Malaysian radio listeners have continued to grow steadily in the past five years, with 95 percent of people aged 10 years and above in Peninsular Malaysia tuned in to their favourite radio station, according to the latest Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) survey results released by Nielsen.
The average quarter-hour audience recorded 1.7 million average listeners this year versus 1.9 million average listeners in previous year.
The survey is conducted twice a year in collaboration with participating radio broadcasters based on individual quarter-hour diaries completed by a representative sample of 3,000 individuals in Peninsular Malaysia.
The most recent survey, Wave #1 2015 was conducted from 30 Mar – 26 Apr, 2015.
On an average, Malaysians spend more than two hours listening to their preferred station in a day, which is 20 minutes less compared to previous year.
“In today’s rapidly evolving world of consumer choice and technological advancement, audio and more specifically local radio – remains an integral part of our lives. Although there is a growing number of media platforms in the market vying for consumers’ attention, radio still appeals to Malaysian consumers at large,” said Benjamin Ting, Executive Director of Media Industry Group for Nielsen Malaysia.
13 stations from Astro Radio Sdn Bhd, Media Prima Radio Networks, Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM) and Best Media Network commanded 67 percent share of the radio market in Peninsular Malaysia.
The survey also revealed that nearly eight in 10 listeners consist of urbanites.
51.1 percent of the surveyed respondents say they would listen to the radio during their daily commute, 32.1 percent listen via the Astro decoder and about one in five prefer to listen to their chosen station via their mobile phones or smart devices in the past month.
Malay language stations climbed to an overall weekly reach of 10.5 million listeners as compared to 10.2 million listeners in previous year.
The top three Malay language stations are ERA FM with an average weekly reach of 4.8 million listeners followed by SINAR FM with an average weekly reach of 3.7 million listeners and Hot FM with an average weekly reach of 2.7 million listeners
The overall weekly reach for Chinese language stations remains stable at 4.1 million listeners.
MY FM retained its top spot as Malaysian consumers’ most preferred Chinese language stations with an average weekly reach of 2 million listeners followed by One FM with 900,000 listeners and MELODY FM with 398,000 listeners.
English language stations in Malaysia registered a double digit overall weekly reach of 10.3% (1.9 million listeners) as compared to previous year which stood at 9.1% (1.7 million listeners).
Malaysia’s leading English language station is still Hitz FM with weekly reach of 6.6% (1.2 million listeners) followed by Fly FM with a weekly reach of 2.4% (441,000 listeners).
“With increased exposure to a variety of sources for entertainment and information, how listeners spend their time and where they spent it is constantly being challenge.While Malaysian listeners are constantly active on a myriad of social media platforms, there is still great opportunity for radio broadcasters to engage with their audience as the power of radio extends across all major demographics and ethnicities,” said Ting. “Therefore, a big part of radio programming involves determining how to cater to the broader audience while still focusing on core listeners.”