Zim: Newspaper readership surges, tv slumps in Q4 2010

18 Feb 2011

Newspaper readership increased across the board during the fourth quarter of 2010 (Q4 2010) as the liquidity situation under a hard currency economy recovered, improving disposable incomes, the latest Zimbabwe All Media Products and Services Survey (ZAMPS) revealed.

There was significant growth in readership of daily newspapers during the quarter, with the privately-owned NewsDay, measured for the first time during the quarter, capturing a 23% market share.

Comparison of Q4 2010 statistics were against Q2 2010 figures because The Zimbabwe Advertising Research Foundation (ZARF) did not commission the survey during the third quarter of last year due to resource challenges.

Print media readership stats

Weekly newspapers had also grown during the quarter, moving from 47% to 53% while monthly magazines, whose readership soared by 14 percentage points during the three months to December 31, 2010, claimed a readership of 8%. Regional print publications had the biggest leap in readership, with Drum magazine experiencing a 129 percentage points increase to 16%, while People magazine grew by 55 percentage points to 34%.

Bona magazine and The Sunday Times newspaper had the biggest jump in readership of 350 percentage points apiece to a readership of 2% each. You magazine surged by 55 percentage points to 17% during Q4 2010.

TV viewership slumps

But television viewership slumped significantly across the two channels controlled by the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), which heightened its coverage of the pending elections this year largely seen as partisan and favouring one political party. This is thought to have seriously affected viewership of the popular news hour programme, which decreased during the quarter from 30% in Q2 2010 to 26% in Q4 2010. The news bulletin was, however, still favourite among ZBCTV viewers.

Viewership for ZBCTV1 slumped 34 percentage points to 24% in Q4 2010 while a new channel, ZBC Channel 2, introduced during Q2 2010 with a viewership of 14%, experienced a viewership drop of 29 percentage points to 10%. Satelite viewership percentage remained constant at 46 percent.

Radio listenership decreases

Listenership of all local radio stations, which are also controlled by the state-owned broadcaster, decreased during the quarter. However radio listenership was mainly in the mornings and late afternoons, especially during "drive time".

"SFM (Sport FM) has been on the decline since Q4 2009," the report noted, observing that the number of estimated working radio sets in the households had declined during the quarter.

Access to internet by urban adults during the quarter increased by 2 percentage points to 24%, the survey showed.
Internet was being accessed mainly from Internet cafés and from work. "The websites frequently visited were Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Gmail; 83% of these internet users visited the internet at least once a week or more," said the ZAMPS report.

Outdoor advertising declined by three percentage points to 80%, while cinema increased from 38% to 41% and road shows from 26% to 35%.

The ZAMPS also revealed that ownership and usage of working cell phones among the urban adults had increased to 86%, from 82% during Q2 2010.

Providing marketers comprehensive information

The ZAMPS is a continuous survey commissioned by the Zimbabwe Advertising Research Foundation to provide information on media consumption and products. The core objective of the study is to provide comprehensive information to the marketers on the audience for all media, including all the radio stations, TV channels, newspapers and the Internet
The prime purpose of the study remains to provide both media and product information that will allow marketers to more effectively target and reach consumers.

A copy of the report can be obtained by contacting the Zimbabwe Advertising Research Foundation CEO Colin Moxham at Shangri-La Estate, 137 Northway, Hatfield, Harare, call +263-712-201 421 or email wz.oc.fraz@niloc.