Global mobile surveying tool GeoPoll has been tracking the opinions of Africans over the ongoing US-Africa Leaders Summit, finding 37 per cent of Africans consider the USA to be the continent’s most important partner writes Tom Jackson.
Largest real-time mobile survey platform
GeoPoll is the world’s largest real-time mobile survey platform, and reaches a growing network of more than 150 million users worldwide through SMS, voice and web communications. The company said it had partnered with the ONE Campaign to release the results of a poll conducted in nine African countries over five days last month.
“The survey sought their views of the US and President Obama’s administration, their top health concerns, and how reliable energy access and agricultural investments would benefit their communities. The survey also asked which partner – the US, EU, or China – they consider the most important for the future of their country,” GeoPoll said.
With those polled considering the US and China as Africa’s most important partners, Europe came in third with 17 per cent. Six of the nine countries plumped by the US, Kenya and Benin voted China, and Tunisia said Europe.
Thirty-four per cent said the US has a “big” impact on their communities while 39 per cent said “some impact”, with only 11 per cent believing the US has a “negative impact”.
The primary concerns of surveyed Africans ahead of the summit were Education (21 per cent), Jobs (21 per cent), and Security (15 per cent), though only six per cent believe their government best addresses the issue of jobs and only 15 per cent believe it best addresses education. Security was the area respondents felt government’s best addressed (30 per cent).
GeoPoll has had a growing presence in Africa in recent months, launching the continent’s first overnight television ratings service, which offers data on the viewing habits of over 300 million people.
The launch of this service coincided with the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, with GeoPoll publishes viewing figures from a number of high profile matches involving African and non-African teams.
App uses mobile user network to deliver surveys
The app uses GeoPoll’s mobile user network to deliver surveys measuring viewership in half-hour time blocks, and looks to inform better advertising and programming choices. It is set to launch in five countries, including Nigeria and Kenya, initially, before expanding further across Africa.
“At GeoPoll, we’ve established a standard for delivering data insights in emerging economies, and with our new Audience Measurement Service, we’re offering a category first: overnight TV ratings from almost a third of the African population,” said James Eberhard, founder of GeoPoll and parent company Mobile Accord.
“Advertisers, brands and broadcasters have been relying upon limited data, which can’t keep up with shifting target audiences and programming. Our overnight insights will give these groups a more accurate picture of consumer behaviors and preferences as they spend hundreds of millions of dollars to engage rapidly growing audiences.”
