SAARF RAMS May 2014 results

National listening levels

Once again, radio listenership has remained stable on the previous RAMS release, RAMS Feb 2014.

This latest release on radio listenership from the South African Audience Research Foundation (SAARF), RAMS May 2014, shows steady listening levels, with Monday-Friday, Saturday and Sunday quarter-hour levels that are almost identical to those of the previous release.

Total listening levels are:

• Seven-day listening (p7d) - 89.2% (33,208-million listeners)
• Average Monday to Friday listening - 68.7% (25,550-million listeners), with a decline in reach in Cape Town.
• Saturday listening - 64.8% (24,124-million listeners), with declines in cities and large towns, and in white audiences.
• Sunday listening - 63.8% (23,742-million listeners)

Time spent listening

Time spent listening rose by one minute over the previous survey, RAMS Feb 2014. The average time spent listening per day is now three hours, 30 minutes, with a weekly average of 24 hours, 30 minutes.

Individual station data

Only two radio stations showed statistically significant shifts in their audience levels over the previous survey. Power 98.7 grew its weekly audience figures from 0.1% to 0.2% (large urban data only), taking its numbers up by a healthy 52,000 listeners to 91,000 in total.

In the Western Cape, The Voice of the Cape, which previously shared a frequency with Radio 786, lost audience across the week. It now has 182,000 listeners and reaches 4.2% of the Western Cape, down from 5.7% (large urban data only).

Demographic shifts

• 5FM lost audience in cities and large towns on an average Monday to Friday.
• The community radio sector lost audience in Pietermaritzburg across the week.

Top stations

The top stations in terms of gross quarter hours on an average Monday to Friday are:

Where people listen