Radio listening levels up - RAMS

27 Nov 2006

In total, weekly radio listening levels are significantly higher than both those of the October release and the year previous, according to the latest Radio Audience Measurement Survey (RAMS) by the South African Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF). The November release, the fifth of 2006, does however show that individual stations have not managed to secure significant audience increases for themselves.

Past seven day listenership has gone up by almost one percentage point, to 92.5% incidence, up significantly from the 91.6% penetration of RAMS October 2006, and the 91.2% of RAMS November 2005. These gains were seen particularly in metro areas, cities and large towns, in Gauteng (especially on the Reef), amongst white listeners, and in SU-LSM 6.

Average Monday-to-Friday listening is also up significantly, reaching 78.7%, well above the 76.6% of a year ago, and the 77.4% seen in the previous survey. Increased audiences in metro areas, cities and large towns, and in Gauteng, account for much of this gain.

Weekend

Listenership levels on the weekend, while not significantly up on the previous survey, have improved significantly over the levels seen in November 2005. Saturday listening, which is up especially in Cape Town, now stands at 74.2%, compared to the 72.9% in the year previous. Sunday listening is up to 73.0% from 71.2% in November 2005, with growth in metros and Pietermaritzburg, and in the SU-LSM 7 market.

Time spent listening has increased marginally on the previous release, and now stands at 32 hours per average week, and four hours, 34 minutes per day.

Station changes

Listenership levels for 70% of South Africa's radio stations show good upward trends, although none has shown any statistically significant audience growth. Repertoires remain identical to those of the October release, at 2.0 stations listened to in an average week.

A number of stations have experienced shifts in their audience profiles:

Total radio has seen a decline in SU-LSM 1 and 5 listeners, and a growth in SU-LSM 9 and 10 across the year.
5FM has grown its listener base in Kimberley (past seven days).
CKI FM Stereo is up in East London (past seven days).
iGagasi 99.5 fm has more SU-LSM 6 listeners (past seven days).
Lesedi FM has grown its SU-LSM 7 base both on a past seven day and average Monday-to-Friday level.
Munghana Lonene FM is up in cities and large towns (past seven days).
Phalaphala FM has grown its Monday-to-Friday audience in Gauteng.
Radio Pulpit's SU-LSM 9 audience has declined on an average Monday-to=Friday, as well as past seven days.
The Joburg audience is up for Total Community radio (past seven days). TNG FM 96.2 is the only community station to have significantly grown its audience, to 32 000 listeners in total.

The sixth and final SAARF RAMS wave for 2006 is scheduled to be released in early February, 2007.