Media Prima Audio (MPA) had an average weekly listenership of 5.36 million people or 25 per cent of 21.4 million weekly listeners in Peninsular Malaysia, according to a survey by Gfk Radio Audience Measurement (RAM).
The survey, conducted between February and March 2023, had a sample size of 6,356 participants.
MPA’s radio stations consist of Hot FM, Buletin FM, Molek FM, Fly FM and 8FM.
The survey also showed that radio listenership reached over 97 per cent of the population.
Hot FM, MPA’s Malay radio station, continues to rank among the top three radio stations in the country with 3.67 million weekly listeners, which shows an increase of 320,000 listeners from the previous RAM survey.
Under the station’s umbrella are the Bekpes Hot and Hot Squad radio programmes, both of which saw an increase in listenership by 207,000 and 117,000 respectively.
Hot FM also has former Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin as its new DJ.
Khairy’s involvement in Bekpes Hot led to a staggering 75 per cent surge in digital live streams on Hot FM’s website and Audio+ application, and a 139 per cent increase in unique pageviews for its site articles.
The station also had the highest followings on Twitter (1.8 million followers) and TikTok (1.3 million followers) for a radio station in Malaysia.
Malay news and business-focused channel Buletin FM recorded 133,000 weekly listeners with 50 per cent of them earning a household income of RM3,000 and below.
Buletin FM also recorded a 55 per cent increase in listenership for people aged 35 to 39 years.
Another Malay radio station, Molek FM, focuses on the East Coast states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang, with announcers speaking in the local dialects of the East Coast.
The station gained 542,000 weekly listeners, an increase of 12 per cent or 58,000 listeners, according to the RAM conducted in November 2022.
Molek FM also saw a significant increase of 446 per cent of listeners who only listen to the radio station, while maintaining the highest time-spent listening (TSL) for a Malay radio station, from one hour 31 minutes to eight hours 35 minutes.
MPA’s English radio station Fly FM was second in Malaysia’s top English Radio stations ranking.
It recorded a total of 1,055,000 weekly listeners and is the only station that has an increase in TSL in the English language market.
The station’s JoKeRs in the Morning programme is now the number two breakfast show in the English language market, recording a growth of 16,000 listeners. The core target for Fly FM also recorded an increase of 52,000 listeners.
MPA’s Chinese radio station 8FM recorded 423,000 weekly listeners. Its overall TSL also saw an increase of one hour 51 minutes.
The Breakfast Show’s (8FM日日好精神) listenership for its broad and core target increased by 12,000 and 17,000 listeners respectively.
The Drive Show’s (8FM放工吃FUN团) listenership for its core target gained 21,000 listeners.