Shortly after rebranding, K24 has witnessed an increase in mentions on social media overtaking NTV and Citizen which have held the online command for a while.
Statistics from Opinion Yetu data indicates mentions of the station shot to 3,793 by the end of yesterday (Monday) compared to 213 mentions on Sunday.
This was higher than its main competitors NTV and Citizen, who received 1,236 and 1,709 mentions respectively.
The increased following that has since followed on social media, with its Twitter account having seen an increase of more than 1,000 followers overnight, which will further drive its popularity index up from the current 3.1, compared to leaders Citizen’s with 14.3 according to the Kenya Advertising Research Foundation report.
This was also more than double the previous highest number of mentions when K24 received 1,459 mentions on March 9, following the official pronunciation of Uhuru Kenyatta, who owns the station, as the president elect.
The high mentions could be as a result of social media mobilisation by their acquired news team, many of whom have a large following on Twitter such as TerryAnne Chebet with more than 53,100 followers on Twitter, Tom Mboya and Tony Timase.
Good morning! Thanking you for that overwhelming support and encouraged me as we launched K24Business. Let’s talk business again tonight.
— Terryanne Chebet.(@TerryanneChebet) March 19, 2013
Many pundits predict the huge financial backing brought in by Uhuru Kenyatta, who is rated as the wealthiest individual in Kenya, is about to ruffle feathers in the industry even as viewers get more choice of content.
Apart from K24, they predict that Citizen will remain the channel to watch especially on how it manages to replace the defected talent, with the owner, S.K Macharia’s financial backing expected to play a big role.
