Kenya’s mainstream advertising market contracted sharply in 2025, recording a 22% year-on-year decline to Ksh 66.3 billion and the industry faces a steeper drop ahead.
The fall, documented in Reelanalytics’ 2025 Kenya Media Landscape Report, marks the second consecutive year of significant decline after spending peaked at Ksh 135.5 billion in 2022. Tighter government regulations on betting and gambling advertising drove much of the retreat, stripping one of the highest-spending categories of its promotional reach across television, radio, and print.
What Pulled the Market Down
The betting and gambling sector had for years ranked among the biggest buyers of airtime and print space. New regulations changed that quickly. Stricter advertising rules curtailed promotional activity across the sector, and its retreat pulled overall spend figures down across all mainstream channels.
Television bore the heaviest blow. TV advertising expenditure dropped 22% to Ksh 39.1 billion, while radio fell 5% to Ksh 25.9 billion. Print declined 25% to Ksh 1.4 billion, continuing a longer structural retreat that now sees the medium commanding a fraction of the market it held four years ago.
Not every sector pulled back. Banking emerged as the leading advertiser across both TV and radio in 2025, with KCB, Co-operative Bank, NCBA, Equity Group, and I&M Bank all ranking among the top spenders. Safaricom led all individual advertisers, accounting for 8% of total mainstream ad expenditure through campaigns including Safaricom Shangwe @25 and the M-Pesa Sokoni Festival. MultiChoice Kenya ranked second overall.
The One Bright Spot: Out-of-Home Advertising Grows
While mainstream media contracted, out-of-home advertising moved in the opposite direction. OOH spend grew to Ksh 6.4 billion in 2025, up from Ksh 5.6 billion in 2024, driven by the rapid spread of digital out-of-home screens across Nairobi and other urban centres.
The beverages sector led OOH spending at 18% of total investment. East African Breweries Limited accounted for 13% of individual brand spend, a deliberate strategic response to daytime broadcast restrictions on alcohol advertising, which pushed the company toward extensive nationwide OOH deployments instead.
New regulations shaped OOH too. From May 2025, only digital or electronic billboards can carry gambling advertisements. Operators face a limit of two ads per hour on digital screens and face an outright ban near schools, playgrounds, and religious institutions. All gambling-related outdoor marketing now requires sign-off from both the Betting Control and Licensing Board and the Kenya Film Classification Board.
2026 Outlook: Further Decline, Then a Digital Shift
Reelanalytics projects mainstream advertising expenditure will fall a further 20% in 2026, based on six years of trend data. The forecast sits at approximately Ksh 52.7 billion, with the same structural forces — regulatory pressure on gambling, softer consumer demand, and tighter marketing budgets — continuing to weigh on television, radio, and print.
The broader economy provides limited relief. GDP growth is projected to recover from 4.5% in 2025 to 4.9% in 2026 and 2027, but political risk tied to the 2027 election cycle is expected to dampen investment confidence and encourage cautious advertising budgets as the campaign period approaches.
Three structural forces will shape where the market goes from here. Television and radio retain reach, particularly for competitive sectors targeting mass audiences, but advertisers increasingly demand passive measurement tools to justify spend rather than relying on rate card estimates.
Digital platforms, led by TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, continue to absorb growing share of advertising budgets as smartphone penetration rises and these platforms entrench themselves as primary news and entertainment sources, especially among younger audiences. OOH, bolstered by digital infrastructure and data-driven targeting, is evolving from a passive format into an interactive channel that can follow consumer movement patterns in real time.
The market is not simply shrinking. It is restructuring and where advertisers choose to place their money in 2026 will reflect that shift.
