THE BRIDGE TO SUCCESS IN COLOMBIA

Any company wishing to break into the Colombian market would benefit from working with a PR agency in Colombia, which can provide market intelligence and use their regional expertise to devise nuanced and localised brand messages that will reach the right people – something only a PR agency based in Latin America can do.

Why invest in Colombia? The country’s total GDP growth is expected to reach 3.5% by 2022. Its capital city of Bogotá generates about 30% of the country’s GDP, and is a regional hub for distinguished national and international companies, most of which are Latin American.

Whether you are a consumer brand, a business services provider or a disruptive tech start-up, Sherlock Communications’ award-winning team combines local insight and media contacts with decades of international experience.

Colombia has a very young population. According to Statista, the average age is 30. Around  42% of the current population is aged between 25 and 54, while only 7.44% of Colombians are over 65 years old.

Media dynamics in Colombia’s daily information cycle 

In Colombia, the daily news dynamic follows a 360-degree cycle across 4 stages, in which alternating information formats play a leading role.

This dynamic begins first thing in the morning with the edition of most main newspapers. According to the most recent survey by Cifras y Conceptos, the most-read newspaper is El Tiempo (14% readership) followed by El Espectador (13%) and La República (5%).

In the morning, the news filling the newspapers’  front pages dominate the opinion and information spaces of the country’s leading radio stations. Cifras y Conceptos reports that La W (28%) continues to lead this ranking, followed by Blu Radio and Caracol Radio at 6 am, both with 20%, RCN Básica (7%), La FM (6%) and Hora 20 (4%).

By noon, newscasts are highlighting not just the main events from the morning, but also news which breaks throughout the day. In this slot, online media such as Semana (7%) and television – including channels such as Caracol Noticias – lead the way.

The night slot summarizes the daily news and forecasts the front pages of the main newspapers the following day, on TV channels such as Caracol Noticias (31%), Noticias Uno (20%), Noticias RCN (13%), CM& (8%), and Red+ Noticias (6%).

No radio, no print news

What about TV? Yes, for now. According to Sherlock’s media consumption survey, about 97% of Colombians watched TV news at least once a week as of 2020, although by 2021 that figure had dropped to 91%. This is the biggest drop we observed in any of the Latin American countries we surveyed (Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Peru). 

Radio has experienced a similar decline in Colombia – from 18% in 2020 to 25% in 2021; as has print news – from 5% in 2020 to 19% in 2021.

Is social media the answer?

34% of Colombians maintain that television is the most trustworthy source of information, followed by the internet (25%), the radio (14%) and social networks (12%). In the latter category, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube were considered to be the most reliable sources. 

On the other hand, influencers are not considered to be reliable. Nearly 55% of Latin Americans say they trust influencers very little or not at all when it comes to factual news. The greatest rejection of influencers as bastions of truth came from Argentina, where 23% of respondents don’t trust them at all, and 41% trust them very little. Rejection was high in Colombia too – 24% don’t trust them at all, while 39% trust them very little. So, influencer marketing campaigns may not be your best option in  Colombia.

Colombia has a progressive outlook when it comes to the disabled: society is increasingly aware of the importance of creating inclusive spaces, and inclusion policies are being introduced for previously ignored subsets of society. Local media accounts for a large proportion of media content, and individual communities are relatively well represented. 

People with disabilities regularly appear on major media platforms like Caracol Radio, Canal Capital, City TV and others. As well as foregrounding the voices of disabled people, Colombian media increasingly employs people with physical limitations in the production process. Viewers are exposed to a multi-faceted view of disability, including content featuring NGOs that work with disabilities, and voices from public services.

Journalists typically use appropriate terminology in their representation of disability, and national programming does not tend to victimise disabled people in society. Certain outlets specifically treat issues relating to Afro and indigenous groups. 

“Breaking down barriers of exclusion and discrimination is everyone’s job. We’re not talking about doing anyone a favour; it’s an ethical and professional imperative. We must improve visibility and, at the same time, engage in awareness-raising work with the rest of society”. 

                       — Mauricio Naranjo, News Editor, Noticias Caracol Digital