Channel NewsAsia rated tops among PMEBs, high-income earners

Thursday October 16 2008
By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE: A recent year-long survey among Singaporeans has shown that most adults rely on traditional media as their main choice of information and entertainment, despite the emergence of new media platforms.

The Nielsen Media Index, which ran from July 2007 to June 2008, polled 4,717 respondents aged 15 and above.

It showed that eight in 10 people watched free-to-air TV channels every day, while one in five adults tuned in to Channel NewsAsia daily for its comprehensive offering of local and global news.

The channel was rated tops among Professionals, Managers, Executives, Businessmen (PMEBs) and high-income earners, scoring especially high among those earning S$5,000 and above.

In September this year, Channel NewsAsia's ratings soared by 16 per cent, as more tuned in for updates on the global financial crisis.

Among MediaCorp's TV stations, Channel 8 emerged tops again, with a 49 per cent viewership, while Channel 5 was widely watched by 36 per cent of private home dwellers.

The TODAY newspaper was the second most-read daily in Singapore, with a daily readership of 17 per cent. Readership among students was up by 5 percentage points, forming some 20 per cent of its total readership.

MediaCorp's English and Chinese radio stations took the top three spots in listenership.

Class 95FM was the top English station with 20 per cent listenership, followed by Gold 90.5FM (13 per cent) and 987FM (10 per cent).

YES 93.3FM led the Chinese stations with 29 per cent listenership, followed by Love 97.2FM (21 per cent) and Capital 95.8FM (20 per cent).

The Nielsen survey also showed that younger, better educated and affluent individuals were turning to the Internet to supplement their media diet.

With more people on the move and going online, MediaCorp has expanded its new media services to reach out to the new generation.

The company said traffic to its online platforms such as xin.sg and Mocca has grown tremendously. Channelnewsasia.com, for example, registered a 20.6 per cent jump in monthly page views to 67 million.

Apart from enhancing its online content, it has also partnered telco players to deliver media content via mobile phones.