AUDIENCE ASSESSMENT OF BROADCAST MEDIA ON COVID-19 AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS

ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to examine audience assessment of broadcast media on Covid-19 awareness campaigns in Benin Metropolis. The rationales of the study were: (i) to ascertain the influence of broadcast media of Covid-19 awareness campaign on Benin City residents; and (ii) how such exposure shaped their attitude and perception. The study was anchored on three theories – Agenda setting theory, Media dependency theory and Perception theory. The researcher adopted survey method design using questionnaire to administer to respondents. Simple random sampling was adopted while simple frequency was used for data analysis. The finding showed that residents of Benin Metropolis are highly exposed to the broadcast media campaigns of Covid-19. Findings further revealed that the exposure to covid-19 campaigns influenced respondents behaviour positively, helped them to adhere to the Covid-19 precautionary measures and also improved respondents’ health education. Based on these findings, it was concluded the Benin residents’ exposure to broadcast media campaigns helped shaped their attitude and their believability of the existence of the virus. To this end, it therefore recommends, amongst others, that the broadcast media should continue in creating awareness on Covid-19 and other health related challenges, make use of door-to-door/rural campaigns, organise health programmes and the use of other media such as social media and print media.