Global Media and Public Relations agency, BlackHouse Media (BHM), has announced the release of the fourth edition of its annual PR agencies report. Reputed as Nigeria’s first-ever Public Relations annual report, it is dedicated exclusively to chronicling data on trends, perceptions, challenges and prospects within the dynamic industry.
Since its debut five years ago, the razor-sharp Nigeria PR Report has lived to its billing as the most authoritative voice in PR measurement and evaluation in Nigeria and has supported practitioners in navigating their careers and the PR space in general.
Replete with verified facts and statistics on the Public Relations industry, practitioners have deployed the resources and recommendations contained in these reports year on year to build better careers and business models, designed to enhance and deliver value to all stakeholders. And since 2015, there have been remarkable transformations in the PR field as evidenced findings in this year’s report.
A cursory look at some of the findings from the report shows that the insights presented are prognostic at the very least, creating a framework for practitioners to successfully manoeuvre these momentous times brought about by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Adun Okupe, Lead Researcher, Compass Insights, “The Nigeria PR Report does not come at a better time than this. The COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged the world and now more than ever, PR agencies are having to prove their worth to their clients leaving consultancies with unanswered questions as to how to make sure that their businesses are providing the right services and the 2020 Nigeria PR Report helps to shape thoughts in this direction.”
Speaking on Nigeria PR Report 2020, the Founder and CEO of BHM, Ayeni Adekunle captured the volatile nature of the year for the PR industry.
“When we planned for the 2020 Nigeria PR Report, we had no idea of how the year would turn out. These are very unique and interesting times as our choice to have the report focus on sustainable growth has now come into focus with the adverse effects of Coronavirus.’’
“The importance of the report to the Public Relations industry in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. By modelling well-founded world reports such as the Holmes Report, World Development Report, Relevance Report, the Nigerian PR Report team continues to hope to create a standard global report that can easily be used for referencing details, instances and facts about the industry,” he said.
Insights from the report highlight the pedigree of some of the PR agencies in Nigeria. To be sure, 12% of Nigerian PR agencies have been in operation for five years, 19% have been in operations for more than 5 years and less than 10, whilst only 9% have been in operation for over 20 years.
In addressing the improvement made to counter gender imbalance and the need for improvement on the same, the report shows that the industry remains male-dominated with a record of 74 percent while women constitute just 26 percent of the industry. Younger agencies under 5 years old seem to have a higher proportion of men with women comprising only 21 percent of women PR professionals working in these agencies. Older agencies that have been practising for 11 to 20 years parade 44percent of women professionals as their staff.
This situation is not limited to Nigeria. In a report published on the PRWeek in 2019, 64% of PR professionals surveyed in 37 countries in the first Global Women in PR(GWPR) Annual Index to address issues in gender diversity believe having more women in the boardroom would improve profitability and 81 per cent said more should be done to help women get there. Eight in ten survey respondents believe the biggest barrier to career progression was childcare and caring responsibilities.
Most of the PR agencies are within the SME band, with the 64% of respondents qualifying by the number of employees as micro-enterprises based on the number of employees as defined by The Small and Medium Enterprises Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN). 56 per cent of PR agencies in Nigeria are reporting revenues of less than N5 million (five million naira).
Together with the new entrants into the industry corroborating this finding, it is reported that 64 per cent of the new agencies have fewer than ten employees, 14percent are small enterprises with 11- 20 employees and 22 per cent with more than 21 employees.
One of the top five challenges plaguing the industry and captured in the report is attracting and retaining the right talent within the PR industry in Nigeria. 70% of the professionals within the industry have less than five years of work experience. Seasoned professionals and institutions should begin to explore establishing teaching faculty in PR management to equip new graduates seeking career opportunities in PR.
The much-anticipated Nigeria PR report 2020 is the collaborative brainwork of BHM’s research arm — BHM Research & Intelligence (BRI) in collaboration with Compass Insights, a leading Customer Engagement and Insights Company, and technology company, Plaqad.
Interested professionals can download a copy on the website.