Radio's Appeal Remains Strong in Peninsular Malaysia with Nine in 10 Tuning in Weekly Share of Total Advertising for Radio hits all time high of 5.5 percent in first four months of 2008 3 June 2008 Kuala Lumpur In an increasingly competitive media market, radio continues to perform well to reach a large spectrum of the population in Peninsular Malaysia. According to the latest Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) study by The Nielsen Company, nine in 10 people aged 10+ years tune in every week. Conducted twice a year, Nielsen RAM studies the demographic profile, listening preferences and product consumption of people aged 10+ years in Peninsular Malaysia, providing valuable insights to assist advertisers reach their target audience effectively. The study is based on individual quarter-hour diaries completed by a representative sample of 3,000 individuals. The most recent survey – Sweep 1, 2008 – was conducted from 24th March to 6th April 2008. The study reveals that on average, 12 percent of (1.93 million) Malaysians listen to radio in any given 15 minute time slot throughout the day and an average radio listener tunes in for 22 hours a week (see Table 2). Commenting on the survey results, Dato’ Borhanuddin Osman, President of Commercial Radio Malaysia (formerly known as MACRO) said, “I am very proud of the achievements made by radio in offering more choices to listeners, continuing to deliver mass audiences to advertisers and securing its highest ever share of total advertising spending”. Among the Malay channels in Sweep 1 2008, Era and Hot maintained their previous first and second placing with 29.5 percent (4.7 million) and 26.7 percent (4.3 million) respectively. Sinar reached 16.2 percent (2.6 million) listeners and now occupies third place. Klasik Nasional garnered 7.8 percent (1.3 million) listeners and managed to retain its seventh position, while Muzik also maintained its nineth placing, with its reach of 6.4 percent (1.0 million) listeners. At the eleventh position overall is IKIM, reaching 793,000 (4.9%) listeners. (see Table 3). RTM’s top regional channels are Kelantan with 5.3 percent (848,000) and Kedah, which reached 4.5 percent (723,000) (see Table 3). These two regional channels ranked in tenth and twelfth respectively in the overall rankings. Topping the Chinese radio channels are My, with 2.1 million (13.3%) listeners, followed by 988 with 1.7 million (10.3%) listeners and Ai with 557,000 (3.5%) listeners (see Table 3). Amongst the English channels, Hitz continues to lead with a weekly reach of 1.1 million (7.0%). Fly, with 639,000 (4.0%) listeners occupies second position followed by Mix (425,000), Lite (384,000) and Traxx (180,000) (see Table 3). While Indian channel Minnal attracts 662,000 (4.1%) listeners on a weekly basis, the two bi-lingual channels, THR and Red, draw 2.5 million (15.4%) and 75,000 (0.5%) listeners respectively on a weekly basis (see Table 3). Meanwhile, radio advertising expenditure in the period January to April 2008 registered double-digit growth of 26.1 percent to RM86.2 million – ahead of the total advertising market (excluding classified ads) which recorded a 22 percent increase when compared to the same period last year. Increased spending by the local government institutions, banking/finance, pharmaceutical, automotive and food retail has propelled the medium’s overall growth (see Table 4). As a result, radio’s share of total advertising (display ads only) in Malaysia hit an all-time high of 5.5 percent in this latest tracking period, and reflecting a tremendous growth of 224 percent compared to the same period in 2000 (see Chart 1). Andrea Douglas, Executive Director for Nielsen Media Research, The Nielsen Company, Malaysia commented, “This is an exciting time for radio in Malaysia. The emergence of new players in the last 10 months has upped the competitive quotient. Radio'sshare of advertisinghitting an all-time high of overall media advertising in Malaysia indicates that there is still a hugeopportunity for its further growth.” About The Nielsen Company The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions and recognized brands in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and the newspaper sector (Scarborough Research). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands, and New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com.