Afrikaans-speaking South Africans are an affluent proportion of our population. According to AMPS 2007B, of the 4 million Whites in the country, 59% are Afrikaans and 79% of Coloureds have Afrikaans as their first language. Despite these figures, marketers, media planners and buyers tend to neglect this important sector.
The Afrikaans South African is regarded as having great buying power, strong initiative, independence and decisiveness. AMPS 2007B reveals that 34% of LSM 7-10 and 38% of LSM 8-10 are Afrikaans speaking consumers whilst companies that advertise only in the English media reach just 10% of Afrikaans-speaking consumers in the high-income LSM 8-10 brackets.
Barnard Beukman, Marketing Communications Manager of RCP Media says, “Afrikaans is the third most spoken home language in South Africa today (after IsiZulu and IsiXhosa). English ranks sixth place in terms of home languages. We have also found that Sunday is the best day for reading and for readers to effectively absorb messages. Advertisers get maximum benefit by advertising on this specific day of the week.
“Contrary to popular belief, Sunday is a shopping day. Shoppers spend more and shop accompanied, leading to increased spending, particularly for items that require consultation with other family members, reiterating the need for advertising on that day.
“Our Sunday papers also attract almost as many readers as there are in the week Monday to Friday, with more readers in the upper LSM brackets than Afrikaans daily newspapers,” says Beukman.
RCP Media's Rapport is the highest reaching newspaper of Afrikaans readers and has the fourth biggest circulation of all newspapers in South Africa and over a million readers. In addition, the paper attracts a mix of White (63%) and Coloured (27%) readers.
Sondag, a fresh new entrant to the Sunday market launched in 2007, already has circulation figures of 40 472 (ABC October - December 2007) attracting the lucrative LSM 10 market.
Afrikaans is undeniably one of South Africa's richest traditions - one that advertisers and marketers should not forget to add to relevant media plans.
Visit our PRESS OFFICE: Rapport, a national Afrikaans Sunday newspaper, boasts more than 1,6 million readers (AMPS2007RA). It is distributed countrywide, and also in Namibia. Rapport is one of the country's top media brands and the Afrikaans newspaper with the biggest market penetration in South Africa.- more....