​Nation Media Group’s Monicah Ndun’gu in conversation

What do you bring to the business?

My background was in electronic media but I built my skills around driving value for business from creating content that audiences love, especially content that could be monetized. You will consistently hear my theme being around a sustainable media business.

How does data play a role in sustainable media?

As COO on an interim role, I also held the product and innovation piece. The big thing about it was looking at what the data was saying across Africa and how we could utilize the data to build on certain pillars that could deliver potential audiences.

So how do you deliver this?

We have a North Star that focuses on both from an audience recruitment point of view and a revenue generation point of view. Now I sit across the business not just as a broadcasting person but as a person who oversees strategy and aligns that everyone is focused on delivering that North Star. My expanded scope now includes using partnerships as a key audience and funding diversification strategy.

Can you define what you call a partnership?

A partnership can be with an individual or organization that shares in NMG's purpose. We were set up by His Highness the Aga Khan in 1959. The vision of our Founder has not changed, our mission remains to influence society positively through our story telling be it as part of information, education or entertainment. We then look for alignment with a partner and work towards being value adding in what we do for each other

How do you engage partners in your editorial purpose and make sure they are the right fit?

One thing we’re very clear about is any partner must work within our editorial policy which is clearly defined and allows us to effectively deliver on our mission.

And do events fit into this strategy?

Events are opportunities for Nation Media Group and its partners to create direct connections with its customers. Our partners want to participate in some of the things we’re doing, like International Women’s Day a premium women's thought leadership event and Earthwise our Climate and sustainability thought leadership platform. Among other things of course, events like these are really big not just for revenue generation but for creating direct customer connections and driving content generation.

How else are you diversifying your output?

We have a full-on audio strategy, largely driven by podcasts. This is a response to audience needs. And so, you’ll find, for example, right now, we are running a podcast called the One Health Podcast or Speaking to Gen Z.

So, with traditional advertising supposedly in decline across the board, have you had to expand skill sets or bring new people into the sales teams to be more consultative in the way they sell?

100% and it’s big. It’s had to become a key pillar. Not even just in the commercial department but across the business. So, for example, we have a full product team, which in a traditional legacy media house would not be the case. This allows a critical focus on centering the user as we create any products and using data to constantly iterate it.

If for example, you’re selling an experience, you’re not selling pages and acres of paper or ads on linear TV so we've had to retrain and reskill our teams to deliver in the reality of the times we are living in.

What formats do advertisers prefer?

It depends on various advertisers, some want a digi/print/TV bundle, you’ll find one who wants digital only, and you’ll find one that’s still very traditional, they want print only or TV only.

Will subscriptions hit a panacea?

I think we have to be alive to the nuances of the continent. We’re still very early in Africa in regards to people subscribing for things. We’ve however seen good growth so far. Digital consumption lends itself to niche areas of interest so it's just a consistent dance of developing and constantly adjusting to the right revenue mix.

How does AI factor into the business?

Even if we run away from AI, it will catch up with us. So it is coming into that and it’s interesting you ask that question. We are building internal capacity across our teams, be it on ethical use of AI in content creation, commercialization and in marketing.

Next, we are going to have to factor in AI as a key enabler of the business. I don’t think in 2024, it makes any sense to say you won’t use AI for anything. You’ll then be left doing some mundane tasks that people are doing efficiently using AI.

So what does the future of media look like to you?

So, the future for me looks like we will have to run a customer-led, digital-driven content business, but the product mix will still need to figure out how to create efficiencies to meet the needs of the minority who may still want to read a hard copy newspaper or watch appointment television. The key is to rethink this to make our business sustainable

More about Mark Challinor: Mark is a commercial and media advertising strategist. He recently led the International News Media Association’s (INMA.org) Advertising Initiative (the news industry’s deeper dive into media advertising). He has also been European and global president of INMA. He produces a monthly Future of Media Advertising newsletter on Linkedin, as well as running an advertising committee made up of senior executives from across the world’s media. Mark is now CEO of News Media UK Consulting. Follow Mark on X: @challinor and LinkedIn.

Last week, we had time with Folha de S.Paulo’s Marcelo Benez. You can catch up on the News Horizons hub.