Omega Ukama 
INDEPENDENT national television station, 3Ktv — which celebrated a full two years of non-stop live broadcasting yesterday — is proving to be a major boon for marketers.
Zweli Sibanda — the managing director of Jester Media Services’ (JMS) Broadcasting Division — told The Financial Gazette yesterday that 3Ktv had become “a trendsetter in terms of the marketing and consumption of TV products in the country”.
“Our business partners are telling us that 3Ktv has indeed become a boon for business, as it is offering them an optimal and much-needed marketing channel on the silver screen that had been missing until the station launched in 2022.
“On that score, the support that we are receiving from both viewers and advertisers is phenomenal, and well beyond what we expected to get so early into 3Ktv’s short life,” he said.
Zweli Sibanda — the managing director of Jester Media Services’ (JMS) Broadcasting Division
“Advertising on television, and on 3Ktv in particular, is very effective in terms of reaching large audiences frequently and quickly — given the ubiquitousness of TV sets in the country.
“Another one of 3Ktv’s advantages for our business partners is that we are also on MultiChoice’s DStv platform, which has very high engagement rates.
“Our rich programming menu also offers the benefit of excellent audience targeting, which has long been a part of TV marketing — such as advertising at certain times of the day and on certain programmes to make sure that one hits the right audiences,” Sibanda said further.
3Ktv is a free-to-air (FTA), digital terrestrial television (DTT) station. This means that contrary to social media babble, anyone with the right equipment — such as a digital TV set or suitable set-top box — can receive its programming for free wherever the signal is available.
However, 3Ktv’s feed is also available through other platforms for which subscription fees may be payable. This explains the commercial station’s key partnership with MultiChoice which has seen it also hosted on DStv’s channel 293.
Licensed in November 2020 after coming up tops in a competitive, open bidding process, the fast-growing station went live amid palpable excitement in the country on February 28, 2022.
In the process, the most watched local channel on satellite made history and became the first private station to operate legally in Zimbabwe since television was first introduced in the then Southern Rhodesia in November 1960.
Pilate Machadu, the Group CEO of JMS, the owners and operators of 3Ktv, earlier told The Financial Gazette that the station was continuing to perform well ahead of all forecasts and projections — including with regards to its viewership numbers and advertising volumes.
“We can’t thank our viewers and business partners enough for the incredible support that they are giving 3Ktv. May this long continue.
“Similarly, we owe all our staff across the JMS Group who are ensuring that 3Ktv remains at the top a huge debt of gratitude. Please keep this up.
“It would also be remiss of me not to thank the many production houses and artistes who have contributed so much to making 3Ktv the broadcasting phenomenon that it has become,” Machadu said.
“We are confident that things will only get better for the station and the rest of the JMS Group’s iconic media assets that include The Financial Gazette, the Daily News and the Daily News On Sunday.
“This time last year, as we were celebrating 3Ktv’s first birthday, I described the launch of the station as a miracle — because the odds looked like they were against us before we went live.
“This was especially so as that launch took place amid many environmental challenges that included the lingering negative effects of the Covid pandemic and significant market shocks.
“But two years down the road, and to the surprise of many, things continue to go swimmingly well for 3Ktv — which is fantastic,” Machadu added.
“Overall, when one looks at the group’s growth trajectory and unique commercial sustainability over the past few years, JMS remains firmly on course to becoming the country’s biggest media house by the end of the current decade.
“But we are not sitting on our laurels. Indeed, we are ramping up our strategies and continuing to make significant new investments in all our areas of operation — encompassing print, broadcasting and digital nationally and in the region.
“At the heart of what we do as a group is constant innovation and a peerless, balanced approach to content that empowers our audiences and is worth knowing,” Machadu said further.
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