Media Consumption in Central Asia: Find Your Target Audience
To communicate effectively with other nations, it is important to have a thorough understanding of their customs, traditions, and psychology. When I launched ITCOMMS, a PR agency focused on Central Asia and the Caucasus, I had limited knowledge about how PR, digital marketing, and business worked in these countries.
After a year of being in these areas, we have faced many difficulties and gained important insights into how communication functions in each specific country. As a communications professional, it is crucial to comprehend the media market, its characteristics, and the particularities of information consumption by the intended audience. This article explores the unique aspects of the communication landscape in the region, including the media market’s structure and the most effective platforms and channels for promotion.
Kazakhstan: A Diverse Media Landscape with High Internet Penetration
The media landscape in Kazakhstan is highly diverse and varies significantly from city to city and region to region. One of the country’s distinctive characteristics is the relatively low importance of television and the high level of internet penetration. TV accounts for less than 50%. Experts anticipate that other markets in Central Asian countries will experience a similar trend in the near future. Global media trends tend to arrive first in Kazakhstan and then spread to other Central Asian countries.
Social Media
Kazakhstan stands out from other Central Asian countries due to the high level of trust in information on social media.
Instagram is the most popular social media platform in Kazakhstan with 4 million users. Kazakh-speaking bloggers are currently popular, with the most loyal audience on the web. In a study by Kazakhstan’s wecom.agency, entrepreneurs cited Instagram and targeted social media ads as the most effective channels for promotion.
Facebook has an audience of 35 years and older, which includes a large number of businesses, entrepreneurs, and highly qualified professionals. This audience is the most solvent and active. The social network is also great for promoting complex B2B businesses.
TV and Video Hosting
According to Kcell, the most popular internet platform in Kazakhstan in 2021 was YouTube, with 26.30% of the market share. Over 60% of the content consumed by Kazakhstanis on YouTube is now produced within Kazakhstan. Of this content, 90% is television content, mostly in the Kazakh language. This means that Kazakhstanis watch TV on YouTube, which allows for the advantages of television and internet advertising to be used for promotion.
Kazakhstani brands are actively seeking integrations with YouTube bloggers to promote their products. Here is a list of the twenty most popular YouTube channels in Kazakhstan.
Messengers
According to TNS Central Asia (Kantar), WhatsApp ranked first among mobile apps in terms of coverage in 2022, with 75.6%.
While WhatsApp prohibits promotional mailings and announcements, it can be used to respond to customer requests and send information about the status of orders, among other things. WhatsApp is a perfect fit for a 360 communication strategy, helping to create an omnichannel customer experience.
By utilizing the WhatsApp Business API, integration of the messenger into a corporate communication system and linking it to corporate social media accounts becomes effortless. Additionally, the API facilitates integration of the messenger with a website, CRM, and other marketing tools.
Media
In the category of mass media, print media remains the largest group, holding almost 71% of the market share. Interestingly, 52.5% of newspapers and magazines are read exclusively in Russian, while 21.4% of respondents read in both languages equally. Only 8.8% of respondents read exclusively in Kazakh.
The country’s media market has developed the practice of posting PR articles and materials on a paid basis. Internews Network reports that in Kazakhstan, 41% of media financing sources come from advertising, while 29% come from PR materials of private businesses.
It is important to consider the specific characteristics of different regions. Infographics, vivid visuals, and short-form posts written in simple language work best in large cities. In the western part of the country, long articles are not as well-received, and people are hesitant to trust comments from company representatives.
Marketplace Ecosystem
E-commerce is highly developed in the country, even more so than in, for example, Russia. In 2020, the electronic market in Kazakhstan surpassed 1.1 trillion tenge, accounting for 9.7% of the total retail turnover (11.6 trillion tenge). This indicator is increasing every year.
Advertising platforms today are not limited to traditional media. Users also consume a huge amount of content on marketplaces. Aggregators not only organize sales but also enable brands to advertise their products. Marketplaces also invest huge budgets in promoting their platforms. According to AdAge, Amazon has the largest annual advertising budget in the world.
PR specialists can leverage the developed marketplace in Kazakhstan to solve various communication tasks. Corporate accounts on trade aggregators are a new and effective tool for promoting businesses in Kazakhstan. This tool is particularly suitable for B2C businesses.
Uzbekistan: A TV-Oriented Market with Growing Digital Presence
Despite the ongoing digitalization, the Uzbek market remains highly focused on television and is considered the most TV-oriented in Central Asia. Furthermore, the media market in Uzbekistan is growing at a rate of 20–25% annually. In 2021, the estimated value was around $62 million.
The number of social media users and the rate of internet adoption are increasing every year in Uzbekistan. The communication and digital markets are currently undergoing significant development, which opens up great prospects for business promotion in the region.
Social Media
According to analysts at Uzbek holding company Ledokol Group, Instagram is the most popular social network in the country, with 3.9 million active users. This makes it a universal platform for businesses looking to promote themselves in Uzbekistan.
For example, a clothing store in Uzbekistan was able to generate a dozen sales per day from traffic to its account.
Facebook is a less popular social network with about 1.5 million users. However, it is great for promoting complex B2B niches due to its focus on text content and networking. It is important to note that this social media platform is mainly used by Russian-speaking audiences.
Odnoklassniki, a social network with 900,000 active users, ranks third. This media is worth considering, especially since its core audience comprises young, financially stable individuals aged 25 to 35 years old.
TV and Video Hosting
Television remains the most popular media channel among users in Uzbekistan. One reason for this is the lack of alternative Uzbek-language TV content in the country.
TV advertising has the largest share of the budget among all marketing activities in Uzbekistan. It accounts for 66% of the total advertising expenses and is the leader in the country.
Most advertisers prefer television advertising as their main tool for promoting goods and services. This allows them to reach up to 70% of the potential audience in Uzbekistan. Large companies often use TV promotions to advertise their products. This approach offers wide advertising coverage across the country. Additionally, these companies have the necessary budgets to support such activities.
In Uzbekistan, YouTube has over 100 million monthly views, and the average user watches more than five videos per day. It is the most popular video hosting site, with 81% of users choosing it. Advertising and promotions are increasingly used by marketing agencies due to promising results.
Local companies also use other popular video hosting sites, such as Allplay and iTV, for promotion. In addition to buying ads in streaming content, platforms offer other options, such as sponsoring online concerts, among others.
Messengers
In response to the ban of messengers such as Skype, Viber, and WhatsApp at the legislative level in the country, people have increasingly turned to using Telegram, making it the most popular messenger in Uzbekistan. According to statistics from Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Innovation, 80% of the country’s internet users prefer Telegram.
Among the top 10 Uzbek channels in the Uzbek Telegram, a single post can receive up to half a million views. Using Telegram promotion and ads in specialized channels is an effective means of promotion in the region.
Media
The most popular media outlets in Uzbekistan are published in Uzbek, but there is also a significant proportion of Russian-speaking or multilingual media. Russian is the most widely spoken language in Tashkent, which is the most economically active region of Uzbekistan. Therefore, businesses are interested in accessing this audience.
Uzbek-language media typically feature a large number of translated international news articles from foreign sources. In contrast, Russian-language media rarely cover international news, with local news accounting for approximately 90% of their content.
Uzbek internet media outlets are not highly specialized and cover a wide range of topics. There are no clear categories, and many outlets write about various subjects. As a result, there is a fairly wide selection of news available for publication. They do not need to search for any news hook. In the media field, there are thematic publications that cover business, communications, and PR topics. For example, Spot is a business media outlet, while PR.UZ covers the advertising, PR, and marketing in Uzbekistan.
Kyrgyzstan: Rapid Digitalization and Active Messenger Usage in Media Consumption
M-Vector reports that 92% of Kyrgyz users prefer social media as a source for news, while only 50% read news on official websites.
The main language of communication in the country is Russian, with 59% of news consumers reading and listening to news in Russian, while only 28% prefer to consume news in Kyrgyz.
The media landscape in the country is rapidly evolving, driven by the increasing processes of digitalization and internet penetration. However, traditional channels like TV and radio are still important in terms of media usage overall. The media landscape of Kyrgyzstan is unique, combining tradition with the active development of the latest media trends.
Social Media
The most popular social network in Kyrgyzstan is Instagram, with an audience that exceeded 2 million in 2020 and has now reached 2.5 million.
For the majority of the local population, news is associated with this platform. This platform provides access to a variety of information, including news, to people, especially in remote regions. For instance, the Kyrgyz-language newspaper “Superinfo,” with the widest circulation, has an Instagram page that boasts 1.8 million subscribers.
TV and Video Hosting
More than 90% of Kyrgyzstanis watch TV on a weekly basis. Russian channels make up about 50% of the local TV broadcasts.
In 2017, the country switched to digital broadcasting, making TV available even in remote mountainous areas. Most TV channels are state-owned, which means the state has significant control over their content.
Despite the fact that business interest in online promotion is constantly growing, TV ads remain one of the most effective promotion tools.
Messengers
Messengers are one of the main sources of information, with WhatsApp and Telegram being the most commonly used.
The most popular messenger is Whatsapp, used by 95% of people, followed by Telegram with 32% and Imo with considerably less. Telegram is more popular among young migrants, with 64% of them using it, compared to only 28% of young people living in the country.
Media
80% of online media consists of independent online platforms rather than websites of existing traditional media. Therefore, the country’s media law does not apply to them, providing more opportunities to post PR materials in various formats.
Representatives in the communications sector of Kyrgyzstan say that PR agencies mainly focus on publicity and media relations when working with businesses.
However, it is important to note that the advertising market in Kyrgyzstan is poorly developed and domestic journalism is still nascent. As a result, local media may exhibit biased reporting.
Radio
There are around 30 radio stations broadcasting in Kyrgyz and Russian languages in Kyrgyzstan. In fact, 76.1% of the population of Kyrgyzstan listens to the radio. This channel is particularly popular among the adult population aged between 35 and 44 years old. The top three radio stations are “Kyrgyzstan Obondoru”, “Min Kyyal”, and “Europe Plus”.
On average, the audience of these radio stations consists of working Kyrgyz men aged 25 to 35 with an average or above-average income level. This indicates that Kyrgyzstan’s radio listeners are the most active and financially stable segment of the population. As a result, promoting products or services through radio advertising, using different formats and integrating them into author’s programs, is still pertinent.
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