Some of Nigeria’s mega corporations spent about N143.7 billion in 2020 representing a 12.5% drop from the same period in 2019. This is according to data compiled by Nairalytics and sourced from the published financial statements of the companies.

According to a PWC report on entertainment and media, Nigeria’s entertainment market is poised to reach $10.8 billion (N4.4 trillion) in 2023, having reached $4.5 billion in 2018. The report stated that Nigeria’s E&M market is dominated by internet revenue, indicating a foreseeable growth in this sector in the coming years.

The report also projected Nigeria’s total advertising revenue at $483 million (N193 billion) in 2020, with the internet accounting for 20.5% of the total. The study revealed that although television advertisement will remain the ad leader in Nigeria by 2023, internet advertisement will outperform TV ad in terms of net additions.

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A similar report also revealed that most of the world’s best-performing entertainment and media consumer markets are in developing countries, with the likes of India, Nigeria, Philippines, Saudi Arabi, and Pakistan taking the lead, in that order.

The year 2020 was ravaged by the covid-19 pandemic, triggering a lockdown in some of the major economic hubs in the country. However, blue Chips still splurged heavily on advertising and marketing campaigns as they jostled to adjust to the new normal.

As Nigerians sat at home in response to the lockdown, they had more time to binge on streaming services, browse social media and engage in several other online activities. Advertisers had no choice but to keep up with the times, spending about $350 million on advertising and marketing. Whilst there was no dominant sector, the likes of Nigeria Breweries and MTN led the table as the highest spenders in the year.

Nigerian Breweries – N24.86 billion

Nigerian Breweries, the largest brewing company in Nigeria, which also exports to other parts of the West African region spent a total of N24.86 billion on advertisement and sales promotion in 2020,

This represents a decline of 13.8% compared to N28.85 billion spent in the previous year.

The brewing giant embarked on a number of endorsement and advertisement projects in 2020, some of which includes the endorsement of Grammy-winning Nigerian musician, Burna Boy as a brand ambassador for Star Lager, one of the products of the company.

In November 2020, the company also announced Erica Nlewedim of the Big Brother Naija reality tv show as a brand ambassador for the relaunch of their drinks, Legend Extra Stout and Star Radler as the brewing company aimed to improve sales of the products.

The company also sponsored the Access the Star musical talent show together with Access Bank.

This reflected in the company’s top line as it reported a 4.34% increase in revenue from N323 billion in 2019 to N337 billion in 2020.

MTN Nigeria – N15.14 billion

The telco giant incurred a total of N15.14 billion in advertisement, sponsorships and sales in 2020, representing a 13.83% decline compared to N19.84 billion recorded in 2019.

Some of the projects embarked on by MTN Nigeria in the period under review includes the launching of a campaign tagged “Turn-It-Up”, which is expected to help Nigerians turn things up and live their best. The programme generated a series of TV, radio press, and outdoor advertisements during the year.

Later in the year MTN Nigeria also unveiled a new campaign for its youth proposition, MTN Pulse which featured Nigerian music sensation as an ambassador of the campaign.

The company increased its revenue in this period by 15.1% as Nigerians increased their use of the internet and phone conversation to cope with the new reality of staying home during the lockdown.

Dangote Cement – N12.18 billion

The most capitalised company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and a top cement producing company in the country spent a sum of N12.18 billion on advertisement and promotion in 2020.

Its advert expenses increased significantly by 41.7% from N8.6 billion recorded in the previous year to N12.18 billion in 2020.

The cement industry is not known for television advertisements as it is easier to use physical and online banner advertisements to promote the product.

Dangote Cement is one of the highly profitable companies in the Nigerian corporate space. It reported a 15.98% increase in revenue, as it hit the one trillion naira mark compared to N891.7 billion reported in the previous year.

Access Bank – N11.32 billion

Access Bank closely followed Dangote Cement, having spent N11.32 billion on advertisement and marketing expenses in 2020. This represents an 80.49% increase when compared to N6.27 billion recorded in 2019.

Access Bank together with Nigerian Breweries, sponsored the “Access the Star” musical talent show in 2020, where the winner walked home with a grand prize of N150 million along with consolation prizes for the first and second runners up.

The company also engaged in a number of television, radio and online advertisements during the year.

This translated to a 14.69% increase in revenue of Access Bank as it posted a top line of N764.72 billion during the period.

Fidelity Bank – N9.59 billion

Fidelity Bank spent N9.59 billion on marketing, communication and entertainment in 2020, an 8.02% reduction compared to N10.43 billion recorded in the previous year.

The bank created online contents and other advertisements across various channels in the year. It also worked on placing banner ads on some internet media platforms in the country.

Fidelity bank however posted a 5.42% decline in revenue from N218 billion recorded in 2019 to N206.2 billion in 2020.

It is worth noting that Fidelity Bank’s advertisement expenses, includes communication, entertainment and marketing costs.

Others that made up the list of top 10 companies with highest advert expenses in 2020 are:

International Breweries – N8.82 billion

UBA – N8.51 billion

Guinness Nigeria – N8.18 billion

FBN Holdings – N7.72 billion

Zenith Bank – N7.66 billion

Corporate Nigeria represented by the largest listed companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange experienced a reduction in business travel expenses in the year 2020.

According to data obtained from the audited financial statements of the top 30 companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) known as the NSE-30 and verified by Nairametrics Research, travel expenses dipped by 36.97% from N49.54 billion recorded in 2019 to N31.22 billion in 2020.

Travel expenses include flight tickers, hotel expenses, cost of renting and maintaining private jets, local interstate and intrastate transportation etc.

• Of the 30 companies considered, only 3 of them increased their travel expenses in 2020. Notably, Guinness increased its travel expenses by 283.1% from N261.4 million to N1 billion in the review period.
• Nascon Allied Industries and Presco Plc incurred a sum of N91.8 million and N2.02 billion in travel expenses, representing a 125.2% and 33.7% increase respectively.
• On the other hand, MTN Nigeria recorded the highest decline in travel expenses, reduced by 79.9% to stand at N964 million as against N4.79 billion recorded in 2019. Stanbic IBTC followed with a decline of 60.95% to stand at N676 million.
• It is worth noting, that some companies were not included in this study as they did not disclose their travel expenses during the period under review.

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Why the drop?

The drop in travel expenses was expected as the entire private sector experienced a lockdown for most parts of the year due to Covid-19. The Federal Government introduced movement restrictions on land, sea, and air commute in response to the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

• This resulted in the cancellation of business travel expenses across the commercial and political nerve centres of the country. Bearing the brunt of this cut in expenses were airlines, hotels, and the entire travel industry who suffered massive revenue losses.
• The travel industry has been one of the worst-hit sectors due to the COVID-19 outbreak with lockdowns, travel bans, restrictions, and quarantines, which have had a severe impact on business travel for corporate entities in Nigeria.
• High travel cost implications, hotel rates, and reduction of airline services also made companies resort to phasing out in-person meetings and business travel, as it is more affordable and productive to go digital.
• The deployment of technology has helped companies cut their travel expenses since part of the key reasons for business travel is for conferences, meeting suppliers and customers. Going forward, video calls show strong potential to replace in-person meetings, resulting in fewer business travels.
• Additionally, business travels that are meant for training and other learning activities can be done through e-learning.
• The consistency of corporate entities in adopting technology by going digital will likely continue to reduce business travel expenses of corporations in the country.

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Gains and losses

On the flip side, online virtual work from home tools such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom recorded massive revenue boost as the private sector and even government relied on them to connect with clients, employees and other stakeholders.

• Unfortunately, Nigerian businesses, particularly the tech sector failed to take advantage of the travails of the hospitality sector losing much of this revenue to the likes of Microsoft, Google, Netflix, and Zoom. Nevertheless, other Nigerian tech companies, especially in the entertainment, payment, savings and loans space all recorded a significant boost in topline revenues.

The top 5 spenders

The increase or drop in travel expenses for some of the companies under review suggests the approach management took in response to the Covid-19 lockdown. While some reacted by going completely remote as indicative of their numbers, others continued spending, perhaps due to an inefficient cost structure that could not be scaled down despite the imposed lockdown.

Access Bank (N7.15 billion)

Access Bank Plc spent a total of N7.15 billion on business travel expenses in 2020, representing a reduction of 31.9% compared to N10.5 billion recorded in the previous year.

• The tier-1 bank accounted for 22.9% of the total travel expenses incurred by the top 30 companies on the NSE.
• The bank’s total asset as of December 2020, stood at N8.67 trillion, representing the highest on the NSE.

UBA (N4.94 billion)

United Bank for Africa incurred a sum of N4.94 billion on business travels in the year 2020. Its travel expenses reduced by 30.1% compared to N7.06 billion recorded in 2019.

• Its expenses accounted for 15.8% of the total recorded by companies under consideration.
• UBA recorded a growth of 27.7% in profit after tax from N89.1 billion recorded in 2019 to N113.8 billion in 2020.

FBN Holdings (N3.51 billion)

FBN Holdings the parent company of First Bank of Nigeria, one of the major financial institutions in the country, spent a total of N3.51 billion on travel expenses in the year under review.

• The tier-1 bank reduced its business travel expenses by 48.24% from N6.78 billion recorded in 2019 to N3.51 billion.
• Also, FBN Holdings accounted for 11.2% of the total business travel expense of the companies under consideration.
• It is worth noting that FBN Holdings classified its travel expenses as passages and travels.

Dangote Cement (N2.11 billion)

The most capitalized company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, valued at N3.7 trillion spent a total of N2.11 billion on business travel expenses in 2020.

• The foremost cement manufacturer in Nigeria recorded a 13.8% decline in travel expenses from N2.45 billion recorded in 2019 to stand at N2.11 billion in 2020.

Presco Plc (N2.02 billion)

Presco Plc, a fully-integrated agro-industrial establishment specializing in the cultivation, extraction, refining, and fractionation of crude palm oil into finished products, spent a total of N2.02 billion on travel expenses in 2020.

Its travel expenses in 2020, represent a 33.71% increase compared to N1.51 billion recorded in the previous year.

• It also accounted for 6.5% of the total travel expenses recorded by the companies under consideration.

Bubbling under

• Zenith Bank – N1.88 billion
• Seplat – N1.26 billion
• Guinness – N1 billion
• MTN Nigeria – N964 million
• Fidelity Bank – N964 million

Note: Fidelity Bank classified its expenses as travelling and accommodation, while MTN Nigeria as Trainings, travels and entertainment cost.