The regular All Media Products Survey is usually met with some scepticism. Are the results accurate? Do the print titles really have that many readers, and the broadcast stations that many viewers and listeners?
All valid concerns. Fittingly, the presentation focused on changes from the past six months and changes to come. Ettienne van der Berg, interim CEO of SAARF, introduced Sue Scott who spoke of the results based on Nielsen data. The fieldwork was from January to December 2014 with a large national sample of 25,584, representing roughly 37m adults - slightly up from the AMPS 2014B sample of 25,510.
While the past saw a regression for some LSM categories, the latest data reveals an increase in the LSM 5 to 7 and 8 to 10 categories, as well as an increase in household income at 5%, tracking ahead of the CPI. There are also positive trends among respondents for people completing primary school but no change to work status, with the figure remaining at 30% unemployed and around a third of respondents in the 'housewife, student or retired' category.
Scott also listed key events during period under survey that could have had an impact on media consumption. These included South Africa's national elections in May, the conclusion of the Oscar Pistorius trial, coverage of President Zuma's Nkandla upgrade, as well as two major strikes with national impact - one in the metal and engineering sector, and the postal service strike late last year. Looking further afield, the Boko Haram kidnapping of schoolgirls in Nigeria as well as the Ebola outbreak in Africa, as well as the 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil.
Next, Scott delved into the actual media results. Despite the media influences listed above, there were mostly stable findings for the year.
Newspaper readership for daily and weeklies showed little change, though there was a notable decline in total for monthly newspapers, an upswing for the Sunday Times in Gauteng and a rise in Coloured readership growth for the Cape Argus.
Moving on to magazines, those focused on family, entertainment and women were most popular in the period, with Cosmopolitan showing large growth in readers in Gauteng and among males. There was a slight decrease in the store magazine category, which could have been a result of the postal strike. That said, while the Jet Club magazine's figures were down significantly, those for the Ackermans magazine were on the rise. The average number of titles per reader also remained at similar levels to previous surveys, with newspapers at two per reader and three magazines at per reader
TV viewership was healthy for the period, showing an increase in audience for free to air channels as well as DStv, while M-Net's audience remained consistent. The sector that did show change was community TV, with a downward trend largely due to drop in Soweto TV's audience across provinces other than Gauteng. Only a small percent of viewers claim to view TV online. For radio, though, there was an upswing for community stations as well as online listening in urban rural areas, but Scott said to note these listeners were using the cell phone as an instrument, not for app streaming, and that there are no signs of that increasing at this stage.
Results from the first 12-month release of combined and streamlined cell phone and digital measures show that 22.8% of respondents have computer access at home, with a personal tablet at 5.5%. Almost 90% have access to a cell phone of sorts though, with smartphone use up significantly at 47.8%, but Scott points out that there is no direct question on the questionnaire about this as many will claim their cell phone is smart even if it's not. Instead, they looked at makes of cell phone - Nokia, Samsung and Blackberry are still tops, with almost 1 in 2 claiming a Nokia and the iPhone at just 0.9% - the purchase of data bundles and internet activity. There was growth of cell phone activity with making outgoing phone calls actually still on top, followed by receiving a Please Call Me and sending an SMS. Internet usage also showed a drastic increase, especially in higher LSM sectors. The top 10 internet activities showed search and instant messaging (IM) or chat on top, with the addition of 'checking the weather' and 'using maps' this time around.
Facebook is still the top social networking site, with over 95% of respondents reporting access through a cell phone. The figures also show that Twitter has more male than female users, mainly in the '15 to 34' age category. Added to this, almost one in three adults said yes to actively engaging with a brand's message because of a comment of Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp.
Moving away from media, the AMPS also has impact on the financial sector. When it comes to accessing financial accounts, visiting an ATM is still the highest followed by going into a bank branch, through the supermarket and over mobile - and this method is showing growth. That said, only 4.4% of respondents have short-terms insurance, and 14.2% belong to a medical aid, topped by Discovery, Gems and Bonitas. Linked to this, 30% belong to a burial society. This is highest in Limpopo, followed by the North West and Western Cape. While 17% of respondents own a vehicle, 36% of those have a recovery system of sorts. And because load shedding came into effect at the end of the fieldwork period, a question was included, which showed while 93% of respondents have access to electricity at home, just 0.2% have a back-up generator. Scott ended her presentation by stating it will be interesting to see how this figure changes in future releases.
And future releases there will be, with Van den Berg confirming that the current AMPS format will be rolling over for another full year. The NAB (now as the BAC) has already moved away from SAARF, and is managing the TAMS as a separate entity, having taken over the Nielsen contract for another five years. It is up to the rest of industry to make a collaborative effort to come up with a new survey among the industry bodies and agencies.
Here's the official release for SAARF AMPS 2014B, and click here for a reminder of Chris Brewer's opinion on defining your target market purely on SAARF LSM categories, and here for his reminder that this really is the 11th hour for SAARF, and here for my coverage of the previous SAARF AMPS 2014A release.
