Narrative (formerly Effective Measure), ECR.co.za and jacarandafm.com add up to well over a million unique South African visitors per month (Jacaranda FM — 691 539, East Coast Radio — 539 265: Narrative March 2019) — a higher number for each station than their nearest radio station equivalents.

Head of digital at Mediamark, Mark Botha, says, "The sustained growth of unique browsers across these two digital platforms has led to a point where they are now transcending their traditional roles as pure support mediums to radio campaigns. They are now being considered as stand-alone placements on media schedules."

"The ability to leverage the FM and digital audiences, however, remain first prize, and we are constantly working with clients to unearth new ways of engaging with these formidable audiences — be it via display, audio or video," Botha adds.

Kagiso Media chief executive: radio, Nick Grubb, says, "We have worked hard to make sure the ‘virtuous circle’ of promoting content on air to online and back again is perfected.

"Our content teams have managed to augment this with excellent social media strategies and an eye for the most compelling stories. And our production teams have stitched it all together very well. I think this is truly a product of many parts working optimally in unison," Grubb adds.

"A few years ago, we thought converting 20% of our on-air audience to our sites would be success, so to now be around 80 to 90% (of daily cume to monthly UBs) is beyond our best expectations. Now our focus shifts to return visitors and other engagement metrics," Grubb says.

In addition to website growth (driven predominantly by mobile access), the stations have deployed successful apps and are now attracting audiences listening via streaming, with as many as 6 000 people listening concurrently at the peak of any given day and over 250 000 sessions per day.

Kagiso Media says that podcasts, too, are now at a scale that makes them attractive to advertisers — with channels by both Jacaranda FM and East Coast Radio — in podcast platform iono.fm’s top 10 providers for the first quarter of 2019.

"Not only do we cover the essential 'listen-back' segments of radio content, such as news, sport and traffic reports, as well as key features and interviews, but we’ve also developed a range of bespoke podcast series — the most popular of which falls under Jacaranda’s JacPod platform," says Diane Macpherson, head of on-demand content at Kagiso Media.

East Coast Radio Newswatch’s podcasts recently became the first South African news provider on Google Home (smart speakers), becoming one of 15 'world news' sources.

The stations have secured partnerships across the tech and media industry, aiming to ensure maximum reach for their channels — from the recently concluded carriage agreement with DSTV for ECR to the addition of both stations as a skill on the imminently-launching Alexa devices. Apple TV apps are also live in the App store.

Beyond access, Jacaranda has also recently launched an online mall, which is providing direct retail interaction between its audiences and its clients.

All of these digital wins aim to provide Kagiso Media with a huge arsenal of options for advertisers across platforms, products and mediums.

For more information, visit www.kagisomedia.co.za.