Market Segmentation Strategies Adopted by Media Houses to Promote Television Content in Kenya

Abstract

In the recent past, the business environment has witnessed an increase in the number of players offering the same or similar goods and services. This shift has also been experienced in the television industry in Kenya. The liberalization of the economy and improved telecommunication have led to an influx of television stations in the country. This has led to increased competition in the industry prompting the individual stations had to come up with strategies to remain relevant and survive. This study seeks to investigate the Marketing strategies adopted by media houses to promote television content in Kenya. The objectives of this study were to determine segmentation strategies used by Television media houses to promote content in Kenya and to establish the effectiveness of the marketing segmentation strategies adopted by television media stations in Kenya. In carrying out this study, a census survey was applied. Both primary and secondary data sources were used. Primary data was collected using a questionnaire as the key instrument. The questionnaire used was designed to capture the unique characteristics of the entire population. The research targeted the either the Marketing manager, or the person in programming and content in the organization. The researcher used Microsoft Excel and SPSS software for data analysis. Charts, tables and narratives were made on findings. The study revealed that there exists a clear marketing strategy from all the media houses on how to capture, retain and acquire viewers in this competitive television industry. There was also an indication of how the thinking behind content acquisition and generation within the organization. It also revealed that programming was the most important factor in running of a television station in Kenya. The study concludes that market segmentations strategies are indeed employed by the media houses to promote the television content to improve their ratings and eventually meant to attract advertisers to the stations. The limitations of this study were that it focused only on the free to air stations and also, not all the questionnaires were answered.