Survey shows Astro Radio continues digital strength despite pandemic

Despite the loosening of the Movement Control Order restrictions since mid-2020, Malaysians have continued to be encouraged to stay home to keep themselves save as the global pandemic still holds a grip over our nation. The act of staying at home has undeniably caused a rise in media consumption globally and the media options consumers choose from did not exclude radio. 

This was especially affirmed recently after the GfK Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) Survey Wave 2 showed that in Peninsular Malaysia,  radio reached 93.6% of individuals aged 10+ which is equivalent to 20.3 million weekly listeners. Of the 20.3 million radio listeners, the survey also revealed that Astro Radio continues to take the lead with 74.3% market share and has the highest number of listeners at 15.1 million weekly listeners. 

Astro Radio digital presence was further strengthened by achieving 331.2 million in total reach with a 60% increase and 36 % increase in monthly video views and digital streams respectively. During the survey period, Astro Radio’s monthly reach on Facebook was 102 million and had a monthly average website page views of 11.2 million. 

These impressive numbers can also be attributed to Astro Radio brands being ranked No.1 across all languages; ERA – No.1 Malay brand, HITZ – No.1 English brand, MY – No.1 Chinese brand and RAAGA – No.1 Tamil brand. Specifically ERA remains the top radio brand in the country with 6.2 million listeners and has the highest exclusive listeners with a 1.3million reach. 

This is followed by SINAR in 2nd place with an impressive 4.8 million listeners while HITZ maintained its top English brand position with 2.5 million listeners and MIX & LITE secured 2^nd & 3^rd positions for English brands recording 1.1 million and 960,000 listeners respectively. 

As for the Chinese brands, MY maintains its position on top with 2 million listeners and MELODY with 1.2 million listeners. RAAGA also maintained its position on top for the Tamil brand category with 1.3 million listeners and recorded the highest ‘time spent listening’ with 8 hours and 50 minutes amongst all Malaysian radio brands.

These numbers continue to prove that Radio is both interactive and social and over the years, Astro Radio has transcended from a pure audio experience to one that is multi-faceted and on multiple platforms. As consumers demand for a full-experience when choosing their media entertainment, Astro has made it a point to ensure its content is curated, created and distributed to resonate with all segments of the Malaysian population. 

The RAM survey was carried out over 6 weeks with a mix of traditional radio diaries (75%) and e-diaries (25%) distributed to 6000 unique individuals across Peninsular Malaysia to capture their listening habits.