Since its first release in 1975, SAARF’s survey AMPS has provided the media research currency that formed the backbone of the print industry, as well as data on all media consumption and audience demographics, access to services, information on over a thousand brands and products, and the much-relied-upon audience segmentation tool, the LSM or Living Standards Measure.
This final AMPS release shows print media in decline, due to a statistically significant drop in newspaper readership. Total print lost 489,000 readers over AMPS Jun 2015, mostly from the newspaper side, since magazines held their own over the previous period.
These AMPS Dec 2015 readership figures will serve the industry for the next 12-18 months, until a new replacement currency is launched.
Other media were relatively stable at the macro level. Despite a number of declines for individual channels, television in total remained stable. Radio too showed very little movement, save for various changes to the demographic makeup of several stations.
Three out-of-home formats showed statistically significant changes in exposure level, while internet usage continued to improve, and cinema remained in stasis.
