All about radio listenership in Swaziland

Radio listenership trends in Swaziland (people +10 years old): Weekly Cume Rating - 5:30 am - 12 Midnight

92% of the approximately 800,000 population in Swaziland has one or more radio sets in their household. From the survey undertaken, 86.5% reported to actually listen to radio once or more times a week. There are 10 radio stations reported in this section. The numbers show significantly high listenership levels for Swaziland stations compared to South African stations accessible in the kingdom. The Siswati channel (SBIS 1 - Siswati channel)) has the highest number of listeners, attracting 75.8% (606 400) weekly, SBIS 2 (English channel) follows with 44.2% (353 600) and VOC (Christian channel) with 37.5% (300 000).

Jacaranda is the leading South African station listened to in Swaziland with a rating of 8.5% weekly followed by Ukhozi FM with 5.4%, Ligwalagwala FM and Metro FM 3.4%, East Coast Radio 2.3%, SA FM 1.1%, YFM 0.7% last with 78.4%.

The SBIS 1 (Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Service -1) attracts the highest listeners across all Swaziland's administrative districts (Hhohho, Manzini, Shiselweni and Lubombo). SBIS 2 has significantly equal listenership reach across all the districts except in Shiselweni where a higher percentage of people within this district tune in to the station. The VOC (Voice of the Church ) has a fairly equal listenership across the districts with its highest being in Lubombo.

The southern district of Swaziland, Shiselweni also has the highest listenership rating for South Africa (SA) stations when comparing with listenership of these stations within the other Swaziland's districts.

Weekly reach rating for men and women in Swaziland

There is no significant difference in radio listening across gender in the kingdom of Swaziland. Men and women between 25 and 34 years are the least radio listeners when comparing with the other age groups.

Listenership picks up from those who are 35 years and above where men and women tend to listen more than their younger counterparts with men 55+ listening more than women within the same age group. When considering Swaziland based stations, SBIS 1 efficiently targets radio audiences better whilst VOC has the most loyal audience. SBIS 2 has a more stable audience in the evening daypart between 7pm and 12 midnight.

Hour-by-Hour listening in Swaziland

There are 55 200 (6.9%) people listening to local radio during any quarter hour of the day between 5:30 am and 12 midnight (Monday – Sunday). Generally, listenership soars in the morning between 6am and 8:30am. A high in AQH radio listening is during News/Tindzaba time both in the morning and evening (6am, 7am and 6pm there is also a small increase for News at 9pm on SBIS 1). In the evening listenership drops and reaches its lowest just before midnight.

SBIS 1 has the highest AQH persons (42 720 i.e. 5.3%) across all dayparts and also has the highest Cume persons (606 400), i.e. people tuning in at least once a week. It is distantly followed by its “sister” channel, SBIS 2 (English) with an AQH persons of about 9 600 (1.2%). VOC is able to attract at least 300 000 Swazi listeners weekly. It has a fairly constant AQH listenership across the day with a slight increase between 3pm and 7pm.

Weekend listenership in Swaziland

On weekends, listening during the morning drive reaches its highest around News at 7am as opposed to 6am during weekdays. Although listenership drops after 7pm News, weekday listenership remains fairly higher than on weekends until just after 9pm.

Where Swazi radio listeners listen during weekdays

Listenership at home is at its lowest between 8am and 5pm.This is the same time when out-of-home listening picks up with its highest share of AQH listeners (20%) being at 1pm and then starts to decline after that reaching its lowest around 8pm.

Where swazi radio listeners listen during the weekend

Away-from-home listenership is lower on weekends than on weekdays throughout the day. It does not pick up until after 10am and reaches its maximum approximately an hour later than during weekdays. Unlike on weekdays where listenership starts to fall after 2pm, on weekends, out-of-home audiences remain tuned in to radio until 5pm.

Weekly listenership by day parts in Swaziland

81% tune in to radio weekly (AQH rating of 5%) during morning drive (5:30am - 10am). During midday (10am - 3pm) there are 49.6% tuning in (AQH rating of 1.4%).In the afternoon (3pm to 7pm) 52.8% (3.6%) tune in and in the evening it’s 52.6% (3%).

the morning drive turns over 16.2 times across the day part or rather 16 audiences of 648 000. Midday turns over 35.4 times across the daypart, afternoon turns over 14.7 times, and evening daypart between 7pm and 12 midnight turns over 17.5 times.

There are 648 000 people who tune in to radio weekly between 6am and 10am. There is high radio listening across all age groups .There are slightly more men tuning in between 15 and 24 and 65+ years than women within the same age groups, otherwise women are most likely to tune in more than men. Ages between 25 and 34 years are the least listeners during the morning daypart.

There are 396 800 Cume persons during midday from 10am to 3pm. This shows a sudden drop of listenership from the morning daypart especially for age group 25 to 44 years. Persons between
10 and 24 years are the most likely to tune in to radio during this daypart including women who are 45+ years. Heavy listenership for these younger age groups pick up just after 2pm.

Listenership remains fairly constant during the afternoon daypart (3pm - 7pm) when comparing with midday. Generally men are the most likely to tune in to radio within this daypart especially those between 10 and 44 years and 65+ years.

Radio fails to recover listeners accumulated during the morning drive. Older people are likely to be the most listeners in the evening, especially ages 45+ years.

Men between 15 and 64 years are the most listeners for night radio when comparing with women within the same age group.

SBIS 1 (Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Service, siSwati) channel listenership trends

This station commands the highest weekly listenership with 17.9 (143 200) exclusive weekly listeners (people who listen to this station only). It is able to attract all gender groups across all ages but men and women who are 35+ have a higher Cume rating than the younger age groups.

It is most able to attract the highest number of listeners in the morning between 6am and 10am.

This means the station reaches radio listeners efficiently at this time and also holds them better than in any other daypart (low turnover/loyalty). This radio station's highest turnover is between 10am and 3pm. At this time, the station has a faster Cume growth as people tune in and out more frequently than in any daypart.

The station is able to efficiently reach men and women between 15 and 24 years but those older age groups 45+ that tune in are most loyal to the station, i.e. they spend the longest time tuned in. In general women in Swaziland are most likely to stay tuned longer than men.

SBIS 2 ( Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Service, English) channel listenership trends

This radio station attracts 353 600 (P10+) listeners weekly producing an AQH weekly persons of approximately 10 000. It has 2.2% (17 600) exclusive weekly listeners. It has the highest Cume persons in the morning daypart reaching up to 254 000 people, and then gradually loses them till midnight. This station has a more stable/loyal audience during the evening between 7pm and 12 midnight.

This translates to a low Cume growth during the night daypart since there is little “movement”/ tuning in and out of the station. Its AQH persons is, however, the same as of the morning and evening dayparts.

It efficiently targets age groups 10 to 34 years for both men and women. This is, however, slightly more true for men than it is for women. Men and women between 15 and 24 years stay tuned longer. Generally, this station is not able to keep its audience for long when comparing with SBIS 1.

Voce of the Church (VOC) listenership trends

This Christian radio station attracts 300 000 people weekly with 3.2% (25 600) exclusive weekly listeners. Like the two SBIS channels, VOC has its highest Cume persons (207 200) in the morning between 6am to 10am with a gradual decrease throughout the day and reaching its lowest in the evening daypart between 7pm and 12 midnight (40 000).

In terms of dayparts this station has competitive AQH persons compared to SBIS 2 in the morning between 6am and 10am where it is twice as high and during midday between 10am and 3pm where is at par. After that it goes down for afternoon drive between 3pm and 7pm and in the evening between 7pm and 12 midnight.

In terms of loyalty, this station is the best of all three local stations. It is able to hold its audience longer especially for the morning, midday and afternoon dayparts.