Botswana
Government media even solicit advertising from the private sector
and advertising agencies. They charge either lower or nominal rates
only, thus encouraging more advertisers to go to government and
not to private media.
A study by panelist Dr T. Balule on public sector advertising in the
private media showed that there is need for safeguards against
government manipulation of the private media. He also found that
most advertising is being placed in government media and not in the
private sector. Government should make the process more transparent. There is no market research to guide advertisers on which
market to target.
SCORES:
Individual scores:

2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

Average score:

1.3

2.13. The advertising market is large enough to maintain a
diversity of media outlets.
ANALYSIS:
Titles which have long been on the market and have developed a
brand for themselves manage to survive more easily than new entries into the field. There are varied estimates on the overall ad
spend, with one going up to P400 million. Internet, radio and others
have not yet explored the advertising market thoroughly enough.
The advertising market is large enough despite government’s destabilization tactics and new titles are coming up all the time.

20

African Media Barometer - Botswana 2005

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