Internet is (NOT SO) Hot in Malaysia

Think Internet is popular enough in Malaysia? Not yet, according to recent report by Nielsen... With only 20% reachability for Internet media (despite doubling in the last five years), the most popular blog or Internet site might still unheard of by 80% of the population... Read on the full report... 23 October 2008 Kuala Lumpur Mainstream media continues to dominate the Malaysia media scene with TV and radio reaching over 90 percent of the population and newspapers 54 percent. Internet penetration has also doubled in five years, now reaching two in 10 of the population, according to the latest findings from Nielsen Media Index survey. The Nielsen Media Index continuously tracks media consumption, product ownership, demographics and lifestyle information. The latest survey interviewed a representative sample of 10,000 individuals aged 15 years and above in Peninsular Malaysia over a continuous period from July 2007 to June 2008. “Traditional media such as print, TV and radio still command a high reach among the general population, but Internet will become a more integral part of the media mix while this medium continues to grow in this market,” said Andrea Douglas, Executive Director for Nielsen Media Research Malaysia. Newspapers The overall daily readership of newspapers stands at 54 percent of the population aged 15 years and above in Peninsular Malaysia (see Table 1). The growing newspapers readership over the last five years is driven primarily by Bahasa Malaysia dailies (28%). Harian Metro in particular leads overall newspaper readership and the Bahasa Malaysia newspaper segment at a reach of 15 percent (see Chart 1). Following Harian Metro as the second to fourth most read Bahasa Malaysia dailies are Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo at eight, seven and three percent respectively (see Chart 1). Among English dailies, The Star maintained its lead with eight percent readership. Both NST and The Sun maintained their readership at two percent, and Malay Mail at less than one percent (see Chart 2). Sin Chew Daily continues to lead the Chinese dailies at eight percent, followed by China Press at five percent. Guang Ming Daily and Nanyang’s readership stands at two percent respectively (see Chart 3). Among the Tamil dailies, Nanban stays ahead of Tamil Nesan with its two percent readership. “Malaysians are opting for online news for faster and constant updates, as seen by the 35 percent growth in online newspaper readership over a year, reaching one million readers”, says Ms Douglas. “However, news seekers have not abandoned the traditional medium as nine in 10 readers still obtain their news via a hard-copy”. Internet Increasing Internet penetration goes hand in hand with increased Internet usage. According to the Nielsen Media Index, Past week (1) Internet users rose to 21 percent this year, with almost four in 10 users spending between one to two hours on the Internet every day. Apart from the more common features such as email, surfing and information gathering, the popular activities for netizens are online TV/music/games (47%), followed by message/chat/blogging (45%) and reading newspaper/magazines (35%). Radio Total radio listenership remains high – reaching out to 92 percent of the population, according to the latest Nielsen Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) study. Among radio channels, ERA tops the list with 28 percent reach, followed by hotfm at 26 percent. SINAR, THR Raaga/THR Gegar, MY FM and 988 ranked third to sixth position. Ranked seventh overall, Klasik nasional is RTM’s top channel, followed by Muzikfm, KELANTANfm, KEDAHfm and aifm. Free-to-air (FTA) and Pay-TV Total TV viewing remains popular at 94 percent viewership. Among the free-to-air channels, TV3 continues to be in the lead by reaching 73 percent of the population, followed by RTM2 at 52 percent, RTM1 at 42 percent and NTV7 at 40 percent. TV9 and 8TV’s viewership are at 32 percent and 31 percent respectively. As for Pay-TV Astro, its Family Package is still the most popular with seven in 10 subscribers watching channels within this package. Meanwhile Yesterday (2) viewership for satellite channels has grown from a reach of 20 percent to 33 percent in the past five years. “A plethora of TV channels are available for the audience in Malaysia now, with an average of 20 channels received at home compared to an average of 11 channels five years ago. The average number of channels viewed per person has also more than a doubled during the same period,” added Ms Douglas. PowerScreen PowerScreen reaches 41 percent of the population in market centres. It attracts PMEBs, other white collar workers, those aged 20-29 years and with high monthly household income. Posad Sixty four percent of the population has visited an outlet with Posad media in the past four weeks. Posad media with the highest reach are Sound Ads and Trolley Ads, at 61 and 56 percent respectively. Vision Four Viewing Guide Vision Four Viewing Guide, reaching three percent of the population in the past three months, is likely to attract PMEBs, those with high monthly household income, people who invests in mutual fund/unit trusts, and air travelers. Cinema Past two-week cinema goers recorded a four percent reach. Cinema patrons are more likely to be white collar workers and students. About The Nielsen Company The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing information, media information, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek). The privately held company is active in more than 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA. For more information, please visit, www.nielsen.com. Table 1: Media Reach (Base: people aged 15+ in Pen. M’sia) July'06-June '07 July'07-June '08 % Var Media ('000) Reach % ('000) Reach % TV (yesterday) 13,047 93 13,416 94 +1 Radio (past week)* 12,611 90 13,208 92 +2 PosAd (past month) 9,270 66 9,143 64 -2 Newspapers (yesterday) 7,695 55 7,667 54 -1 Magazines (past month) 3,821 27 3,803 27 - PowerScreen( past month) 3,389 24 3,170 22 -2 Internet (past week) 2,554 18 2,937 21 +3 Cinema (past 2 weeks) 592 4 617 4 - Vision Four Guide (past 3 months) 618 4 393 3 -1 Source: Nielsen Media Index and *Nielsen Radio Audience Measurement (Sw2’07 & Sw2’08) Chart 1 Chart 2 Chart 3 (1) Past week consumption of any media is the equivalent of the Average Weekly usage/consumption measure. (2) Yesterday consumption of any media is the equivalent of the Average Weekly usage/consumption measure SOURCE: NIELSEN's Mainstream Media Continues To Lead Malaysia's Media Scene Read a review by BERNAMA: "Mainstream Media Continues To Dominate Media Scene, Says Nielson"