For decades, Nation Media Group (NMG) and Standard Group have anchored Kenya’s media landscape, guiding public discourse through newspapers, TV, and radio. But as 2024 draws in the rear-view mirror, both are grappling with serious financial headwinds that threaten their traditional dominance and journalistic missions.
Nation Media Group’s latest annual report tells a sobering story. In the year ended 31st December 2024, revenues dipped 12.5% to Ksh 6.229 billion, from the previous year, as the market leader in the newspaper market grapples with changing media consumption trends. Despite efforts to pivot online — where unique monthly users rose to 62.4 million — the group swung to a net loss of Ksh 254.4 million.
Nation Media Group has also been spending big on offloading employees as it seeks to cut its payroll, hoping to find a leaner staff to work in an increasingly digital media environment. This process alone took up Ksh157.8 million in 2024, contributing a huge chunk of the loss.
This marks a steep fall from FY 2023, when NMG still managed a marginal profit. Earnings per share dropped from a Ksh 1.09 loss in 2023 to Ksh 1.47 in 2024. Though advertising remains its bread-and-butter, contributing over two-thirds of its revenues, shrinkage in both ad spend and print circulation cut deep.
> Daunting Task Ahead for Nation Media’s New CEO Geoffrey Odundo
Standard Group’s 2024 results are even more dire, with staff layoffs and salary delays becoming part of its business strategy. Revenues contracted 22.6% year-over-year, plunging to Ksh 1.843 billion from Ksh 2.381 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, losses before tax surged to Ksh 1.1 billion — a 52% increase from the Ksh 723 million loss recorded in 2023.
Operating costs slimmed only slightly by 3%, insufficient to offset the collapsing revenue. The result: negative equity deepened to Ksh 2.2 billion, a precarious position requiring urgent financial action. In May 2025, shareholders approved a Ksh 1.5 billion rights issue to shore up the balance sheet.
What’s Driving the Decline?
First is digital disruption. Mobile-first news platforms are eroding print and broadcast audiences. Kenyans increasingly absorb news via online snippets, videos, and social media — pulling eyeballs (and ad revenue) away from legacy outlets.
Ad budget cuts resulting from a weakened macroeconomic environment has prompted advertisers including government agencies to shrink marketing spend or shift to more controllable digital channels.
Then there is structural rigidity. High fixed costs – printing presses, staff, legacy broadcast infrastructure – give the groups little flexibility compared to agile digital startups.
Pivots & Challenges Ahead
Nation Media is leaning heavily on its digital arm, Nation.Africa. It has prioritized analytics, video, and even paywalls. Yet profitability remains elusive — online monetisation continues to trail the old ad-centric model. NMG says it is repositioning technology as an enabler to accelerate the transformation of the business into a digital-first media house, serving relevant and impactful content to audiences.
“The rebuild of our broadcasting business is gaining traction driven by deliberate investment in talent, content, and technology,” NMG says in its outlook by Ms Angela Namwakira, the Company Secretary. “We continue to focus on creating compelling content to enhance brand trust, drive audience engagement and optimize monetisation of our expansive digital reach.”
At Standard Group, management aims to use proceeds from its rights issue to pay down liabilities and ramp up its digital transformation — though exactly how remains to be seen. The management says the media industry is currently facing significant disruptions that are adversely affecting revenue streams and profit margins in mainstream business sectors. In 2024, the macroeconomic environment remained challenging, marked by a slowdown in growth and Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
> Standard Group’s Ksh 1 Billion Loss in a Changing Media World
This deceleration can be attributed to several key factors: a major liquidity crunch, ongoing inflationary pressures, climate-related disruptions, and decreased public spending. The rise in inflation, primarily driven by increasing prices of essential goods and services, has significantly limited consumer purchasing power. In response, the business implemented various strategies to mitigate these negative impacts.
Both NMG and Standard Group face pressure to chase sensational headlines or sponsored content as legitimate ad revenue weakens — often undermining journalistic standards.
As traditional media falters, industry voices shrink. A more fragmented media scene may lack the reach and resources to hold power to account. While urban, internet-savvy audiences get rich, free online content, rural Kenyans — still reliant on radio and print — may see service declines as legacy outlets trim costs.
Kenya’s oldest media institutions are at a crossroads. To survive and uphold their watchdog roles, they must accelerate digital-first strategies with compelling video, data journalism, and mobile experiences. There is need to diversify revenue — events, subscriptions, branded content, even micro-payments.
While this is a tall order, legacy media need to safeguard editorial integrity while experimenting with sustainable monetisation models. These steps won’t guarantee financial recovery anytime soon. But without them, the risk is grim: a weakening of public discourse and informed citizenship in Kenya.
> Lawyers Facing Growing Health Pains – LSK President Reveals
Leave a comment