KENYA : Nairobi Gossip Club (NGC) has outshone Citizen TV and other mainstream media outlets in the latest digital rankings of News consumption in the Country.
According to the data, Nairobi Gossips secures top spot, Citizen TV comes second while Tuko.co.ke closely follows at third, completing the top three in the Rankings.
Nairobi Gossip Club was Kenya’s number one news source across Meta’s platforms during the Finance bill protests, according to a survey conducted by Odipo Dev.
Odipo Dev, a data Studio based in Nairobi that specializes in providing data-driven insight to different audiences, analyzed metadata from over 28,000 posts across the Facebook and Instagram pages of 31 English-speaking and vernacular news outlets in Kenya.
The data was collected from May 1 to July 31, 2024, coinciding with the Gen Z uprising in Kenya.
The research reveals that Nairobi Gossip Club (NGC) not only commands the highest number of video views and post interactions (combined total for Facebook and Instagram) but does so by a margin that leaves Kenya’s traditional media outlets far behind.
“Given the significance of June 25th to Kenya’s political history, it’s striking to find that the single largest distributor of news on Meta’s platforms on that fateful day was Nairobi Gossip Club,” read the survey in part.
As per the survey, women and Gen Z spend a significant amount of their time online, primarily on TikTok and Instagram.
"NGC seems to understand this perfectly and in the heat of the June protests, the data shows that the platform became far and away the go-to news source on social media,” it said.
Odipo Dev said that the average news consumer is often ‘found’ by the news, as they are more likely to encounter it while strolling through social media for entertainment, chatting with friends, or shopping.
This means that only outlets or personalities capable of penetrating this alternative activity bubble can effectively reach this consumer with the news.
At a structural level, it is noted that the internet has undergone significant changes over the past five years and in today’s internet, algorithms have ultimate editorial power.
Following TikTok’s remarkable success, platforms have largely adopted a “For You” page approach, curating content for users based on personalized algorithms.
“Unlike years past, audiences don’t have to go through the burden of finding and following you to consume your content. The algorithm can propel an outlet you never knew of to the very top of your feeding,” read the survey in part.
“This singular decision by digital platforms has had significant effects on audiences’ notions of credibility and eroded most advantages that legacy news brands may have had.”
At a cultural level, the survey highlights that alternative digital media platforms have firmly established themselves to become a primary source of news and information, symbolizing the new concept of a national platform.
