According to the Radio Audience Measurement Survey (RAM) Wave 1, 2023, conducted by GfK Research, radio listenership reached 96.5% of individuals in Peninsular Malaysia, equivalent to a high of 21.4 million weekly listeners. Astro Radio continues to be the No. 1 local radio with an increase of approximately 200,000 to 16.3 million weekly listeners or 76% of 21.4 million available radio listeners.
With the highest number of listeners in Malaysia, it has an almost 11 million reach advantage over competitors, Astro Radio boasts of 19 million average digital radio streams, 27.5 million social media followers, 133.5 million video views, and 65.6 million monthly average Facebook post reach.
The survey was carried out over 6 weeks with a mix of traditional radio diaries (75%) and e-diaries (25%) distributed to 6,000 unique individuals across Peninsular Malaysia to capture their listening habits. 21 commercial radio brands subscribed to this wave and Astro Radio secured 6 positions in the Top 10 brands ranking.
Astro Radio brands continued to lead as No. 1 across all languages: ERA, the No. 1 Malay brand; Hitz FM, the No. 1 English brand; MY, the No. 1 Chinese brand; and RAAGA, the No. 1 Tamil brand. Astro Radio Malay brands recorded an increase of approximately 100,000 in reach to 9.8 million listeners equivalent to a 69.3% reach, English brands achieving 3.4 million listeners equivalent to a wider reach of 87.1%, while Chinese brands amassed 3.5 million listeners translating to a wider reach of 73.2% and the Tamil radio brand marking an increase by approximately 100,000 to 1.7 million listeners equivalent to a wider reach of 90.9%.
- With 2.4 million weekly listeners, Hitz FM recorded the highest ‘Exclusive Audience’ for English brands at 289,000 listeners, the Highest Breakfast segment (Mon – Fri, 6am – 10am) for English brands with an increased listenership of 1.3 million, the Highest Drive segment (Mon – Fri, 4pm – 8pm) for English brands with 1.3 million listeners and the Highest Weekend (Sat – Sun) listenership amongst English brands with 1.6 million listeners.
- Mix FM recorded 1 million weekly listeners, with an Exclusive Audience recorded at 67,000.
- Lite FM charted a weekly listenership of 797,000 with an increase in Exclusive Audience by more than 40,000 to 143,000.
- ERA, also Malaysia’s No. 1 radio brand, recorded approximately a 400,000 increase in weekly listenership recording 5.7 million. The Breakfast show (Mon – Fri, 6am – 10am) remained No. 1, recording an increased listenership of 2.9 million listeners. ERA also achieved an increase for the Highest Exclusive Audience amongst all radio brands to 1.1 million.
- SINAR, remained Malaysia’s second most-listened-to brand overall and the No. 2 Malay-language radio brand in Malaysia, with an increase in recorded weekly listenership by approximately 100,000, recording 5.1 million weekly listeners. SINAR Breakfast segment (Mon – Fri, 6am – 10am) increased by 84,000 to 2.7 million, with the same number of listeners recorded for the Drive show (Mon – Fri, 4pm – 8pm), making it the No. 1 drive show segment amongst all radio brands.
- GEGAR, Malaysia’s No. 1 radio brand in the East Coast, recorded a reach of 1.9 million weekly listeners with its Breakfast show (Sun- Thurs, 6am – 10am) and the Drive show (Sun – Thurs, 4pm – 8pm) reaching 943,000 and 1.1 million listeners respectively.
- ZAYAN recorded a 20% increase in weekly listenership, reaching 385,000. The ZAYAN Breakfast show (Mon – Fri, 6am – 10am) saw an increase by approximately 20,000 to 192,000 listeners, while the Drive show (Mon – Fri, 4pm – 8pm) recorded 187,000 listeners. ZAYAN garnered an Exclusive Audience of approximately 67,000.
- Weekly listenership on MY increased to 2.86 million weekly listeners with the Breakfast (Mon – Fri, 6am – 10am) and Drive (Mon – Fri, 4pm – 8pm) segments achieving the highest number of listeners across Chinese radio brands with 1.9 and 1.8 million respectively, a growth of 300,000 and 200,000 listeners respectively. With the second highest in Exclusive Audience amongst all radio brands, MY recorded an increase by almost 1 million to 823,000.
- MELODY recorded a weekly listenership of 1 million and an Exclusive Audience of 210,000.
- GOXUAN achieved an increase of more than 50,000 in its weekly listeners to reach 298,000. The Drive segment (Mon – Fri, 4pm – 8pm) recorded an increase of almost 20,000, increasing to 120,000 listeners while its Exclusive Audience remained 50,000.
- RAAGA, Malaysia’s No. 1 Tamil radio brand recorded an increase in weekly listenership to 1.7 million. The Breakfast (Mon – Fri, 6am – 10am) and Drive (Mon – Fri, 4pm – 8pm) segments achieved 1 million weekly listeners each, with approximate increases of more than 135,000 and 120,000 respectively. RAAGA achieved an increase in its Exclusive Audience by 10,000 to 696,000 listeners.
Kenny Ong, CEO of Astro Radio, said:“We would like to thank our listeners for their continued support and feedback. This feedback is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team to provide quality content that resonates with our listeners. We will use the insights gained from this survey to continue improving our programming and providing the best possible audio experiences for our audience.”
Data source: GfK Radio Audience Measurement (RAM), Wave 1 2023 | Facebook Post Reach: Facebook Business Manager (Jan – Mar 2023) | Digital Streams (with splinter): Radioactive (Jan – Mar 2023) | Monthly Average Website Unique Visitors/Page Views: Google Analytics (Jan – Mar 2023) | Video Views: Facebook Creator Studio, CrowdTangle, YouTube (Mar 2023) | Total Social Media Followers: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok (Mar 2023)
This story first appeared on RadioInfo.asia