By Kristy Hesom
MD and co-founder of the Dubai-headquartered business,
Boye Balogun, welcomed guests and wasted no time in getting started. In terms of digital, Balogun wanted to lay the groundwork by looking at what is happening in Africa. He pointed out that the importance of looking at statistics of Internet penetration for marketers is because it’s the basis for digital advertising. If people don’t have access to the Internet, you’re not going be able to reach your target.
The growth figures regarding Internet penetration are what is important, pointed out Balogun, as they indicate where the market is going. With 350 million people in Africa now connected to the Internet, and a year-on-year growth rate of 14%, it is clear why Future Tech Media is focussing on Africa. And social media, with 11% penetration in South Africa, is the fastest growing space.
In Africa, Future Tech Media looks at four key markets; Lagos, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya. There are three reasons why Balogun believes South Africa is special (he did, however, point out that not everyone might agree) and these are:
- Infrastructure: South Africa has a good and solid infrastructure;
- Economy: South Africa’s economy is stronger and more stable than other African economies; and
- A young, growing, millennial market: This market in instantly connected to their smartphones, and that’s what they aim for.
Balogun believes that these three things “make the South African experience in digital very interesting and very different”.
Understanding why they have come to South Africa, Balogun went about to tell the audience gathered what they planned on doing here. Future Tech Media is bringing its innovative digital media partners, Unruly Media, Loop Me and Vibrant Media, offering video, mobile and native advertising respectively to the South African market.
Unruly offers clients the ability to get videos watched, tracked and shared across the Internet. These videos make use of the click to play function, are fully branded, have a call to action, as well as optimised sharing capabilities linked to the platforms that clients want to push. Take a look at how it works
here.
Reaching over 1.25 billion consumers,
Loop Me is the world’s largest mobile video platform. Making use of artificial intelligence to target consumers, Loop Me believes that size does matter. Banner ads are outdated (apparently, you’re 475 times more likely to survive a plane crash than you are to click on a banner ad), so the Loop Me platform makes use of full-screen mobile advertising.
Lastly,
Vibrant Media offers premium advertising, content marketing and programmatic solutions through native advertising solutions. Designed to support online advertising objectives through cross-platform native solutions, Vibrant offers solutions ranging from brand engagements, driving qualified traffic and raising brand awareness.
With digital advances on the rise in South Africa, brands and audiences alike can look forward to what Future Tech Media and their digital media partners have to offer.