SAARF AMPS June 15 results released

The overall picture is one of relative stability, with no statistically significant audience gains on a macro level.

Media results

The current survey is AMPS Jun 15, the previous is AMPS Dec 14, and the year previous is AMPS Jun 14.

Print: Newspapers

The downward trend continues for newspapers. The medium's current average issue readership (AIR) of 44.9%, or 17,172-million adults, is statistically stable on the previous period, but it is nonetheless lower than the 46.3% seen a year ago (AMPS Jun 14). Newspapers lost readers in the Western Cape, Cape Town, the Cape Town fringe, Limpopo and Durban, as well as in LSM 8-10.

Currently, the main driver of the medium's downward creep is the daily sector, which posted a statistically significant decline: from 28.6% in AMPS Dec 14 to 27.3% currently. These declines came from losses in the Western Cape, Cape Town, Limpopo and metros. The Daily Voice's decline from 1.4% to 1.1% also played a role. (No other dailies showed significantly changed readerships.)

Like total newspapers, weeklies remained stable at 29.4%, albeit with a slight downward trend, this despite overall losses in the Western Cape, Cape Town fringe, Durban and Pietermaritzburg, and a loss of readership for Rapport (down from 3.3% to 2.8%) and Son op Sondag (down from 1.3% to 1.0%).

New measure introduced for newspapers

AMPS Jun 15 provides the first six-month data for the new six-day measure for daily newspapers. This new measure records readership from Monday to Saturday instead of Monday to Friday. It was introduced from January 2015 for those newspapers which felt that their weekday and Saturday titles were being confused due to their having identical mastheads.

Four newspapers with identical mastheads elected to move from the five-day daily measure to the six-day: Beeld; Die Burger; Pretoria News; and Volksblad.

The measure is at present a hybrid, combining Monday to Saturday AIR data for the first six months of 2015 with the Monday to Friday data of July to December 2014; it is therefore not comparable with previous measures.

Print: Magazines

Despite being on a downward trend with overall losses of readers in Limpopo and Durban, and losses in three frequency categories, average issue readership of total magazines remained statistically stable on the previous survey, at 45.8%.

Frequency categories showing a statistically significant decline on AMPS Dec 14 were:

• Any monthly: down from 36.3% to 34.7%;

• Any store magazine (based on own/household copies): down from 19.0% to 16.9%; and

• Any subscriber magazine (excludes store magazines): down from 16.6% to 15.5%.

Other categories remained stable: any weekly (23.2%); any fortnightly (3.6%); any alternate monthly (4.5%); and any quarterly (1.1%).

Gains in three titles offset losses posted by four others. On the up are Compleat Golfer and Longevity (both up from 0.1% to 0.2%); and Move! (from 5.2% to 6.0%). Titles on the losing end were Baba & Kleuter and Habitat (both down from 0.2% to 0.1%); DStv (16.4% to 15.3%); and Jet Club (11.3% to 9.6%).

Television

Thanks to the continued growth of the DStv platform, total TV viewing - stable at 92.2% - was able to withstand the declines that came through for three of South Africa's terrestrial channels.

SABC 1 lost a statistically significant percentage of seven-day viewers, with its audience base declining from 78.4% in AMPS Dec 14 to 76.9% (all data includes terrestrial and satellite viewing). Seven-day viewing of SABC 2 dropped from 73.2% to 72.1%, while SABC 3 remained stable on 55.8%.

After gains made in AMPS Dec 14, e.tv's numbers have now declined from 68.6% to 67.0%, returning the channel to almost exactly the same position it was in a year ago in AMPS Jun 14.

On the satellite side, DStv once again posted stronger figures over the previous period: up from 37.7% to 39.3%, thanks particularly to gains made in the Western Cape and Cape Town, and the addition of more female viewers.

Radio

Radio listening showed little change, with total listening levels steady at 92.2%. Total commercial/PBS listening levels were 88.8%. Total community listening is trending up, with current levels at 25.9%.

Out-of-home

There was little movement in the out-of-home sector; the only statistically significant change in exposure levels was a decline from 65.4% to 62.4% for street pole advertising (past seven days).

Cellphone access and internet usage

Though not a statistically significant increase, access to cellphones continues to trend up; currently 89.3% of adults have cellphone access. The highest access is 95.4% in LSM 8-10, followed by 90.1% access in LSM 5-7, and 80.7% in LSM 1-4.

The gaps are wider when it comes to internet usage, though it is extremely positive how much growth has been experienced particularly at the bottom of the LSM scale over the space of just one year. Seven-day internet usage in LSM 1-4 rose significantly over the previous period, from 13.4% to 16.6%, a figure which is just over 120% higher than it was in AMPS Jun 14 (7.5%).

Seven-day usage in LSM 5-7 rose from 34.7% in AMPS Dec 14 to 38.0% currently, and from 69.4% to 71.9% in LSM 8-10.

Internet usage rose across all measured time periods - yesterday, seven days and four weeks - with seven-day usage currently at 41.7%, up from 38.6% previously.

Cinema

There was no statistically significant movement in the cinema arena. Attendance up to four weeks is 3.4% amongst the general population, a slight improvement on the previous period, though not a statistically significant one.

In the LSM 9-10 bracket, attendance up to four weeks has been trending down and is currently at 11.7%. (This LSM bracket also watches the latest movies at home; 8.0% rented a movie on DStv's Box Office over a four-week period.)