Radio rocks, especially on Saturdays

11 Feb 2011

Following the release of its first Radio Audience Measurement Survey (RAMS) for 2011, the South African Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF) states that radio continues to hold the interest of the majority of South Africans in the face of growing competition for people's time and attention.

Saturday radio listening particularly is increasing, at 1.5% up on 2010.

RAMS February 2011 - Quick Stats

TSL per day: 3h48
TSL per week: 26h36
Repertoire: 2.1 (national average)
Weekly reach: 87.7%
Average Monday to Friday reach: 69.3%
Saturday listening: up significantly year on year to 65.9%
Sunday listening: 64.6%
Number of stations which grew/declined over RAMS Dec 2010: 1
Number of stations which grew over Feb 2010: 3 commercial/PBS; 11 community.
Number of stations which declined over Feb 2010: 8 commercial/PBS; 5 community

Stable platform

According to the report, radio has not lost ground to other sources of news and entertainment, with the medium offering marketers a stable platform, with audiences comparable to both the previous survey and that of the year previous.

Time spent listening (TSL)

TSL for February 2011 was comparable to the previous survey - RAMS December 2010 - with gains of one minute per day on December's three hours and 47 minutes. The biggest gains in daily TSL over the previous survey were seen in the Western Cape and Gauteng, where TSL rose by eight and six minutes respectively. Over the previous year, total TSL has grown by five minutes per day, and is 36 minutes up across the week.

Radio Listening

Across the week, radio listening was stable over both the previous survey and the year previous. Saturday listening has however, shown annual growth, up from 64.4% in RAMS February 2010 to 65.9% currently. Both weekly and Sunday listening has declined in the Port Elizabeth/Uitenhage area.

Listener Profile

Compared to a year ago, radio's male/female split has shifted somewhat, with a smaller proportion of males listening, while more females are tuning in. Female listeners now account for 52.8% of radio's total audience (up from 50.5% in RAMS February 2010), with males making up 47.2% (down from 49.5%). The proportion of LSM 1-3 listeners continues to decrease, while LSM 5s continue to grow. In this survey, the LSM 8 group also showed growth over the year previous.

Individual Station Changes

Like the medium as a whole, radio stations have remained on a remarkably even keel into the new year. Only one station experienced a significant change over the previous survey. Radio Pulpit/Radiokansel lost Monday to Friday listeners over RAMS December 2010, with national reach dropping from 0.2% to 0.1% in the current survey.

Looking back over the previous year, Motsweding FM and Phalaphala FM are still enjoying higher levels, as was the case in the previous RAMS release. Motsweding FM's weekly reach is now 9.7%, up from 8.9% in February 2010. Phalaphala FM's current weekly penetration of 3.1% is just over 70% higher than it was a year ago. Metro FM entered 2010 with a weekday audience of 5.9% in RAMS Feb 2010, a figure which has now grown to 6.5%.

Community station numbers up

As with a number of community stations, the community radio sector is showing a higher reach than it did in February 2010. The sector's current weekday reach is 11.6%, up from 10.8%. Improved weekly listening levels in the following stations contributed to this (RAMS Feb 2010 vs Feb 2011):

Province	Station	Increase
Gauteng	Thetha FM 100.6:	2.4% to 3.6%
KwaZulu-Natal	Imbokodo 96.8 FM	0.5% to 1.2%
KwaZulu-Natal	Maputaland Community Radio	1.1% to 2.1%
KwaZulu-Natal	Vibe Fm 94.7	0.3% to 0.8%
Western Cape	Radio 786/Voice of the Cape	5.7% to 7.8%
Eastern Cape	Inkonjani FM	0.1% to 4.1%
Eastern Cape	Vukani Community Radio	1.9% to 2.9%
Northwest	Mafikeng Community Radio 96.7	1.4% to 7.1%
Limpopo	Univen Community Radio 99.8 FM	3.2% to 6.1%
Free State	Motheo FM	5.7% to 8.3%
Northern Cape	Ulwazi FM 88.9	0.1% to 8.0%

Stations dropping listenership

Station	Year-on-year declines RAMS February 2010 vs February 2011
	Past 7 days	Average Monday-Friday
94.2 Jacaranda FM	Down from 7.0% to 6.1%	n/a
99.2 YFM	Down from 4.9% to 4.3%	n/a
Gagasi 99.5FM	Down from 6.1% to 5.2%	Down from 3.2% to 2.4%
Highway Radio 101.5fm	Down from 1.8% to 1.0%	n/a
Ikwekwezi FM	Down from 5.2% to 4.6%	n/a
Kingfisher FM	Down from 1.5% to 0.8%	n/a
QwaQwa Radio	Down from 10.9% to 7.5%	n/a
Radiokansel/Radio Pulpit	Down from 0.5% to 0.3%	Down from 0.2% to 0.1%
Radio Khwezi	Down from 3.7% to 2.2%	n/a
RMFM	Down from 1.2% to 0.8%	n/a
Tru fm	n/a	Down from 0.6% to 0.4%
Umhlobo Wenene FM	Down from 13.3% to 11.8%	Down from 8.8% to 7.5%
Unitra Community Radio (UCR-FM)	Down from 6.6% to 4.9%	n/a

Finally, several stations have yet to regain the levels last seen a year ago. Only stations showing statistically significant audience changes are reported here. For a full list of audience figures, go to www.saarf.co.za, and click on "RAMS (radio)".

The second 2011 RAMS will be released on 21 April 2011.