AudiencScapes

A highly rated Kenyan soap opera connects with its audience through text messaging and the Internet. While addressing serious topics in each week’s episode, Makutano Junction also has plenty of romance, humor and intrigue. Off the air, the show offers viewers resources and information.

By Dinfin Mulupi

“I have just watched Makutano Junction, and I have a problem and want to take it to children’s court. It concerns my kid who has been neglected by her dad. Please can you advise?” This is one of the SMS text messages received by the producers of a Kenyan soap opera after an episode aired that dealt with child abuse. 

Unlike conventional soap operas, the aim of Makutano Junction is not to titillate but to educate. And, as this viewer’s text message illustrates, Makutano Junction’s producers also try to engage their audience and point them to resources to solve their problems. Produced by Mediae Company, the serial drama seeks to inform its audience about their legal and human rights, government policies and development issues. As one of the country’s most popular TV series, Makutano Junction’s more than 8 million viewers are evidence of its success in combining entertainment and education.

The soap opera is set in the fictional town of Makutano Junction, following the lives and frustrations that resonate with the situations Kenyans face in daily life. The weekly series goes the extra mile of offering solutions to the problems it casts light on. Issues raised in the series range from personal health matters like family planning and unsafe abortion to economic matters like land inheritance.

Makutano Junction is a low-cost production, spending nearly US$390,000 on each series and employing about 60 people during production. Although the program used all English directors when it started, it is now handled entirely by Kenyans. It airs on Citizen TV, a leading broadcaster with a massive audience in rural Kenya.

Talking to the Audience
Recently, the show’s producers created opportunities for the audience to further explore the issues tackled in each week’s episode. Makutano Junction reaches out to viewers through mobile SMS-text messaging, educational leaflets and a website. At the end of each episode, viewers are encouraged to ask questions, seek expert advice and suggest topics for future episodes.

“Every week we receive between 500 and 1,000 SMS from viewers barely five minutes after the episode being aired ends,” says executive producer David Campbell. “We send out hundreds of leaflets to our viewers who request it.”

The leaflets contain additional information on the topics covered. Frequently the leaflets contain comics, as they are a popular and accessible way to convey valuable information. See a sample leaflet here:
On July 31 this year, three days before Kenya’s constitutional referendum, Makutano Junction aired a special episode focusing on peace. Comics containing a message of peace from the show’s characters and other prominent personalities were sent to viewers.

Changing Viewers’ Attitudes and Actions
Whether the show is affecting its audience is a matter of great concern to the producers and funders. Mediae conducts research before and after every series, measuring audience numbers, change of attitude, knowledge and behavior around the specific issues on the show. Producers rely heavily on this research  to get a clearer idea of the information needs of their audience.

“We do research to measure change in Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (a KAP study) after watching Makutano Junction,” says Campbell. “Generally, we will see a 30 percent increase in knowledge, 20 percent change in attitudes and 15 percent claimed behavior change.”

For example, the research has shown behavior and attitude changes in people who watched episodes dealing with old traditions such as female genital mutilation and how to handle diseases like malaria.

Television Across Borders
Due to the show’s success in Kenya, Mediae and another British firm, Just Ideas , are using Makutano Junction in a pilot project to teach British students about development issues in Africa. The project involves evaluating the perceptions students hold about Africa before and after watching Makutano Junction.

Now in its third year, the TV show has been broadcast outside of Kenya in Uganda and Tanzania. In the future, Campbell says Mediae is hoping Makutano Junction will be broadcast in Rwanda, Ghana and Zambia.

Dinfin Mulupi is a business journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya. She is currently the East Africa corresp for an online business paper based in Cape Town in South Africa.
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