Broadcasting
Nigerian Businesses can Harness Conversational Messaging to Better Engage Customers in the Digital Era
By Olatayo Ladipo-Ajai, Regional Manager at Infobip Nigeria
Businesses in Nigeria are currently faced with numerous challenges, including fast-changing global economic conditions, a new post-pandemic reality, as well as a fast-growing young population that is increasingly technology-savvy. These prevailing market conditions have ushered in challenging times, making it increasingly difficult for organisations to maintain and attract new business. Simultaneously, companies are finding that competition is increasing, which demands better and more creative differentiation than just better pricing to maintain a competitive edge.
Olatayo Ladipo Ajai
All the while, consumer behaviour is also changing drastically, with an increase in numbers of Nigerian customers choosing to engage and transact with brands online. The country’s internet penetration rate stood at 55.4% of the total population at the start of 2023, with 122.5 million internet users recorded in January 2023. Further to this, a total of 193.9 million cellular mobile connections were active in early 2023, equivalent to 87.7% of the total population.
Consequently, this prompts Nigerian businesses to explore more universal engagement routes to connect with their customers and interact via conversational messaging. To successfully engage with customers in the digital space, businesses are increasingly making the shift towards hyper-personalisation, automation, and 24/7 availability, allowing their promotional campaigns and messaging to be directly targeted at individual customers.
Deriving more value
Brands in Nigeria are thus beginning to realise that customers do not fit into boxes but are individuals who need to be analysed to derive most value from customer engagements. At the same time, it is also becoming clear that traditional SMS messaging is inadequate where achieving this level of engagement is concerned.
While SMS has played a critical role in business communication, the new realities around customer behaviour and expectations mean that traditional SMS messaging – which provides one-way engagement – has certain limitations such as gateways, DND (Do Not Disturb) and firewalls that often prevent promotional messages from reaching the target end customer, which may result to relatively low SMS open and read rates.
Conversational messaging, in the form of Rich Communication Services (RCS), can address many of these challenges, enabling businesses and brands to communicate more effectively while reaching out, attracting and converting potential customers. RCS is an evolution of SMS, which integrates features from various chat apps into one platform.
The platform allows the exchange of group chats, PDFs, video, audio and high-resolution images, as well as read receipts and real-time viewing, providing more value than traditional SMS. One of its key benefits is that RCS sits on top of the SMS platform, which means it has the same reach and is thus also native on most smartphones.
Better metrics
RCS allows for conversational engagement with customers who can be interacted with as a group or directly on a one-on-one basis, similar to apps such as WhatsApp. A clear benefit for businesses is that RCS provides deeper metrics on whether a message has been delivered, opened and clicked, delivering better analytics for businesses to gauge how successful a promotional campaign has been.
The use cases for RCS are varied and a number of banks, retailers and hospitality businesses have started using it to send promotional and transaction messages to customers. For example, banks can send payment notifications as full colour, branded, PDF documents that can serve as payment receipts. Some restaurants already use the card carousel feature to send their menus to customers to browse through the different pages and click on their desired options, without having to use the restaurant’s website or mobile app. Other use cases include the ability to send messages with a location pin from Google Maps, movie previews or QR codes that enable mobile payments by directing users to mobile payment platforms.
Conversational message provides a customer experience that not only focuses on problem-solving, but aims to build long-term relationships with customers, leading to greater customer loyalty, improved brand image and ultimately more revenue. By being conversational, businesses can deliver the best customer experience possible with advanced technology and readily meet changing consumer demands.
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are set to introduce a joint broadcast monitoring framework ahead of the 2027 general elections as part of efforts to curb unethical broadcasting and promote responsible election coverage.
Charles Ebuebu, director-general, NBC, who disclosed the plan recently, said the collaboration would strengthen election monitoring through the deployment of advanced technology and closer coordination between regulatory agencies.
According to him, the increasing influence of digital and online platforms has made it imperative for regulators to work together rather than operate independently.
“We have written to INEC, and we are going to have a joint monitoring outlook over the elections. Gone are the days when agencies work in silos. When we coordinate, we’re able to monitor more effectively,” Ebuebu said.
He explained that the partnership would enable both agencies to jointly identify and address violations of broadcasting regulations during the election period instead of handling such issues separately.
Beyond INEC, Ebuebu said the NBC is also partnering with other key regulators to strengthen oversight of election-related content across digital platforms.
According to him, the commission is finalising agreements with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) ahead of the polls to reinforce its monitoring capabilities.
“We are calling in other stakeholders to reinforce the election monitoring. We are signing agreements with the Nigerian Communications Commission and the National Information Technology Development Agency before the elections,” he said.
Ebuebu also revealed that the NBC is upgrading its monitoring infrastructure with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools to keep pace with the rapidly expanding media landscape.
He noted that the proliferation of online platforms has made traditional monitoring methods inadequate.
“With online platforms, there are thousands of them. You need more than staff; you need AI monitoring facilities,” he said.
The NBC chief added that the commission has significantly improved its monitoring capacity and can currently track nearly 50 broadcast channels from its monitoring centre in Abuja.
He said additional monitoring facilities would be established across the country in line with evolving broadcasting technologies.As part of preparations for the 2027 elections, Ebuebu announced plans for a sensitisation workshop in Ibadan that will bring together broadcasters, INEC officials, security agencies and other stakeholders.
He said the engagement had become necessary as political discussions surrounding elections continue to grow more heated, including on television, stressing the need for broadcasters to adhere to professional standards.
Ebuebu noted that the commission has had to issue several warnings to broadcast stations for violating the broadcasting code during election periods.
“We have had to write several of them because they simply forget what the code says,” he said
Mrs. Clementine Wamba, head, Digital Switch Over (DSO) at the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), has stressed the need for broadcasting stations and practitioners nationwide to work towards meeting the 2028 global deadline for the switch over.
She made the call in her presentation titled, “DSO Big Picture: Free TV Audience Measurement and the Evolving Media Landscape”, at the 2026 NBC South West Summit held in Ibadan.
Wamba harped on the need for practitioners to adopt DSO in the transmission of news and other programmes in order to meet future challenges, stating that any country that fail to align with the DSO by 2028 will be shut out of practice.
This development, according to her, may result in job losses and other consequences that could hinder the growth of the industry in Nigeria, noting that Free TV is tailored towards the DSO, with provision for many channels in contrast to the age-long analogue system.
According to her, “The Digital Switch Over is a technological improvement on the age-long analogue style of broadcasting in the country. With the adoption of the DSO, practitioners will be in tune with global practice of broadcast journalism.
“Also, its benefits include efficient use of spectrum, changing of industry landscape, more access to national development programmes and better viewing experience.”
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has said that Nigerians will no longer pay annual Digital Access Fees under the renewed Digital Switch Over (DSO) project.
Charles Ebuebu, director-general, NBC, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja,
Ebuebu said viewers only need to purchase an approved decoder and satellite dish which cost below N20,000 to enjoy free television permanently.
“Previously, users paid an annual digital access fee of about N1,500, described as an administrative charge.
“The new system removes that annual fee. It provides free access to free-to-air television channels without any payment.
“Premium channels will be introduced later. Viewers who want those additional channels will be able to access them through paid services.
“Nigerian content on free-to-air channels remains free to watch. Unlike Pay TV, this platform does not require monthly subscriptions for its basic service,” he said
Ebuebu said approved decoders for the FreeTV will cost less than N20,000 and authorised sales outlets will soon be announced.
He urged Nigerians to wait for official information on approved dealers for the DSO decoders, warning that unauthorised sellers are exploiting growing public demand.
He reiterated that people only need a free-to-air decoder, along with a satellite dish instead of the old antenna system to receive the DSO signal.
“Once the equipment is installed, viewers can access all available channels across the country without paying any subscription fees,” he stressed
The DG dismissed claims by some retailers that there are different categories of decoders sold at varying prices, stressing that such sellers are not authorised by the commission.
According to him, the NBC will soon publish the list of approved dealers, official prices, and locations where genuine decoder boxes and accessories can be purchased.
The NBC boss said the DSO project is designed not only to improve television broadcasting but also to stimulate economic growth by creating jobs, attracting investment, and opening up opportunities for businesses that support the broadcasting industry.
Ebuebu noted that content producers and broadcasters stand to benefit significantly from the nationwide reach of the DSO platform.
Unlike the previous system, where many stations had limited regional audiences, he said the new platform will make their channels available to viewers across Nigeria.
He added that the introduction of audience measurement technology will provide scientific and reliable data on television viewership.
Ebuebu added that audience measurement technology will give advertisers greater confidence in placing adverts and enable broadcasters to demonstrate the true size and reach of their audiences nationwide.
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