Radio plays out quietly at year end - RAMS

Currently, time spent listening is similar to both the October 2010 and December 2009 releases. South African adults aged 15+ now listen to three hours and 47 minutes of radio per day (down by two minutes on the previous survey, and up by a minute on the year previous). Across a week, they listen to 26 hours, 30 minutes.

Similarly, incidence of listening has remained unchanged, both over the previous period and the year previous.

• Past 7 day listening: 87.8% (with declines over RAMS October 2010 in the Cape Town fringe).
• Average Monday to Friday listening: 69.3%
• Saturday listening: 65.6%
• Sunday listening: 65.0%, with gains in listeners in Pietermaritzburg over the previous survey.

Listener profiles too remain comparable period on period, with changes over the previous year in line with the new population estimates implemented with the October release. Compared to the year previous, the proportion of LSM 1-3 listeners has decreased while the LSM 5 listener group has increased.

Individual station changes

The stability seen in the medium as a whole has translated through to an individual station level. Declines over the previous survey, which several stations endured in RAMS October 2010, have not occurred in this release. While community radio as a sector has remained stable, a number of community stations continue to show better results than they did a year ago, on a past-seven-day basis.

The first RAMS for 2011 will be released mid-February 2011. For a full list of audience figures, go to www.saarf.co.za and click on "RAMS (radio)".