1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
Increasing global competition has made many media organizations want to find more innovative ways of selling their goods and services. This has largely contributed to the increased use of advertisements as a tool to enhance sales revenue in many media organizations.
Major media revenue in Nigeria no doubt, comes from advertising. Nwabueze (2011) writes that in Nigeria, advertorials (adverts written as stories or articles) yield much money for the print media. Nwabueze further observes that politicians use advertorials a lot to counter or oppose their opponents at state, federal or local government levels while other organizations use advertorials to promote their interests. The economics of demand and supply for advertising space in the cable is critical to the health of media organizations.
The economic policies of the present government of Nigeria have put the economy on the part of enviable growth. With the fast growing rate of foreign direct investment, multinationals need to upgrade their operations and strengthen their firm's competitiveness. The fact that all of the multinationals are doing this at the same time, coupled with the forces of deregulation, which is breaking down the power of monopoly and unleashing new waves of competition, implies accelerated demand for advertising media space.
You can imagine the number of advertising in cable TV today compared to five years ago. Being that the major source of revenue for media houses is advertising, presently, most media organizations depend on advertisements for their continued meaningful and profitable existence.
This, being the case, Itule and Anderson (2003, P. 432) posit “Expectedly, advertisers have capitalized on the difficult economic situation to inject their influence on the newsroom; a situation that lightens the border between advertisements and news”.Advertising is an indicator of the growth, betterment and perfection of the business environment. Not only does advertising mirror the business environment, it also affects and gets affected by our style of life. It is not at all surprising that advertising is one of the most closely scrutinized of all business institutions.
In 2010, spending on advertising by various sponsors all over the world was estimated at more than 500 billion dollars. in the same year, Nigeria spending on advertisement in Nigeria was over 30 billion naira (Okolie, 2011). This shows that advertising is a major source of revenue for the mass media in Nigeria. Most cable TVs would not be in business without revenue generated through advertising.
It follows therefore that without access to advertising revenue; even the most popular newspaper or broadcast station will fold or go out of the market. The viability and profitability of news organizations are essential to their survival and prosperity. Advertisers consider the audience as vital avenues for promoting the sales of their goods and services and try to generate fund for the media outlet. The wealthier the consumer (audience), the more revenue they can generate for advertisers and the more they will be willing to pay to reach them. Two of the main reasons for the media's reliance on such sources are economy and convenience.
For instance, Thisday Newspaper which succeeded in Nigeria, failed and wound up its operations in South Africa because of low rate of advert revenue, which led to low profit and finally to low patronage even though its cover price was two times lower than its competitors (Okolie, 2011). Another example of the role of advertisements as revenue to media, especially in Nigeria is the case of Minaj System Television Obosi, Anambra state, which folded its operations because of low advert revenue which befail it, among other things.
The setbacks highlighted above, which were experienced by Thisday Newspaper in South Africa and Minaj System Television in Nigeria, underscore the role of advertisement as a revenue to the media organizations in any country of the world (Okolie, 2011).
1.2 Statement of Research Problems
- How Trend Tv use advertisements from their customers to generate revenue.
- Whether the advertising strategies influence the Viewers/ customers.
- Whether there is enough revenue from it to sustain the organization.
- To modify the strategies if not sustainable.
1.3 Purpose of the Study / Objectives
The purpose of this study is to create knowledge on the role of advertising as a source of revenue to media organization. It would also examine whether the revenue generated from advertisements is enough to sustain the media organization.
1.4 Significance of the Study
- It is believed that the following people benefit from Trend Tv. (Advertising agencies / other customers)
- Viewers of the station in had known both the old and the new products.
- The mass media organization in enhancing its positioning in television house. Furthermore, the result will help the mass media organization in identifying those strategies that will help them in achieving profitability.
- To serve as a reference strategy to other broadcast media organization for purposes of research documentation.
1.5 Research Questions
- Do customers bring advertisement for Trend TV Port-Harcourt?
- Does Trend TV Port-Harcourt advertisement influence the customers?
- Does Trend TV Port-Harcourt generate a lot of revenue from such advertisement for their survival?
- Does Trend TV Port-Harcourt advertisement create awareness to the customers?
1.6 Assumptions
- It is greatly believed that advertising per-se is the major contributor to the mass media organization, be it privately or government owned.
- Finally, experts, internally manipulate the television advertising to catch the target consumers of commodities / service. A lot of revenue could be generated from such advertisements.
1.7 Scope of the Study
This study is restricted to Management and employees of Trend TV Port-Harcourt.
1.8 Limitation of the Study
A research carried out by human beings is bound to have limitations. This research deals principally on the role of Advertisements as a source of revenue to media organizations.
The study is limited by many factors among them are:
1) Limitation of researcher both in financial and time resources: This research work is not funded by government research agencies or academic bodies but is strictly funded through the financial strength of the researcher who is a full time student with no source of income except the merger allowance from the parents and guidance.
This financial constraint has affected the researcher in no small measure as any good research is based on fund and time which the researchers were not lucky to have.
2) Another limitation was the lack of co-operation from the school Mgt. And students in the process of administering the questionnaire and conducting interviews.
3) Secrecy, Although these factors exist, determination and effort will be made for relevance of the study.
Definition of Terms
Advertising:
This is a promotional tool used by the advertiser to reach the target.
Mass Media:
On organization operations among all other things to inform, entertain, educate and serializing the economic needs of its environment or public either through newspapers, magazines, radio, television, satellite, internet. Etc.
Organisation:
An organization is defined as any administrative, management and financial structure through which the activities of its work units and individuals seek to achieve a predetermined goal.
