MEDIA LANDSCAPE

OF PAKISTAN 2020

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Pakistani Media 2020
Until the dawn of the 21st century, the Pakistani media landscape comprised almost entirely
of print media publications. The only exceptions were two state-owned electronic media
entities – a national television broadcaster (Pakistan Television) and a public radio (Radio
Pakistan). The government’s monopoly over radio and television ended in 2002 when the
electronic media liberalization led to scores of private electronic media platforms to begin
operations. Since then TV news channels and, to a lesser extent, radio appear to have
become key sources of news and information for a considerable proportion of the population
in Pakistan. A number of print media organizations operating prior to 2002 expanded to
include TV and radio platforms, but many new entrants also benefited from the ending of the
state monopoly on the airwaves.

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Pakistani Media 2020
Pakistan’s is a multi-linguistic media landscape with clear urban-rural disparities. Urdu-
language publications have greater reach than those in any other language. The English print
media readership is far smaller in comparison but its publications have considerable leverage
among opinion makers. The English print media is urban-centric and generally tends to be
more progressive. There are currently no Pakistani English-language TV channels or radio
stations. Regional-language media boast varying level of influence confined largely to their
specific regions. The footprint of the mass circulation press has been small in Pakistan, and it
seems to be shrinking further amid the growth of the electronic media.

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Pakistan’s Top Newspapers

According to data on Pakistani media

audience shares in 2019 from Gallup
Pakistan, the accumulative audience
shares of top 10 newspapers
constitute 86% of the audiences
shares of all newspapers in the
country. The Top 4 newspapers have
70% of the audience share (more
than four-fifths) – while the remaining
6 have 16%.

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Pakistan’s top 10 Electronic Channels

The accumulative
audience shares of top 10
news TV channels
constitute 80% of the
audiences shares of all
news TV channels in the
country. The Top 4 TV
channels have 55% of the
audience share (more than
half) – while the remaining
6 have 25%

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Average TV Viewer Per Hour in Pakistan 3 years trend
Viewership ranges
between 1.82 and 2.33
hours a day; it is highest in
large cities (2.33 hours)
and lowest in rural areas
(1.82 hours).

Compared to the previous

fiscal year, viewership has
decreased across
Pakistan. The most
substantial decrease has
been witnessed in large
cities (8%).

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News/Drama/Sports & Religion Channel Share

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Radio Stations
The accumulative audience
shares of top 10 news radio
stations constitute 48.2% of the
audiences shares of all news
radio stations in the country. The
Top 4 radio station owners have
35.6% of the audience share
(more than half) as they own 7
out of top 10 outlets in the market
– the remaining outlets have
12.6%

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Pakistan’s Top Ten News Websites
The accumulative
audience shares of top 10
news TV channels
constitute 80% of the
audiences shares of all
news TV channels in the
country. The Top 4 TV
channels have 55% of the
audience share (more
than half) – while the
remaining 6 have 25%

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The size of Pakistan Media economy
Over the course of 2016 to 2019, Pakistan’s overall advertisement spending on media has
shown an overall declining trend. The total media advertising market in Pakistan at the end of
the fiscal year 2017-18 and in the preceding fiscal year, which included TV, print, radio, digital,
out-of-home, brand activation and cinema categories, according to quarterly Aurora magazine’s
print edition issued in the last quarter of 2018, was as follows:n fiscal year 2016-17, the total ad-
spend was PKR 87.7 billion (USD 730.8 million). How did the 7% decrease in overall media ad-
spend in Pakistan in 2017-18 (from the preceding year) translate for total advertising revenue
per medium and percentage share per medium? According to Aurora, the ad revenue for TV
decreased by PKR 4 billion (USD 33.3 million), a decrease of 9.5% in revenue and 2% in share;
for print it decreased by PKR 500 million (USD 4.1 million), a decrease of 2.5% in revenue and
1% in share; for digital it decreased by PKR 2.5 billion (USD 20.8 million), a whopping of
decrease of 46% in revenue and 4% in share; while for radio it decreased by PKR 500 million
(USD 4.1 million), a fall of 17% in revenue but no change by share

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The share of media industry in Pakistan

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The size of Pakistan Media economy

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Print Reach
Newspapers – biggest earners:
In terms of advertising revenue
in the fiscal year 2017-18,
according to Aurora figures, of
the top 15 biggest newspaper
earners, the top five newspapers
raked in PKR 9.7 billion (USD
80.8 million) or 56% of the entire
revenue of PKR 17.3 billion
(USD 144.1 million). Of these
the biggest winner was the Jang
Media Group with two of its
publications, the Urdu-language
Jang daily and English-language
The News daily, snapping up
over half of this revenue at PKR
5 billion (USD41.6 million).

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Trend Prediction
The Top 4 players in the online media have 24.84 percent (more than half) of the audience share, as
they own 8 outlets out of top 10 – the remaining outlets have 1.68 percent. Jang group has 9.84 percent
audience share in the overall total with three websites of Jang, The News and Geo, which proportionally
amounts to 37.1 percent of audience share of the top 10 websites. Express group has 8.03 percent
audience share in the overall total with two websites of Express News and The Express Tribune, which
proportionally amounts to 30.28 percent of overall audience share of the top 10 websites. Together Jang
group (37.1 percent) and Express group (30.28 percent) come to a total of 67.38 percent. This means
two media groups have over half of all news website traffic of the top 10 news websites in the country.
Clearly, diversity is a challenge.There is, of course, no data available for a breakdown of audiences for
all news and information websites in Pakistan. But clearly the digital versions of mainstream media
groups in Pakistan have an edge over any online-only news and current affairs websites. This is clearly
because offline versions of these mainstream media groups create a bulk of the content. Only a few,
such as Dawn Group, Jang group and Express Group, create any decent amounts of digital-only current
affairs content (such as news features, analysis and blogs) as they have to cater to larger international
audiences, mostly comprising a substantial Pakistani diaspora.

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Pakistan Digital Media Landscape

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 Traffic TOP TECH/Corporate Publication of Pakistan
No Publication
Monthly

1 UrduPoint 9 Million MEDIA RELATION

RANKING We already have a
very good relationship
Top 5 visited sites of with all the tech and
2 HamariWeb 8 Million PLATFORMS
Pakistan according to corporate blogs of
Similarweb is Pakistan especially
UrduPoint, These publication covers UrduPoint,
all major news
Daily Hamariweb, Daily Hamariweb, Daily
Tech/Corporate/Current
3 8 Million Pakistan, Pro Affairs Pakistan, Pro
Pakistan Pakistani and Pakistani and
whatmobile and WebPortal/Facebook/ Whatmobile. They
Dawn. They have a YouTube cover our events,
huge following in publish press release,
4 WhatMobile 7 Million Pakistan along with articles and also do
the highest traffic. our mobile reviews.
Also support us in
crisis management
Pro
5 2 Million
Pakistani

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 Top In-use
Macro Blogs | Publications | Tech Blogs | Lifestyle publication Print/Digital| Lifestyle
Influencers

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Publications Tech Bloggers

Macro Blogs

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Instagram Based Influencers Lifestyle publication Print/Digital

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3rd Party Resource dig-in, in order to reach out to a
boarder audience

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 Travel | Art &
Design | Lifestyle
We should collaborate with Travel bodies
like Destinations.pk, travel influencers and
utilize them in highlighting their journeys
from the lens of OPPO phones. This
creates a natural bond of the brand who
offers such brilliant Camera results, with
travelers who want to capture the scenic
beauty.
Apart form the Travel and lifestyle, the
brand should also avail collaborating
opportunities in Art and Design, by
collaborating with Art and Design institutes
or organizing OPPO Camera centric art
exhibitions. This will help the brand
establish its relationship within art and
design industry.
Seasonal Event
OPPO has witnessed the exposure and brand
recall which we generated by collaborating
with Pakistan’s most awaited cricketing event
i.e. Pakistan Super League. However, the
brand should not restrict its collaboration with
events to this and should participate / collab
with local annual events.
There are several Advertising Award Bodies in
Pakistan who organize awards for digital
marketing and advertising campaigns. Due to
the current COVID crisis, many of these has
not yet released their 2020 schedule except
Pakistan Digi Awards, who’s nominations are
being concluded recently. Other such awards
includes PISA Awards, PAS Awards, Effie
Awards, etc.
OPPO should keep up its appearance in such
awards and participate in them to be
highlighted among the local marketing realm.
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