Question NW430 to the Minister of Communications
08 April 2016 - NW430
Van Dyk, Ms V to ask the Minister of Communications
(1)What percentage of the advertisements of the (a) (i) national and (ii) provincial government departments, and (b) all entities reporting to the specified departments, was distributed to community media such as (aa) community radio stations, (bb) community print media, (cc) community television stations and (dd) small commercial publications during the period 1 July 2015 to 31 January 2016; (2) why, with reference to her reply to question 3806 on 21 December 2015, did the Government Communications and Information System only spend money on advertising in community radio stations, and not in all other forms of community media as detailed above, if not, why not, if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
1. During the period 1 July 2015 to 31 January 2016, GCIS placed advertisements to the value of R153 138 655.73 on behalf of its clients (national and provincial departments and entities reporting to these departments). R22 187 761.61 of this advertising expenditure was allocated to community media (community radio stations, community print media, community television stations and small commercial publications), representing 14% of the allocated budget. A detailed breakdown follows below:
(a)(i) 13% of advertising allocated by national departments as listed in the accompanying table
(ii) 12% of advertising allocated by provincial departments as listed in the accompanying table
(b) 18% of advertising allocated by all entities reporting to specified departments as listed in the accompanying table
2. Community media offers government the opportunity to direct communications messages at specific and highly localised audiences. Whilst this is adequate for tactical interventions on community print or community television, interactive campaigns requiring the targeting of multiple communities simultaneously are best suited to community radio.
The Government Communication and Information System primarily focuses on such high reach multi-site campaigns which often use interactive phone-in community radio programmes. In this advertising format, a minimum of 75 community radio stations are connected via satellite to enable a single interview to be broadcast to multiple community radio stations. In turn, listeners resident in the broadcast footprint of any of the participating community radio stations can call in to the GCIS studio and interact live with the studio guests.
This capability is not available on other forms of community media as detailed in the question.
MR D LIPHOKO
[ACTING] DIRECTOR GENERAL
GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEM
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MS AF MUTHAMBI, MP
MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS
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