Advertising on Blackberry Messenger in Nigeria

I have noticed and I’m sure that other Blackberry Messenger (BBM) users on various mobile devices such as Blackberry, Android, Apple and Windows devices have been seeing ads either in bbm channels or feeds as Featured Placements, Sponsored Invites and Sponsored Posts.

By March, 2014, it was announced that Blackberry Limited will start placing ads, as a monetization strategy, but will be restricted to bbm channels and feeds.

This development has brought about mixed reactions because to some Blackberry Messenger users, the ads can be annoying, while to the advertisers, it is a means by which they can promote their products and services across all Blackberry Messenger users.

Based on the negative reactions gottens from Blackberry Messenger users, Blackberry Limited introduced a means by which the ads can be removed, through subscriptions.

Blackberry Messenger Subscriptions

After upgrading to the latest BBM, you’ll see a new section in the BBM Shop – Subscriptions. Subscriptions are additional purchasable BBM features that are based on a recurring fee. There are two subscriptions that will be available at launch – “No Ads” and “Custom PIN”.

How to remove Blackberry Messenger Ads

Advertisements can be removed from BBM for $0.99 USD per month with the No Ads subscription. This subscription removes all ads from your feed, and you will no longer receive sponsored invites from Blackberry Limited partners.

How to have a Custom PIN

With a Custom PIN subscription you can make a PIN that’s easy for you and your friends to remember and/or says something special about you. Custom PINs have to follow certain guidelines. They must be 6-8 characters long, and can include numbers and letters only. Special characters cannot be used and PINs are not case sensitive. A Custom PIN subscription is $1.99 USD per month.

BBM users with any active subscription get another little bonus – a badge on their avatar to show off their premium status. Take a look at the profile picture in the screenshot to see it in action.

You can view more on this development by clicking here

How to Advertise on BBM in Nigeria

For those who are interested in advertising on BBM in Nigeria, you can simply contact us via the form below and we will send you the requirements. We are operating as an agency to the accredited company for BBM ads in Nigeria. For more information about advertising, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Benefits of Advertising on BBM

• BBM can be installed on major mobile devices and it is widely used in Nigeria.
• Sponsored content can be targeted based on age, gender and location and it is strategically displayed at the top level of feeds, to attract users.
• Performance has been between 6-10% CTR on campaigns run so far – which is excellent value and way above industry standards.

How Blackberry Messenger Ads work

(Read more by clicking here)

1. Featured Placements

BBM Channel owners will have the ability to secure space on the Featured Channels tab to help promote their channel. As this is the landing page for BBM Channels, it is a great place for channel owners to promote their channel to millions of highly engaged and active customers.

2. Sponsored Invites

To help BBM Channel owners grow their channels, and help BBM Channels users find relevant, interesting channels, they are offering channel owners the ability to invite BBM users to join their channel.

By defining certain characteristics like age, location and interests, channel owners can ‘invite’ select BBM users to join their channel. These invites will appear in the invites tab of BBM, clearly marked as sponsored invites. As with invites from contacts, BBM users will have the control to accept the invite from the channel owner (subscribing them to that channel) or decline the invite.

If a BBM user declines an invite they will not receive invites from that channel in the future. BBM will be tightly controlling the number of sponsored invites a given BBM user will receive. They anticipate that they will limit these to a maximum of three per month. They will also control which brands/businesses are able to utilize Sponsored Invites; they want their ecosystem to be populated with high-value content that their users will find engaging.

3. Sponsored Posts

Within the Updates tab in BBM, they will allow BBM Channel owners to place sponsored posts alongside updates from their BBM Contacts and the BBM Channels they are already subscribed to. In the spirit of being open and transparent, these sponsored posts will be clearly labeled.

Just as they give BBM users control over their privacy and contact list, they are extending this control to which channel owners are able to present sponsored content in their updates feed. For instance, you’re a Toronto Maple Leafs fan and you are presented with a sponsored update from a competing hockey team. You can easily block future sponsored updates from this other team. The benefit to you, the user is clear – you won’t see sponsored updates from channels you’re not interested in. But the benefit also extends to channel owners as well as they won’t be wasting time and resources reaching uninterested BBM users.

Statistical Information on BBM usage in Nigeria

• There are over 4million BBM users
• 80% use BBM for personal use while
• 20% use it for business
• 70% of BBM users are on a contract with data
• 31% own their property
• 55% are male, while
• 45% are female
• 55% having shopped online before
• 28% earning more than NGN 200,000/mth
• BBM users spend 9 Hours + messaging weekly
• 60% use BBM 7 days a week
• 30% earn more than N200k per annum
• 79% University Educated
• Top Interests of BBM users are TV & Movies, Socialising, Sports & Fitness

Cost of Advertising on BBM

• The BBM ‘Premium’ Sponsored Posts & Invites, cost was $2.90 CPM (cost per thousand Targeted Ads) or N0.60kobo per impression but due to the devaluation of the Naira it is now $3.50 CPM (cost per thousand Targeted Ads) or N0.77kobo/impression
• Minimum booking/campaign amount was $1,500 which attracts about 516,000 impressions. It is now $1,000 which gets you 285,714 impressions at average engagement rate of 3 – 9% CTR (Clickthrough rate) depending on how creative and enticing the banners used are.

How BBM Ads are charged in Nigeria

BBM Ads are charged based on impressions. This means that for every person that sees your ad for a minimum of 2 seconds, counts as 1 impression which is N0.77kobo. In this case you get more viewership of your ad compared to other online ad providers. It then depends on how attractive your ad is for people to either click on it or accept an invite.

If you also want us to set up facebook, yahoo, google, linkedin etc ads for you, we are at your service.