The two-month study analysed 624 editions of 12 publications in March and April 2020. Newspapers used in the research include BusinessDay, Daily Independent, Daily Sun, Daily Trust, Leadership, New Telegraph, Nigerian Tribune, The Guardian, The Nation, The Punch, ThisDay and Vanguard.

Typically, public relations and media houses have a symbiotic relationship. While the media serve as a platform for public relations to reach its audiences, PR provides media platforms with content to build readership and drive engagement. The relationship was visibly affected in April by the COVID-19-induced holiday.

There was a noticeable drop in the volume of public relations content pushed to the media as a result of decrease in corporate activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decline in the level of corporate engagements with stakeholders adversely affected the volume of newspapers in terms of number of pages. According to the research which was conducted on a 95% confidence level and a 2% margin of error, cumulative average number of newspapers’ pages decreased by 33.3% in April.

Speaking on the findings, Lead Analyst, BrandImpact Consulting, Austin Ayaosi, noted that even though in-house PR teams and agencies were working remotely, a significant part of what they did in April was deploying content in the media to inform stakeholders of what their brands and clients were doing to support in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

“Corporate engagement in April was majorly around corporate social responsibility which led to an increase in CSR-oriented content in the media. In the Banking sector, for instance, CSR-led content accounted for 55.8% of banks’ content in print media as against 12.9% CSR content in March”., he said.

However, the study shown that some tier-2 newspapers may not rely on PR-driven content to sustain their volume of pages as much as some tier-1 publications. It also revealed the scramble by PR professionals to connect with educated, enlightened, and well-informed high net worth audiences through tier-1 publications.

Mr. Ayaosi also noted that some media houses may actually need a bailout as large portions of their publications were dedicated to COVID-19 news coverage. “Volume of corporate and other ads declined. Corporate engagement was limited, ‘society big wings’ were on holiday, burial ceremonies and social gatherings were restricted; all of which negatively impacted the revenues of media houses. The impact was so severe that some publications could not even publish a single edition in April during the lockdown”.

BrandImpact Consulting is a media and public relations measurement and research consultancy that provides brands with data-driven insights to help public relations and communication managers design smarter strategies to achieve better results.

The post Research Shows How COVID-19 Affects Public Relations-Media Relationship appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

Afolayan, in a recently-held interview, said it was difficult to finance the loan due to the lingering COVID-19 in the country, adding that he started financing the loan from the first month it was secured despite the pandemic.

His words; “The intervention fund is a loan by the Central Bank, and it’s called creative industry loan. So, we accessed the loan, and we managed to secure properties. We arranged to start developing because our rent had already due where we were. But the whole pandemic thing really set us back.

“We started paying interest from the end of the first month of accessing this loan, and there was no revenue coming in. And it’s not a small amount of money. You can imagine paying 800,000 as just interest without the principal, and you aren’t growing any revenue yet.

“I think a month after, there was a directive from the CBN that the loan should be reduced by a certain percentage, and the interest rate helped to some extent. But we are still not generating revenues, and we are still required to pay.”

Here’s what you should know

Recall that in May 2019, the apex bank collaborated with the Bankers’ Committee, a move aimed at enabling investors and entrepreneurs in the IT and creative industry, to access credit facilities up to the tune of N500 million.

According to a circular seen by Unmask NG, the initiative was targeted at boosting job creation in Nigeria, particularly among the youths.

To be eligible for the loan, the CBN stated that interested candidates must have businesses in areas of the followings;

• Fashion
• Information Technology
• Movie Production
• Movie Distribution
• Music and
  Software Engineering Student Loan

Having satisfied the requirements of having a business in any of the areas highlighted above, interested applicants were then required to prepare a business plan or proposal on how much is needed for such a business.

How to obtain the CIFI loan – According to CBN, loans accessible through CIFI is in the tune of N500m. Breakdown of loans accessible are listed below

• N3 million for Software Engineering Student
• N30 million for Movie Production business
• N500 million for Movie Distribution business
• Cover your rental/service fees for Fashion and Information Technology business
• Cover your training fees, equipment fees, and rental/service fees for Music business

Terms and conditions of loan request: In fufilment to its promise of a single digit interest rate, the CBN stated that loans can be accessed at any bank applicant’s choice with a maximum interest rate of 9% per annum (all charges inclusive) on all loans.

Repayment plan and period: The repayment plan and period differ across business sectors from software engineer to fashion and Information Technology.

• For Software Engineering Student Loan, it is a maximum of three years
• For Movie Production and Distribution, it is a maximum of ten years
• For Fashion, Information Technology (IT) and Music, it is a maximum of ten years

The post COVID-19: Kunle Afolayan Laments Bitterly Over Secured Loan From CBN appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.