SAARF AMPS 2001B - Major Findings
Literacy and education levels continue to trend steadily upwards over previous surveys. Although not significantly increased, the adult literacy rate has increased from 92% in SAARF AMPS 2001A, to 92.4% in the current survey.
The average education level amongst South Africans has also shown a gradual improvement. Ten years ago, SAARF AMPS showed that 15.3% of South African adults had no schooling at all, a figure which has dropped to 9.2% in SAARF AMPS 2001B. Primary schooling has also increased over the past 10 years from 61.6% to 77.4%, and qualifications of matric and above have swelled from 21.2% to 31.9% over the 10-year period.
On a less positive note, unemployment remains a growing concern. Employment levels have again declined, although average household incomes have increased in line with the consumer price index (CPI).
On average, South African households earn R3 522 per month, up 4.6% on the year previous. This however, is a growth of only 0.6% in real terms, if the CPI of 4% as at October 2001 is taken into account.
SAARF AMPS' employment figures match other official figures. Levels of full-time work have dropped off significantly over the last survey. SAARF AMPS 2000 pegged full-time employment at 28%, which dropped significantly to 26.9% in 2001A, and to 25.7% in the current survey.
The number of people who classify themselves as 'unemployed', who by implication are looking for employment, has increased significantly from 29.9% in SAARF AMPS 2001A, to 32.6% in SAARF AMPS 2001B.
In total, counting those who are not actively seeking employment, such as students and retired people, 63.3% of South African adults, or some 18.3 million adults, are not working.
Access to water and electricity is on an upward trend, though no significant increases have come through over the last survey.
Over a ten-year period however, great strides in electrification of the country can be seen. Just under 50% of South African households had electricity in 1991. SAARF AMPS 2001B shows that now 80.3% of people have access to electricity in their homes.
The incidence of fixed landline telephones in households continues its significant downward trend, to 30.4% from 31.9% in SAARF AMPS 2001A and 33.8% in SAARF AMPS 2000B. The incidence of people owning cell phones on the other hand is still on a significant growth curve, from 19.4% in SAARF AMPS 2001A to 20.7% in the current survey. Ownership of these phones remains heavily weighted towards private ownership and prepaid rather than contracts, both of which are on the increase. Predictably, penetration increases up through the LSM groups, from 13% in LSM 4 up to 73.5% penetration in LSM 10.
Access to durables in the home is stable, with significant increases in the owning of fridges, from 59.5% in the previous survey to 60.8% (seen especially in rural areas); hi-fis (up to 56%); VCRs (up to 29.3%); and microwaves (up to 27.9%).
The number of adults purchasing lottery tickets in the past four weeks has risen significantly from 45.7% in 2001A, to 47.2%, or 13.7 million people. The age groups most likely to buy tickets remains the 25-34 and 35-49 year-old groups, where just over 30% of people find money for tickets. Penetration increases up through the LSM groups until LSM 6, after which it levels off.
SAARF AMPS 2001B gives quite a positive view of the newspaper medium on the whole, compared to the recently released ABC circulation figures. While people may not be buying more papers, or, as is the case for many papers, are buying even fewer copies, they're still ensuring they find a copy to read, even if they haven't bought it themselves.
Overall, readership of newspapers, as well as community papers, is up significantly from the last survey, from 40.2% to 42.9%, reversing the downward trend which had emerged in 2001A. Gains for total newspapers were made especially in the metro areas as well as rural, in the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, amongst males and females, and in the 16 - 49 age group. Losses were seen however, in the Western Cape.
Readership of any newspaper now stands at 12.445 million readers, with any daily accounting for 4.746 million of these readers, any weekly for 8.562 million, and any community paper and freesheet for 6.172 million readers.
As was the case in SAARF AMPS 2001A however, dailies continue to take strain. The average issue readership of dailies has declined by 1.8 percentage points to 16.4%, reinforcing a downward trend which has been evident in the past four SAARF AMPS surveys. The average number of daily papers per reader has also only increased fractionally from 1.24 papers to 1.25.
Declines in readership of dailies were seen significantly in the urban market, in Gauteng, the North West and Reef, amongst both males and females, and amongst 16-34 year-olds.
There is increasing usage of weekly newspapers. In light of the drop-off in daily readership, it would seem that people are being driven by cost, abandoning their usual daily paper in favour of the weekend edition only. More evidence of this is that the average number of weeklies read is up from 1.76 papers to 1.87 papers on average per person, continuing the upward climb from seen over previous periods.
Weeklies (including community papers and freesheets) are up significantly, from 35.7% in SAARF AMPS 2001A to 37.8%. Significant increases in weekly readership were seen in metros, in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, amongst males, and in the 16-24 and 35-49 age groups. In the weekly community paper or freesheet category, there have been readership gains in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga.
Penetration of community papers, both free and paid for, is substantially up in the Northern Cape, from 23.7% in SAARF AMPS 2001A to 29.2%. Significant increases were also seen in Mpumalanga, from 7.6% to 10.7%. Readership of community papers and freesheets was either stable or trending up from the last survey period.
There are seven new magazines being read in SAARF AMPS 2001B: monthlies Insig, SA 4x4, Shape and Smart Investor, alternate monthly SA Home Owner, and the quarterly Motorist and Vodaworld Magazine. The latter changed its frequency from an alternate monthly to a quarterly, so while most of the readership data can be released for it, the issue frequency is not comparable.
Two monthlies ceased publication during the fieldwork period: PC Magazine SA and Maxim.
In total, readership of magazines has increased significantly over the last survey period, from 39.5% to 40.7%, with 11.8 million South Africans reading the medium. Readership is up especially in metros, Gauteng, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, and amongst males. Newspaper and subscriber magazines are stable, with only two demographic shifts - up in Johannesburg and down in the Western Cape.
The average publication per person is up, continuing an upward trend seen in previous surveys. In SAARF AMPS 2001A, readers read an average of 3.01 magazines, which rose to 3.22 in the current survey. The average number of newspaper and subscriber magazines read per person is down slightly, from 1.65 in SAARF AMPS 2001A, to 1.63 in SAARF AMPS 2001B.
The picture for weekly or fortnightly magazines is very stable. The only significant readership change was seen in Kick Off, whose readership increased to 6.4% from 5.5% in the previous survey. This increase tops off a clear upward trend over the past four periods. Growth occurred in its metro, Free State, Bloemfontein, Gauteng, Johannesburg, male, and 25-34 year-old market.
People magazine is establishing an upward trend, growing over each period, from 1.4% in SAARF AMPS 2000A to 2.1% in SAARF AMPS 2001B.
There is quite a bit more movement to be seen in the monthly magazine category. Significant shifts in readership figures over the last survey period were seen in a number of publications.
Although not showing significant increases over the last period, a number of titles are showing readership figures with clear upward trending (with slight increases across at least three surveys). These titles include Car (up in metropolitan areas); Drive (up in metros, Gauteng, Pretoria and amongst Afrikaans speakers); Femina; Finesse; SA Gardening (up amongst metros, Gauteng, males and 35+); Living & Loving (up amongst Afrikaans speakers); marie claire; Men's Health; Readers Digest; SA Sports Illustrated; SL; Top Car (up in Gauteng); Woman's Value (up amongst Afrikaans speakers); Y Mag; and Your Baby (up amongst metros, Northern Cape, Gauteng, and females).
Other magazines showed shifts within their audiences, though no significant readership changes, are:
Total cinema attendance is static over the last survey, showing no significant gains or drops, although there is a slight downward trend beginning to appear.
Outdoor advertising continues to be the star performer, with claimed exposure to outdoor advertising over seven days still on the up and up. Billboards are up from 63.4% in the previous six-month period to 66.5%; buses from 29% to 30.2%; bus shelters from 23.3 to 27.4%; stores up from 72.6% to 75.7%; trailer ads from 22.3% to 25.9%; and trains from 8.9% to 9.6%. Only taxi advertising has not shown any significant increase, but is nonetheless on an upward trend. This increased exposure to the medium points to increased levels of mobility for the South African population.
In previous surveys, the increases seen in the medium were thought to be, in part, due to changes in the flashcard methodology. The increases in the latest surveys, however, prove that these are indeed real growths.
The top three types of outdoor advertising seen in both urban and rural areas are stores, billboards and taxis.
From its initial burst, the Internet in South Africa is not growing at any great pace. In fact, it is showing a slight downward trend, although nothing significant. People who accessed the Internet, either at home or at work, in the past four weeks, numbered 4.5% of the population, or 1.31 million. On a past seven day filter, 3.7% or 1.079 million logged on. PCs in the home are showing a gradual, though not significant increase, to 9.7%.
Obtaining information is still the number one online activity, and half of those looking for information get news, followed by business and financial information, and finally they read an online magazine or newspaper. Emailing is the second most common activity, followed by banking online, and a fraction of surfers made purchases online. The online information-gathering activity with the least incidence is listening to streaming radio.
This is the first time that FMCG product category data is available for the full fieldwork period. Number of units and heavy/medium/light categories will be released for 151 categories. The data can however, be segmented in a number of ways other than heavy/medium and light, to suit users' needs.
This is the second time that this section of the research was obtained via a self-completion questionnaire for FMCG product categories, which is left behind with the RAMS diary once the AMPS interview is completed.
Since there is a difference in methodology between the newly released product data and that of previous years, comparisons cannot be made. The data can however, give a picture of the development of the country. Looking back over ten years, to 1991 when SAARF AMPS used unit measurement for product categories that were comparable, one can see the influence of increased access to stores, increased mobility, real income growth for certain groups, and a movement of stores into rural areas.
Usage of most products has risen substantially over the last ten years. Only usage of cigarettes has gone down, as well as cold-drinks and fizzy drinks (although diet cold-drinks have gone up). Consumption of beer is also down, pointing to the entry of ciders and alcoholic fruit beverages onto the market.
Growth in the purchase of various categories also points to the increasing development of the country. For example, just under 40% of people purchased dishwashing liquid in 1991, compared to 65.4% in 2001. Purchase of batteries has gone down over the period, as access to electricity has gone up.
The number of respondents with financial services has again remained unchanged, both in total and across demographics, as was the case in the previous survey.
ATM cards however, are significantly down in large urban areas, Gauteng and KZN, amongst both males and females, and in the 25-49 age group. Credit cards are stable in total, but have decreased in Gauteng.
Personal loans have seen declines in large urban areas, in the Western Cape and Gauteng, amongst males, and amongst those over 35.
Insurance policies, plans and investments have stabilised after a decline in SAARF AMPS 2000A. Whole life policies however, continue to decline in total and amongst the Afrikaans sector. Funeral insurance, while stable in total, shows decreases in the Western Cape and Gauteng.
