Oops. Wrong end.

I’m happy to say I’m now World Cup befok, staring down the bright yellow orb of my newly-acquired vuvuzela. I can’t wait for the upwelling of national pride, the festivities and the heart-stopping penalty shoot-outs. And, media houses, take note, though I normally have absolutely no interest in soccer or sport in general, I’m ready to start consuming stories on the 2010 FIFA World Cup teams, coaches and the expectations of the various participating nations.
Now if only I could lay my hands on some coverage.

Where is it all? Hidden on the sports pages of my daily newspaper? I seldom go there but, quite frankly, I would have expected shameless reams of world cup sports copy on the news and features pages by now. There is, after all, only 22 days to go.

Nevertheless, preparations by media houses across the land to cover the world cup have been on the go for a while – some started the planning as much as a year ago – and many a hope has been pinned on a turn-up in advertising revenue on the back of the event, especially after marketing budgets were slashed last year amid the recession.

But as early as March this year, there were signs that the tournament might not be an early Christmas and that many local advertisers were holding back on spending during the event as they feared being lost amid all the footie clutter.

Virginia Hollis, joint MD of The MediaShop, one of South Africa’s biggest media-planning firms, says that, besides increased expenditure from official sponsors such as MTN and Coca-Cola, she hasn’t seen the expected upsurge in advertising. In the first three months of this year, there was an increase in television advertising -and also in radio – but this came off a low base because adspend was so decimated last year. Hollis expects advertising to pick up in August, when advertisers feel more confident about reaching SA audiences without having to cut through the soccer clutter… TO READ THE FULL COLUMN, “THE WORD ON GRUBSTREET”, CLICK HERE TO GO TO BIZCOMMUNITY.

* This was published first on Bizcommunity, on May 19 2010.

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“So it’s a recession. What you going to do? Lie down and die?”

So said Terry Volkwyn, CEO of Primedia’s broadcasting division, to the company’s sales staff when the economic gloom set in earlier this year. And ad spend for the division, whose stations range from Highveld and 702 in Gauteng to Kfm and Cape Talk in Cape Town, has in fact shown a small increase this year as it has slogged away to find new business and focused on direct-response ads (advertising that calls for a response such as phone call to make a purchase).

The point, says the canny Volkwyn, is that even when we come out of the recession, the big spenders aren’t going to come rushing back with megabuck ad campaigns – that’s going to take years.

There are indications that the worst is over for the media in this recession. American advertising agency Magna said recently, for instance, that ad spend in the US bottomed out in the first half of this year and it will slowly begin to pick up next year though it will remain in negative territory. In South Africa we also have the Soccer World Cup to look forward to, which should boost the coffers somewhat in the ad-spend department.

Even the beleaguered Irish owners of South Africa’s Independent newspapers saw a rise in Independent News & Media’s (INM) share price when it released its dismal interim results recently – because the drop in revenue wasn’t as awful as the analysts expected… TO READ MY FULL COLUMN, CLICK HERE TO GO TO MONEYWEB

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The surprise announcement this week that William Kirsh has relinquished the CEO’s chair at Primedia has got Media Land speculating if he jumped or if he was pushed.

Corporate changes of this import – Kirsh is being succeeded by Kuben Pillay, his deputy, from September 1 – are usually managed carefully over time by public relations gurus. However, this seemed rather sudden, which is what’s got the grapevine going, not least because the Kirsh family is synonymous with Primedia. Kirsh took the gutsy things his father, Issie, did with 702 Talk Radio and built an empire that today stretches from Ster Kinekor and outdoor advertising to radio stations, such as Highveld Stereo in Gauteng and Kfm in Cape Town plus a 40% stake in Kaizer Chiefs.

Primedia is no longer a listed company so it doesn’t have to worry about a surprise announcement deflating its share price but then there was that curious statement from Kirsh: “The current climate of being delisted has also not enabled me to do what I believe I do best, which based on Primedia’s historical track record, is acquiring media businesses in the right sectors of the media industry and working with our operational managers to make them more valuable.”…. TO READ MORE GO TO MY COLUMN AT MONEYWEB

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