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RAMS 2012/6

February 21, 2013 By RAB

click here to download the latest figures

AT A GLANCE

Radio listenership is stable, with both time spent listening and incidence of listening remaining comparable to the previous release, RAMS Dec 2012. Across the week, quarter-hour listening levels are almost identical to the December release.

The only significant changes in listening on an individual station level were seen in the community radio sector. Of the 188 community stations measured by the South African Audience Research Foundation (SAARF), only three showed a change in their audience reach.

Jozi FM was the only radio station to show positive growth over the previous period.

LISTENING LEVELS
Compared to listening levels in RAMS Dec 2012, current levels remain unchanged. Over the year previous however, weekly levels are up significantly. Quarter-hour listening levels are slightly higher on weekday mornings, while weekend afternoon levels are lower now than they were a year ago.

Listening levels are:

Seven-day listening – 89.5%, with declines in metros, Gauteng as a whole, and Johannesburg and Soweto specifically. Seven-day listening is significantly up on the 88.1% seen in RAMS Feb 2012.
Average Monday to Friday – 69.3% (with growth in metros)
Saturday listening – 65.7%
Sunday listening – 65.4%

TIME SPENT LISTENING
Total time spent listening (TSL) per day is down by one minute, as was the case in the previous RAMS release. TSL is 3h30 per day, and 24h30m per week.

AUDIENCE CHANGES
Three community stations bucked the medium’s trend of stability. They posted significantly changed audience levels compared to the previous RAMS release.

Gauteng’s Jozi FM is the only radio station that increased its listenership over RAMS Dec 2012. Its seven-day reach rose from 3.6% previously to 4.8% currently, bringing its audience up to 394 000.
Soshanguve Community Radio’s reach fell from 1.5% previously, to 0.9% across the week.
Voice of the Cape’s weekly reach has declined, from 5.7% to 3.6%.

NEW STATIONS
RAMS Feb 2013 provides the first audience figures for Hope Radio (0.3%, 11 000 listeners in the Western Cape), and PE FM 87.6 (1 000 listeners in the Eastern Cape). Both stations’ audience figures are based on large-urban data only.

DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFTS OVER RAMS DEC 2012

5FM lost audience in cities and large towns (p7d).
Ikwekwezi FM has lower audience levels in Pretoria (p7d).
Kaya FM lost audience in cities and large towns on an average Monday to Friday.
Munghana Lonene FM’s metro audience has declined across the week.
Thobela FM has grown its metro audience (p7d).
Ukhozi FM has increased listening in cities and large towns (p7d, and average M-F).
Total community (p7d) has attracted more listeners from Pietermaritzburg, Johannesburg and Soweto, but has lost listeners in the Western Cape, Cape Town, and Bloemfontein.

DIARISE THE NEXT RAMS

The second RAMS release of 2013 will be on 9 May.

www.saarf.com

RAMS 2012/5

December 11, 2012 By SAARF

Click here to download the latest figures

2012 closes off quietly in the radio industry, with the December release of SAARF RAMS showing no significant changes for either the medium as a whole, or for individual radio stations.

Listening levels for radio in total remained unchanged over RAMS Oct 2012.

Listening levels are:

· Seven-day listening – 89.0%

· Average Monday to Friday – 68.7%

· Saturday listening – 65.4%

· Sunday listening – 65.1%

Total time spent listening (TSL) per day is down by one minute. TSL is now 3h31 per day, and 24h36m per week.

There were no significant audience shifts, either over the previous RAMS release or over the year previous. There were also only a handful of significant demographic shifts. These were for:

· Lesedi FM grew its audience in Bloemfontein across an average Monday-Friday.

· Ligwalagwala FM lost listeners in cities and large towns across the week.

· Thobela FM’s Reef-based audience increased (past 7 days).

· Trufm lost audience in East London (past 7 days).

RAMS Dec 12 provides the first audience figures for new Gauteng community station, Radio Veritas. The station’s reach into the province is 0.1%, with an audience of 7 000 (based on large-urban data only).

The first RAMS release of 2013 will be in February.

www.saarf.co.za

Filed Under: rams

RAMS 2012/4

November 16, 2012 By SAARF

Click here to download the latest RAMS figures

The increased listening of the new small-urban/rural sample introduced in the latest RAMS release – RAMS October 2012 – has offset the lower listening levels of large-urban listeners. The South African Audience Research Foundation (SAARF) says that overall, radio has maintained the stability seen in previous releases.

Like overall listening, time spent listening was stable – indeed identical – over RAMS Aug 2012.

Unlike that release however, the current RAMS boasts a number of radio stations with significantly improved audience levels, with a handful registering declines.

RAMS Oct 2012 contains the new small-urban/rural data from January to June 2012. The small-urban/rural database is updated twice a year, in April/May and October, as each new AMPS instalment is released.

The update consists of flooded data, where diaries are obtained from all available adults aged 15+ in the household.

It covers fieldwork done for January to June 2012, and has been merged with the last two large-urban RAMS waves, to produce this national October release.

All RAMS releases will carry this same small-urban/rural component until April/May 2013.

SAARF RAMS June 2012 covers the large-urban period from early May to late August 2012, combined with the new small-urban/rural component for Jan-June 2012.

TOTAL RADIO

The stability seen in the previous RAMS release has carried through to the current survey. No significant changes were seen in overall listening levels, except on an average Saturday, where listening from 2pm to 4:45pm declined, although not enough to impact on overall Saturday listening.

Listening levels are:

· Seven-day listening:89.2%. Weekly listening grew in settlements and rural areas, as well as Limpopo and the North West province. There were declines in KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg.

· Average Monday to Friday: 68.9%, with growth in Limpopo.

· Saturday listening:65.2%.Growth was seen in settlements and rural areas, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, with declines in metros. Listening between 2:00- 4:45pm was significantly lower than it was in RAMS Aug 2012.

· Sunday listening:65.5%.As with Saturday listening, Sunday listening grew in settlements and rural areas, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, with declines in metros, but with additional declines in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

LARGE-URBAN LISTENING

Large-urban listening was significantly down on the previous RAMS, both on a past-7-day level, and on Sundays. Year-on-year declines were seen for average Monday to Fridays, and Saturdays.Quarter-hour listening is down slightly in the morning across the week, with lower weekend afternoon levels.

Listening levels are:

· Seven-day listening:down from88.0% in RAMS Aug 2012 to 86.8% currently.

· Average Monday to Friday:stable on the previous survey, at 65.9%, although this level is significantly lower than it was a year ago (67.6%).Decreased listening from 6:15-9:45am was seen, but was not sufficient to affect overall weekday listening.

· Saturday listening:stable at 59.6%. (This level is significantly lower however, than it was in the year previous, when listening was 62.5%).Quarter-hour listening was down from 7:00-10:30am, and again from 2:00-4:30pm.

· Sunday listening:down from 62.4% in the previous survey, to 60.2% currently. There was lower listening from 7:00-10:00am, and from 12:15-6:00pm.

SMALL-URBAN/RURAL LISTENING

The new small-urban/rural sample shows higher listening levels across the week. There is more listening in the morning, with late-afternoon growth bringing audiences close to year-previous levels.

Listening levels for the new Jan-June 2012 sample are:

· Seven-day listening: 91.6%, up from 90.1% in July-Dec 2011.

· Average Monday to Friday:71.9%. Quarter-hour listening was up between 6:00-9:45am, to
4:15-8:30pm.

· Saturday listening: up from 68.8% to 70.7%.

· Sunday listening: Identical to Saturday’s levels, up from 68.8% to 70.7%.

Total time spent listening (TSL) is unchanged over RAMS Aug 2012: 3h32 per day, and 24h42m per week.

Movements in TSL in large-urban areas and small-urban/rural areas precisely balanced each other out. Over RAMS Aug 2012, large-urban lost seven minutes per day (3h20 per day), while compared to Jul-Dec 2011, the small-urban/rural component grew its TSL by seven minutes (3h44 per day).

MAY 2012 POPULATION UPDATEPlease continue to be cautious of making comparisons between surveys prior to and post RAMS May 2012.Updated population figures were introduced in May 2012, using the population estimates provided by IHS Global Insight. The methodology employed in the IHS demographic model differs in a number of technical areas to that used by the previous supplier, BMR.

After a universe update, audience figures in thousands may not be directly comparable with one another.

Only statistically significant differences are quoted in this release, and are based on percentages, not on number of people.

COMMERCIAL RADIO

Four commercial radio stations posted audience levels that were significantly changed over RAMS Aug 2012: two up, and two down.

(Reach quoted is national.)

· BRFM’s Monday-to-Friday reach is up from 0.1% to 0.2%, with a listenership of 58 000. Rural listening was up across the week.

· Thobela FM’s weekly reach rose from 7.8% to 8.9%, with audience numbers breaking through the three-million mark to settle at 3.119-million. Growth came from settlements and rural areas, Limpopo and the North West province. (Weekly listening was also significantly improved over the year previous, when reach was 7.9%.)

Monday-to-Friday listening was also up over the previous survey, from 4.2% to 5.4%, with a listenership of 1.884-million. Increased listening in Limpopo and in settlements and rural areas was behind this growth. (The current reach of 5.4% is also significantly better than it was a year ago, when it was 4.5%).

· Ligwalagwala FM’s weekly reach fell from 4.0% to 3.5%, with losses in rural areas, Mpumalanga, and in the 15-34 age group.

· Weekly reach for Ukhozi FM declined from 20.9% to 19.7%, with losses in large-urban areas and KwaZulu-Natal.

COMMUNITY RADIO

Twice as many community radio stations as commercial posted significantly changed audience figures over RAMS Aug 2012, with only two of these changes being declines.

The growth of these six stations was not enough however, to boost the total figures for community radio as a sector. Weekly listening to community radio is stable at 25.0%, with gains in listening in the North West, and declines in Limpopo and Johannesburg.

(Reach quoted is provincial, and for a past-7-day period.)

· Alfred Nzo Community Radio(Eastern Cape):up from 5.0% to 7.3%, with an audience of 339 000.

· Vukani Community Radio (Eastern Cape):up from 3.3% to 4.7%, with an audience of 222 000.

· Bosveld Stereo 107.5fm (North West):up from 0.6% to 1.7%, with an audience of 38 000.

· Radio Mafisa (North West):up from 4.7% to 7.5%, with an audience of 173 000.

· Radio NFM (Northern Cape):up from 1.9% to 6.3%, with an audience of 50 000.

· Radio Khwezi (KwaZulu-Natal):up from 2.6% to 3.8%, with an audience of 270 000.

· Jozi FM (Gauteng):down from 4.5% to 3.3%.

· Icora FM (KwaZulu-Natal):down from 2.9% to 1.9%.

Western Cape station, Bok Radio 98.9 FM, has posted its first audience figure: a weekly reach of 3.1%, with 111 000 listeners (large-urban data only).

The final release of SAARF RAMS for 2012 will take place on 4 December.

Note to the editor:

The South African Audience Research Foundation (SAARF) is the provider of research data to the advertising, marketing and media industries. Its main objective is to direct and publish media and product/brand research for the benefit of its stakeholders, thereby providing data for target marketing and a common currency for the buying and selling of media space and time. The information is also used by media owners for strategic programme and editorial planning.

SAARF conducts a number of major media and product/brand surveys. The All Media and Products Survey (AMPS^®), includes extensive information on media as well as products, services, brands, attitudes, interests and activities and is South Africa’s only free source of data on nearly 120 product categories and over 1 500 brands. Other important surveys are the Radio Audience Measurement Survey (RAMS^®); the Television Audience Measurement Survey (TAMS^®) and the SAARF Out of Home Media Survey (OHMS).SAARF also provides comprehensive information on target groups, and supplies segmentation tools which include the SAARF Living Standards Measure (LSM^®), SAARF Life Stages, SAARF Lifestyles and SAARF Attitudes, which are widely used for segmenting target markets.

For further information, please contact:

Bridget von Holdt, Inzalo Communication

Tel: (011) 646-9992

Email: bridget@inzalo.com

Filed Under: rams

RAMS 2012/3

August 31, 2012 By SAARF

Click here to download the latest RAMS figures

This is the third SAARF RAMS^® release for 2012.

SUMMARY OF METHODOLOGY

OBJECTIVES

The objective of the survey was to gather information on the radio listening habits of the South Africans over a 7-day period.

More specifically, the objectives covered:

- Radio stations listened to dhe uring a 7-day period.

- Times listened to each station, for each day of the week, for each quarter hour of the day from 00h00 to 24h00

- Radio stations listened to in the past 4 weeks

- Favourite radio stations

UNIVERSE:

As of 2009, SAARF expanded the AMPS^®/RAMS^®universe to include 15 year-olds.

The survey covers adults aged 15 years and older, who are living in the nine provinces ofSouth Africa.

METHOD:

Radio self-completion diaries were placed with respondents to complete in their homes over a 7-day period,

for which they were offered a small incentive.

Respondents were instructed on how to complete the SAARF RAMS^® Diary.

SAMPLE DESIGN:

A probability sample stratified by area was drawn.

The sample was equally apportioned between males and females with the exception of mines, hostels and domestics. At each sampling point a cluster of two addresses was drawn.

In each household, the main respondent was selected by means of a Random Grid. Four calls were made before substitution could occur.

During the survey period, household “flooding” was implemented. In addition to placing a diary with the main respondent, supplementary diaries were placed and completed by all other members of the household aged 15 years and over.

As of 2009, the flooding methodology was expanded to include the small urban and rural areas.

The main advantage of flooding is to allow for reporting on a more robust sample. A total of

25 319 diaries were collected over the two fieldwork waves.

FIELDWORK:

The large urban fieldwork for this third release wave of 2012 was conducted in 2 parts: the first part from mid-March to early May 2012, and the second from early May to end June 2012. The small urban/rural fieldwork for this release was conducted from the beginning of July to mid-December 2011.

The 2009-2013 SAARF RAMS^® contract was awarded solely to The Nielsen Company.

Fieldwork since 2009 has been conducted solely by Nielsen.

A 20% back-check was conducted on all interviewers.

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS:

All findings in the Radio Services report are based on adults 15 years and over.

Reporting is on the combination of the two waves of interviewing. Results were weighted up to total population.

Special Note: This SAARF RAMS^® release continues to use the population estimates updated according to the 2011 IHS Global Insights estimates. For any further information regarding population updates, please refer to the SAARF AMPS^®Jan 11-Dec 11 Technical Report.

Analysis of results was provided in total, and by demographic breakdowns as follows:

- Age

- Community size

- Sex

- Home language

- Household income

- Household purchaser

- Languages understood

- Languages spoken (Other)

- Level of Education

- Living Standards Measure

- Metropolitan area

- Population group

- Province

- Mothers’ status

- Work status

In addition to the trended figures, the latest RAMS^® release also includes two additional columns:

a) After the % column (reflecting % of adults who listen to a particular station) is a +/- % column which indicates the possible range of this audience %, with a statistical certainty of 95%.

b) After the ’000 column (reflecting a station’s audience in thousands) is a +/- ’000 column which indicates the possible range of this audience figure, with a statistical certainty of 95%.

CAUTIONARY NOTE:

There are some community radio stations with less than 100 diary keepers in their footprint areas. Users must keep these small sample sizes in mind when examining the data.

Filed Under: rams, Uncategorized

RAMS 2012/2

June 25, 2012 By RAB

Click here to download the latest figures.

Filed Under: rams

RAMS 2012/1

May 24, 2012 By Zama

SAARF May 2012 RAMS

Click here to Download the latest RAMS 2012/1 PDF

The South African Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF) has released RAMS May 2011, a survey which again highlights the stability of radio, both as a medium and in terms of individual radio brands.

Incidence of listening remains at a healthy 88%. While not as high as the five-year high of 92.6% seen in RAMS Apr 2008, it is nonetheless better than the low of 87.1% recorded in RAMS Apr 2010.

RAMS MAY 2012 IN BRIEF

Weekly reach into the adult population (15+) remains comparable to RAMS Feb 2012, although there are lower levels of listening in the afternoons and evenings from Monday to Friday. There are also slightly lower levels on Saturday mornings and evenings, as well as Sunday afternoons.
While overall reach is stable, several stations lost audience, although there was good news for two commercial and two community stations.
Time spent listening is down by seven minutes per day.
Almost a quarter of adults now listen to the radio on their cellphones.

TECHNICAL INFO

This RAMS release uses new smallurban/rural data, covering July to December 2011 fieldwork. Populations have been updated to 2011 IHS Global Insight estimates, used for the first time in AMPS Dec 11 (Jan-Dec 2011).
SAARF RAMS Feb 2012 covers the period of the third week of October to mid-December 2011, and mid-January to early March 2012, combined with the July-Dec 2011 rural component.
Sample size: 25 451

Down by seven minutes over RAMS Feb 2012, daily time spent listening is currently three hours, 31 minutes on average.

The small urban/rural sector is the biggest contributor to this decline, losing 11 minutes of listening per day since the previous survey, while the large urban sector lost two minutes.

TIME SPENT LISTENING

DOWN	STABLE	UP
Topping the list, Mpumalanga lost 19 minutes (3h31)	Western Cape: unchanged at 2h55m	Gauteng picked up one minute of listening per day (3h30m)
Limpopo saw a decline of 18 minutes per day (3h40m)	North West: 3h53m
Northern Cape lost 17 minutes (3h12m)
Eastern Cape is down by 12 minutes (3h21m)
KwaZulu-Natal lost six minutes (3h22m)
The Free State lost six minutes (4h33m)

DID YOU KNOW?

By global standards, South Africans spend a considerable amount of time listening to the radio, even when you takeinto account the slight decline oftSL seen in the current survey.

TIME SPENT ON OTHER ELECTRONIC MEDIA

RADIO LISTENING VIA OTHER DEVICES

Cellphone listening is growing, with 24.7% of South African adults aged 15+ using their phones to tune in.
Online listening is up, yet still constitutes a very small base: 3.7%.
TV listening is in decline, down to 0.4%.

LISTENING LEVELS

NATIONAL

Overall, listening levels have remained stable over RAMS Feb 2012.There are however, lower levels in the afternoons and eveningsfrom Monday to Friday, from 3-9pm. Saturday listening is down from 8am to noon, and again from 5-9pm, while Sunday listening showed lower levels from 2:30-7pm.

Seven-day listening: 88%
Average Monday to Friday: 67.9%
Saturday listening: 64.6%
Sunday listening: 64.5%

LARGE URBAN

Listening levels are lower now than they were a year ago, although they are comparable to RAMS Feb 2012.

Seven-day listening: 86.0% (was 87.1% in RAMS Apr 2011)
Average Monday to Friday: 65.4% (67.4% in RAMS Apr 2011)
Saturday listening: 60.3% (was 61.9% in RAMS Apr 2011)
Sunday listening: 60.2% (was 59.7% in RAMS Apr 2011)

SMALL URBAN/RURAL

From Monday to Friday, fewer people are listening from 5-6:30am, and again from 4-10pm. Other than this, listening levels in this sector remained unchanged over the previous small urban/rural component (Jan-June 2011).

Seven-day listening: 90.1%
Average Mon-Fri: 70.4%
Saturday listening: 68.8%
Sunday listening: 68.8%

DID YOU KNOW?

South Africa still has a lot of room to grow radio penetration. In Australia for example, radio reaches 94% of the population.

UP? WHO’S DOWN?

Only statistically significant differences are quoted, and are based on percentages,
not on number of people.

COMMERCIAL RADIO

Ikwekwezi FMhas grown its audience across the week. The station’s seven-day listenership rose from 4.1% in RAMS Feb 2012 to 5.0% currently, with gains especially in Gauteng and the Reef, Limpopo, and in the 35+ market. Average Monday to Friday reach is also up, from 2.0% to 2.4%, thanks primarily to more male listeners, 35-49 year olds, and listeners from Limpopo.
- Ligwalagwala FM’s weekly reach has risen over the previous RAMS release, up from 3.5% to 4.0%, with the large urban sector being the biggest contributor to this growth.
- Jacaranda 94.2 FM:declined from 5.9% reach in RAMS Feb 2012 to 5.2% currently (past
  7 days), with losses in rural areas, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West, and amongst males. These levels are also lower than they were a year ago, in April 2011. Average Monday to Friday reach is also down over the previous survey, from 2.9% to 2.4%.
- BRFM’s average Monday to Friday reach declined from 0.2% to 0.1% over RAMS Feb 2012.
- Capricorn FM: down from a weekly reach of 4.4% previously, to 3.9%, with losses amongst females and the 35+ group. Average Monday to Friday listenership is also down, from 2.0% previously to 1.6%, specifically in the 35+ market.
- Heart 104.9 fmhas seen its weekly listenership decline from 1.6% to 1.3% over RAMS Feb 2012.
- North West FM’s weekly reach is down from 2.2% to 1.5%, with average Monday to Friday listening down from 0.9% in RAMS Feb 2012, to 0.6%currently. These losses were seen specifically in the 15-34 age group.

THEN AND NOW

A number of commercial stations are better or worse off than they were a year ago. Comparing RAMS Apr 2011 to RAMS May 2012, which stations have seen statistically significant changes to their weekly reach?

COMMUNITY RADIO

This sector’s reach has remained stable over the previous survey, at 24.5% of adults on a weekly basis, and 12.4% on an average Monday to Friday.

The significant decline seen in the Western Cape community radio sector over the previous survey – down from a weekly reach of 82.2% to 78.2% – has been balanced out by the significant gains made by the community radio sector in the Free State, where weekly listening rose from 32.0% to 37.9%.

ICORA FM grew its weekly reach into KwaZulu-Natal from 1.8% to 2.8%, with 198 000 listeners.
The Eastern Cape’sUnitra Community Radio grew its provincial weekly audience from 5.4% to 7.9%. Listenership is currently 367 000, up from 254 000 in RAMS Feb 2012.
Alfred Nzo Community Radio:reach into the Eastern Cape is down from 8.2% to 4.9% per week.
In the North West,Vaaltar FM’s weekly reach fell from 7.7% to 4.4%.

The next release of SAARF RAMS will take place on 21 June 2012.

Filed Under: rams

SAARF RAMS MAY 2012

May 22, 2012 By Zama

Incidence of listening remains at a healthy 88%. While not as high as the five-year high of 92.6% seen in RAMS Apr 2008, it is nonetheless better than the low of 87.1% recorded in RAMS Apr 2010.

RAMS MAY 2012 IN BRIEF

Weekly reach into the adult population (15+) remains comparable to RAMS Feb 2012, although there are lower levels of listening in the afternoons and evenings from Monday to Friday. There are also slightly lower levels on Saturday mornings and evenings, as well as Sunday afternoons.
While overall reach is stable, several stations lost audience, although there was good news for two commercial and two community stations.
Time spent listening is down by seven minutes per day.
Almost a quarter of adults now listen to the radio on their cellphones.

TECHNICAL INFO

This RAMS release uses new smallurban/rural data, covering July to December 2011 fieldwork. Populations have been updated to 2011 IHS Global Insight estimates, used for the first time in AMPS Dec 11 (Jan-Dec 2011).
SAARF RAMS Feb 2012 covers the period of the third week of October to mid-December 2011, and mid-January to early March 2012, combined with the July-Dec 2011 rural component.
Sample size: 25 451

Down by seven minutes over RAMS Feb 2012, daily time spent listening is currently three hours, 31 minutes on average.

The small urban/rural sector is the biggest contributor to this decline, losing 11 minutes of listening per day since the previous survey, while the large urban sector lost two minutes.

TIME SPENT LISTENING

DOWN	STABLE	UP
Topping the list, Mpumalanga lost 19 minutes (3h31)	Western Cape: unchanged at 2h55m	Gauteng picked up one minute of listening per day (3h30m)
Limpopo saw a decline of 18 minutes per day (3h40m)	North West: 3h53m
Northern Cape lost 17 minutes (3h12m)
Eastern Cape is down by 12 minutes (3h21m)
KwaZulu-Natal lost six minutes (3h22m)
The Free State lost six minutes (4h33m)

DID YOU KNOW?

By global standards, South Africans spend a considerable amount of time listening to the radio, even when you takeinto account the slight decline oftSL seen in the current survey.

TIME SPENT ON OTHER ELECTRONIC MEDIA

RADIO LISTENING VIA OTHER DEVICES

Cellphone listening is growing, with 24.7% of South African adults aged 15+ using their phones to tune in.
Online listening is up, yet still constitutes a very small base: 3.7%.
TV listening is in decline, down to 0.4%.

LISTENING LEVELS

NATIONAL

Seven-day listening: 88%
Average Monday to Friday: 67.9%
Saturday listening: 64.6%
Sunday listening: 64.5%

LARGE URBAN

Listening levels are lower now than they were a year ago, although they are comparable to RAMS Feb 2012.

Seven-day listening: 86.0% (was 87.1% in RAMS Apr 2011)
Average Monday to Friday: 65.4% (67.4% in RAMS Apr 2011)
Saturday listening: 60.3% (was 61.9% in RAMS Apr 2011)
Sunday listening: 60.2% (was 59.7% in RAMS Apr 2011)

SMALL URBAN/RURAL

Seven-day listening: 90.1%
Average Mon-Fri: 70.4%
Saturday listening: 68.8%
Sunday listening: 68.8%

DID YOU KNOW?

South Africa still has a lot of room to grow radio penetration. In Australia for example, radio reaches 94% of the population.

UP? WHO’S DOWN?

Only statistically significant differences are quoted, and are based on percentages,
not on number of people.

COMMERCIAL RADIO

Ikwekwezi FMhas grown its audience across the week. The station’s seven-day listenership rose from 4.1% in RAMS Feb 2012 to 5.0% currently, with gains especially in Gauteng and the Reef, Limpopo, and in the 35+ market. Average Monday to Friday reach is also up, from 2.0% to 2.4%, thanks primarily to more male listeners, 35-49 year olds, and listeners from Limpopo.
- Ligwalagwala FM’s weekly reach has risen over the previous RAMS release, up from 3.5% to 4.0%, with the large urban sector being the biggest contributor to this growth.
- Jacaranda 94.2 FM:declined from 5.9% reach in RAMS Feb 2012 to 5.2% currently (past
  7 days), with losses in rural areas, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West, and amongst males. These levels are also lower than they were a year ago, in April 2011. Average Monday to Friday reach is also down over the previous survey, from 2.9% to 2.4%.
- BRFM’s average Monday to Friday reach declined from 0.2% to 0.1% over RAMS Feb 2012.
- Capricorn FM: down from a weekly reach of 4.4% previously, to 3.9%, with losses amongst females and the 35+ group. Average Monday to Friday listenership is also down, from 2.0% previously to 1.6%, specifically in the 35+ market.
- Heart 104.9 fmhas seen its weekly listenership decline from 1.6% to 1.3% over RAMS Feb 2012.
- North West FM’s weekly reach is down from 2.2% to 1.5%, with average Monday to Friday listening down from 0.9% in RAMS Feb 2012, to 0.6%currently. These losses were seen specifically in the 15-34 age group.

THEN AND NOW

COMMUNITY RADIO

This sector’s reach has remained stable over the previous survey, at 24.5% of adults on a weekly basis, and 12.4% on an average Monday to Friday.

ICORA FM grew its weekly reach into KwaZulu-Natal from 1.8% to 2.8%, with 198 000 listeners.
The Eastern Cape’sUnitra Community Radio grew its provincial weekly audience from 5.4% to 7.9%. Listenership is currently 367 000, up from 254 000 in RAMS Feb 2012.
Alfred Nzo Community Radio:reach into the Eastern Cape is down from 8.2% to 4.9% per week.
In the North West,Vaaltar FM’s weekly reach fell from 7.7% to 4.4%.

The next release of SAARF RAMS will take place on 21 June 2012.

Filed Under: rams, research

RAMS 2011/6

February 17, 2012 By RAB

SAARF RAMS February 2012

Click here to download
the latest RAMS 2011/6 PDF

Filed Under: rams, research Tagged With: rams2011/6

February 13, 2012 By Zama

Filed Under: radiogauge, research Tagged With: RadioGAUGE

Creatures of habit

February 13, 2012 By Gilda

Thank you to SAARF for providing the following analysis:

South Africans have shown little change in their radio listening habits, with SAARF’s latest RAMS release showing no significant listening changes over the previous survey.

Key results from RAMS February 2012, the sixth release from the 2011 RAMS programme, are:

Time spent listening

Technical Info

*Fieldwork period: End of August- mid December 2011, with the Jan- June 2011 urban/rural sample

*Sample size: 29 309

As was the case in RAMS Dec 2011, time spent listening (TSL) is stable on the previous release, and is one minute lower than it was a year ago.

Currently, TSL is three hours and 38 minutes per day.

Total listening

In total, radio listening levels are stable across the entire week.

Past 7 day listening: 88.1% (lower listening in Durban)
Average Monday to Friday (ave. M-F): 68.3%
Saturday listening: 64.8% (levels are up in Kimberley, but down in metros and in Durban). Listening in the evening is lower than it was in RAMS Feb 2011.
Sunday listening: 64.8%, with declines in listening in Pietermaritzburg. Listening on a Sunday afternoon is slightly higher than a year ago, while evening listening is somewhat down.

Individual station changes

Only stations showing statistically significant audience changes are reported on here. For a full list of audience figures, please visit www.saarf.co.za, and click on “RAMS^® (radio)”.

While no individual radio station showed any movement this RAMS release over RAMS Dec 2011, five commercial stations and a number of community stations have significantly improved audience levels compared to RAMS Feb 2011.

BRFM and Radiokansel/Radio Pulpit’s average Monday to Friday listening levels are at 0.2%, an improvement for both on their levels of 0.1% a year ago.
Metro FM: looking better than it did a year ago, with weekly listening at 17.3%, compared to 16.2%. The station has however, lost listeners in cities and large towns on a past-7-day level, versus RAMS Dec2011.
Radio 2000:now at 2.6%, compared to 2.1% in RAMS Feb 2011.
Ukhozi FM commanded 18.4% of all weekly radio listeners in Feb 2011. Now, its national reach is 19.5%.

The community radio sector is stronger today than it was a year ago, reaching 24.3% of South Africans each week (compared to 23.0% in Feb 2011), and 12.4% on an average Monday to Friday (compared to 11.6% a year ago).In the short term however, the sector is showing declined listening in metro areas both across the week and on an average Monday to Friday, versus RAMS Dec2011.

Community stations whose improved year-on-year reach contributed to the sector’s stronger position are:

Stations showing lower audience figures compared to the year previous (RAMS Feb 2011) are:

Some stations have seen listeners from various demographic groups adjusting their listening habits, but not enough to affect the overall reach of these stations. Demographic shifts over RAMS Dec2011were seen for:

Gagasi 99.5 FM: more LSM 8 listeners across the week.
Kaya FM 95.9: fewer LSM 8 on a Monday to Friday.
Lesedi FM: more listeners in large urban areas, Gauteng, and in LSM 8 (past 7 days), and more listeners in Gauteng and on the Reef on an average Monday to Friday.
Motsweding FM: fewer LSM 7 listeners across the week.
SAFM: more listeners from the Western Cape (past 7 days)
Trufm: lower listening levels in large urban areas (past 7 days)

*All analysis provided by SAARF

Click here to download the figures!

Filed Under: rams, research Tagged With: rams2011/6, saarf