1. The press market in Kenya
Two major players dominate Kenya’s press market: The Nation Media Group (NMG) and the Standard Group Limited (SGL) control an estimated 85% of the press products and services market. Both companies publish daily and weekly papers and have subsidiaries that distribute their own and other press products. NMG has Nation Marketing and Publishing (NMP) while SGL has the Publishers Distribution Service (PDS). There are, however, smaller players referred to as the «Alternative Press/Media». These include two notable magazine publishers (Oakland Media Services Limited and Parents Limited), two struggling daily papers (Kenya Timesand The People) and a string of erratic 4 to 16-page pamphlets referred to as the «Gutter Press» – «Gutter» because they focus on sleaze to extort money and other favours from wealthy individuals. The rest are mainly infrequent, cheap and largely inconsequential magazines seldom lasting three months. Oakland Media Services Limited is strongly emerging as a magazine publisher of note producing six different types of special interest magazines every month. In Kenya, the press business is governed by the «Books and Newspapers Act» (revised in 1987), sections 70 to 79 of the Constitution of Kenya and myriad supplementary regulations that come into force from time to time via the «Kenya Gazette» — the government’s official vehicle for supplementary legislation. These variously guarantee but also place caveats on press freedom.

Books
Kenya’s market includes 11 book publishers mainly focussing on publishing and distributing cheap school textbooks. The main ones are Oxford University Press (OUP), Macmillan, East African Educational Publishers, Longhorn, Longman, Phoenix, Kenya Lite- rature Bureau and Jomo Kenyatta Foundation. The last two belong to the Government of Kenya while the rest are privately owned. All these are members of the «Kenya Publishers Association» (KPA), which is an organisation for book and other publishers, booksellers and book printers.

Foreign press
The main driving force for international/foreign press is the foreign population resident in Kenya and the local population with interests abroad – in a word: business. Tourism does play a role too, though to a small extent. English language international/foreign press enjoys the largest readership. Through PDS and NMP, the major foreign newspapers and magazines are present in Kenya. PDS controls 75% of this segment distributing papers, magazines and books from Europe (mainly UK, France and Germany), USA and Australia. These include some French and German language publications such as Le Monde and Der Spiegel, even though Kenya is a predominantly English-language market. On the other hand, NMP distributes mostly South African titles as well as some international titles to the newsstands (withPDS handling their subscriptions).

2. Structure of press distribution
The market players in Kenya’s distribution market are as follows: - National: PDS and NMP. These two also distribute beyond borders to Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. - Regional: Kenya has eight regions known as provinces, with a total of 76 districts. At least one distributor serves each of these districts. Most press products are sold through newsstands dotted across the country, especially in urban centres. Books and some periodicals are distributed mainly through bookshops, which also stock newspapers and magazines. In addition, there are retail chains utilised in the process of distribution. The main ones are Nakumatt Holdings and Uchumi Supermarkets. These two have a national network, with Nakumatt’s continually expanding. However, there are also other smaller supermarkets, which are utilised as outlets for press products. In addition, many petrol stations, kiosks, shops, motels and hotels serve as outlets of press products. For the local press, most retail purchases are done at the newsstand from the newspaper vendor. Subscriptions and home deliveries are almost non-existent in Kenya and constitute only 4 % of total sales for both SGL and NMG. For books and magazines, subscription is almost zero. International/foreign press is distributed only to the major towns of Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu, leaving the rest of the country completely uncovered. The distribution within Kenya is done by road. While it is possible to distribute by air, the costs are exorbitant. However, PDS and NMP utilise air transport when distributing to Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

3. Pricing
The retail price is determined by the publisher, who offers appropriate and negotiated trade discounts to the distributors all the way to the vendor. Prices and discounts vary from product to product and from distributor to distributor. There is no specific market percentage rate in the public domain as such agreements are usually confidential. However, the publisher bears the cost of returns, including handling of the unsold products from outlets, back to storage and subsequent disposal.

4. Foreign publishers
There are some activities of foreign publishers in the national press market, especially on the book publishing market, where foreign companies such as OUP operate independently without any joint venture or licensing agreements with any local company. There are no specific regulations for foreign publishers in the national press market, other than the «Books and Newspapers Act» and the supplementary regulations that apply also to local players.

5. Outlook
Technology is likely to shortly change the market right from publication to distribution to handling returns. In the last 18 months for example, SGL has made substantial investments in technology, which are already beginning to reflect in its circulation figures. Coupled with fast-changing reading habits due to TV, movies, mobile phones and the very nature of modern life, technology will reduce barriers to entry, potentially leading to an explosion of press products. Also, new entrants will shape the press market. Both South African as well as consortia of local investors are said to be planning considerable new investments in Kenya’s press market.

Author: Chaacha Mwita, The Standard Group Limited