Zim: Internet survives fall in media demand

23 Mar 2009

The internet survived a slump in patronage or visibility that affected all the other media in Zimbabwe from Q4 2007 to Q4 2008, the Zimbabwe All Media Products and Services (ZAMPS) survey has revealed.

This was despite the fact that about 87% of the country's urbanites have no access to the internet, according to the survey commissioned by the Zimbabwe Advertising Research Foundation and conducted by Research International (Zimbabwe).

The survey disclosed that the readership of the country's daily newspapers declined significantly, with The Herald recording a reduced readership of 38% during Q4 2008, from 44% in Q4 2007. The Chronicle's readership slumped to 13% in Q4 2008, from 23% in Q4 2007. The state-owned The Herald and The Chronicle are Zimbabwe's only two dailies after the ban of the independent Daily News in 2003.

Weeklies also suffered significant loses in readership, with only two out of ten newspapers recording marginal gains during the period.

The country's magazines also suffered losses, with the worst hit being Trends Magazine which had 12% in Q4 2008, from 34% in Q4 2007.

The monopoly state television and radio stations also experienced substantial declines in viewership and listenership over the 12 month period.

The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation Television's (ZBCTV) loss was DSTV's gain. ZBCTV's viewership declined from 55% in Q4 2007, to 38% in Q4 2008, while that for DSTV increased from 17% in Q4 2007 to 27% in Q4 2008 across all of its channels.

Pre-recorded videos on ZBCTV slumped to a nil viewers, from 1% in Q4 2007.

The internet remained stagnant at 17%, with most user demand coming from the need for personal and business internet communication and local news requirements.