Request for Proposals - Audience Measurement Consultant

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Background

Ubongo is Africa’s leading producer of kids’ edutainment in Africa, creating fun, localized, and multi-platform educational content that helps children learn and improve their lives. We are Africa's biggest classroom and currently reaching over 42 million households in 12 languages across 23 countries.

Introduction

Ubongo’s edutainment content is distributed across TV, radio, mobile, and digital platforms, ensuring broad accessibility for children and caregivers across Sub-Saharan Africa. Through Akili and Me, Ubongo Kids and Nuzo and Namia we reach millions via TV, radio and digital channels such as YouTube, mobile apps, WhatsApp, and social media. Our diverse adaptation and distribution strategies ensure that children all across Africa, including those in low-connectivity and rural areas, can engage with fun, educational content anytime, anywhere.

Purpose

As part of its strategy to better understand and optimize the reach and engagement of its content, Ubongo is seeking to engage an experienced Audience Measurement Consultant to design and implement a robust audience measurement system that accurately captures the size of Ubongo’s Audience (Number of kids watching our shows), engagement, and retention across TV, Radio, SVOD and Online in the following countries: Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Malawi, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Senegal. This will support strategic decision-making and help optimize content delivery. This system should accurately capture audience size, penetration, engagement, and retention of Ubongo's content across stated platforms considering both quantitative and qualitative data.

Objectives

The objectives of this project are as follows:

Priority Objectives

1. Assess Audience size and Penetration for Ubongo’s Edutainment Content:
   • Determine the total number of households and individuals reached through Ubongo’s TV, radio, and digital content.
   • Calculate the penetration rate (percentage of the target population reached) for each platform.
   • Compare audience reach across different regions and countries where Ubongo operates.
2. Analyze audience behaviour, tracking peak viewership periods as well as lowest viewership periods Ubongo’s Programs, segmented by Country:
   • Assess the percentage change and variation in quarterly and monthly audience reach for Ubongo Kids in each country.
3. Measure Customer Retention and Churn for Ubongo Kids Edutainment Programs:
   • Track viewer and listener retention rates over specific timeframes (e.g., monthly, quarterly).
   • Identify reasons for audience churn designed to develop strategies to improve retention.

Secondary Objectives

1. Analyze Audience Distribution across regions and identify growth areas:
   • Geographic Coverage: Measure Ubongo’s reach in urban, rural, and regional areas to identify underserved locations.
   • Audience Density: Identify regions with the highest concentration of viewers/listeners to determine strongholds and potential growth areas.
2. Assess Audience Reach and Engagement across multiple platforms (TV, Radio, Digital) in Sub-Saharan Africa:
   • Compare audience engagement metrics (e.g., net promoter score, likes, comments) across different platforms.
   • Measure average time spent and interaction rates on TV, radio, and digital channels.
   • Determine which platform drives the highest engagement and analyze variations in audience interaction across platforms.

Scope of Work

The consultant will be responsible for:

1. Developing a Customized Measurement Framework: Propose a methodology that includes both quantitative and qualitative approaches. It should address key investigation areas such as:
   • Audience size.
   • Audience demographics, including age, gender, and socioeconomic status.
   • Geographic segmentation and distribution of viewership.
   • Audience engagement variation across platforms (TV, radio, digital).
   • A statistical multiplier that will be used to determine audience size based data collected.
2. Jointly developing a data collection tool with Ubongo: Develop or integrate survey tools to accurately capture data.
3. Data Analysis and Reporting: Deliver detailed reports with insights on audience behavior, reach trends, and platform preferences using data visualization tools.

Expected Deliverables

• Inception Report: A detailed plan outlining the methodology, data collection tools, and timeline.
• Audience Reports: Data on number of kids/ households who have watched Ubongo’s shows, Insights into engagement, and retention, segmented by region, age group, and platform.
• All Raw Data: visual dashboards that display reach calculations, rural vs. urban sample sizes, and viewership variations across specific programs and time slots. Additionally, the dashboards should include insights into the factors influencing these trends, along with an episode-specific analysis of content aired during the data collection period.
• Population raw data from target areas.
• Analysis Reports: Detailed analysis on specific investigation areas, such as regional reach variation and platform-specific engagement.
• Final Report: A comprehensive summary of findings, challenges encountered, and recommendations for future audience measurement efforts.

Contract Duration

The consultancy will run for a period of 12 months, with potential extension based on performance and project needs. Deliverables are expected to be submitted as soon as they become available.

Required Qualifications

We are looking for an audience measurement company to collect Ubongo's Audience Data. The company must:

• Have certified and experienced data collectors and data analysts
• Demonstrate capacity to collect data across multiple geographies
• Have expertise in audience measurement and analysis
• Be certified in data collection and conducting surveys to ensure research is conducted ethically.

Proposals

Proposals must be submitted by email only in PDF format by the 21st February 2025 at 17h00

Eastern African Time. The proposal should be submitted to tunu@ubongo.org. Questions or requests for clarification can also be sent to the email address provided above no later than February 21st 2025. Ubongo will not accept proposals received in any other format.

Document Submission

1. A Technical proposal outlining the approach and methodology as to the execution of the terms of reference.
2. A Financial proposal indicating all the cost assumptions and cost breakdown of the assignment. This includes a pricing schedule.
3. Company profile, which must clearly demonstrate the necessary skills and experience in the areas of expertise contained in this RFP.
4. Details of similar projects conducted within the past 6-10 years (Four (4) projects).

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