days a year, collecting overnight data about TV and Radio consumption the previous day. GeoPoll’s current daily National Audience Survey in Kenya, however, does not measure viewership of children 14 and under – a key demographic for Akili TV. In order to understand that demographic, GeoPoll implemented a custom Children’s Audience Measurement panel, which only includes respondents that have self-identified as having a child or children 17-years-old or under living at home.
Knowing if someone is a parent is powerful knowledge to potential advertisers, as products and services that are positioned to parents need to reach their targeted audience. This helps prevent advertisers from spending on advertising to people who would not even consider their products.
The GeoPoll custom Children’s Audience Measurement survey runs for seven consecutive days each quarter. Akili TV channel was added to the prompted list of the other 17 top channels used in the National Survey (as determined by an annual establishment survey and desk research).
The survey is modeled after the Kenyan National Survey, but instead of asking what the respondent watched, GeoPoll asks what the respondent AND/OR the children in the household watched. Therefore, the data from the custom survey includes both children’s viewership, and viewership for adults with children in the household. This may include a parent or guardian/caregiver. The indication that parents and caregivers are watching along with their children, to the tune of millions per week, is different than the general polling of adults. Looking at just parent viewing habits, the channels that parents view are heavily influenced by what their children are watching.
GeoPoll conducts the custom survey via SMS and the GeoPoll App using its proprietary mobile research platform. Demographics for the survey are nationally representative across age, gender, location, and LSM.
Results
GeoPoll has been running custom Children’s Audience Measurement surveys for Akili TV since 2020. In the most recent survey from September 2024, among households with children under age 18, Akili TV had the highest average rating for children at 4.3, and the second highest for adults with children at home at 3.8. Rating refers to the percentage of individuals reached by a station for an interval of collection (30 minutes) which can be averaged over a specified period of time. During the survey week, Akili TV reached 37.2% of the 18,058,000 children in Kenya with access to TV (6,725,000 children), and 30.4% of the 14,664,000 adults with children with access to TV (4,458,000 adults).
The data that GeoPoll provides has been instrumental in shaping Akili Network’s programming strategy by supporting how the station schedules its broadcast day to maximize viewing by different age groups. The data has also helped inform Akili Network’s content acquisition strategy and enabled the network to provide its clients and partners insights on the reach and viewership of individual programs and messages. The data sometimes comes with surprises. In a recent survey, the number one program on the channel was Digital Storytime a Kenyan Sign Language program that was viewed by 2.3 million children and 1.2 adults.
The idea that TV ratings can provide targeted audience data and enable a smarter spend for advertisers is not so different than targeting an audience on social media. Marketers seldom choose everyone in the Universe to send messages to. Instead, they narrow down their targets to select the audience most inclined to purchase. So, at the end of the day, while there are growing audiences of young people of all ages, as well as adults, parents, and caregivers, the most effective approach for marketers is to direct family-focused product and service advertising to the people who would actually consider purchasing it.
Akili TV continues to leverage GeoPoll’s survey results to fine-tune its programming choices and deliver impactful content to diverse audiences across Kenya.