A recent survey by GeoPoll highlights that there is an appetite for daytime children programming in Kenya, especially during the Covid period. The survey found that Citizen TV is the most-watched station by children under 14 between 6am and 6pm closely followed by Akili Kids!, KTN and NTV respectively. Akili Kids commissioned the survey to highlight that there is an attentive audience watching local TV during the day.
GeoPoll’s current daily National Audience Survey does not measure viewership of children 14 and under. Akili Network commissioned GeoPoll to conduct a survey to analyze viewership behavior amongst children under 14 years.
The survey was identical to the GeoPoll’s National Survey with two changes. Firstly, all respondents in the survey panel must have self-identified as having a child or children 14-year-old or under. Secondly, the Akili Kids! channel was added to the prompted list of the other 17 top channels, listing 18 channels with the 19th being “other”
The survey also notes that there is a significant amount of Co-Viewing of children programming with 55% of all viewership on Akili Kids! done by both a child or children and either a caregiver or parent. 35% of viewership was done with just the child or children watching by themselves.
‘’Akili Kids! has come in with a totally different proposition with extreme focus during the daytime (6am – 6pm). We are the first to have a clear focus on daytime programming, and this is simply because that is when our children are most active and will most likely be allowed to watch TV by their parents or caregivers,’’ notes Jesse Soleil, Akili Kid’s President & Co-founder.
Launched in March 2020, Akili Kids! TV channel was developed with a clear focus on daytime programming, and this is simply because that is when children are most active and will most likely be allowed to watch TV by their parents or caregivers.
With widespread school closures and stay-at-home social distancing, there has never been a greater need for quality children’s programming Akili Network’s Akili Kids, a free-to-air children’s television network in Kenya, aspires to be the most trusted brand in children and family entertainment in Kenya.
The common belief in the free to air market segment in Kenya is that TV consumption starts at 6pm and daytime advertising does not attract a lot of revenue because most of the biggest shows on TV air after 6pm. Akili Kids strategy is to debunk this myth by providing content that is not only educational but engaging for children.
‘’Through the provision of both imaginative and educational content, we intend to reach nearly 20 million children in Kenya under the age of 14 with programming that features clear learning outcomes,’’ adds Jesse.
Since its launch, the survey highlights that Akili kids! reached 36% of the 14,924,000 children with access to TV with 5,373,000 children reached in the survey week which reached 29% of the 14,664,000 adults with children with access to TV and 4,253,000 adults reached in the survey week, according to the research done by GeoPoll
Akili Kids! aims to contribute to the growth of Kenya’s creative economy by working with the vast pool of talent to create inspiring and imaginative programmes for children.
