*CYBERTORIAL: In terms of value proposition advertisers can’t go wrong investing and growing their brands with the evolving and maturing ‘now’ generation. This group (of mainly 15 to 34-year-olds) is loving life, living in the present, but with a serious eye to a bright future. Represented by SABC Radio’s MG5 portfolio of young and happening stations, the now generation is serious about finance, healthcare and education.
The portfolio comprises: – Metro FM, which has established itself as South Africa’s largest national urban commercial station with more than 6 million listeners, who tune in hear an interactive lifestyle radio with a music mix of R&B, pop, soft rock, hip hop, dance and the best local music;
– Good Hope FM, a Cape Town based 24-hour, regional, commercial music station providing entertainment (music, competitions, features), information (news, weather reports, sport, financial news, traffic reports) and community involvement (fundraising, interviews, sponsorships, events); and
– 5FM, which is known for its music, DJs and events. The station is on the pulse of global music and content trends and offers audiences the opportunity to be part of the energy and dynamism of a fast-changing youthful global community.
Drawing on world-class research insights from the All Media Product Survey (Amps), Target Group Index (TGI) through Ask Afrika and the Unilever Majority report, it is clear that SABC Radio audiences as a whole have evolved in terms of their spending power. But nowhere is this lifestyle evolution more apparent than among MG5’s seven million listeners. The MG5 audience, as measured by Amps, shows a 7% increase in LSM 5-8 over the past 10 years and an 18% increase in LSM 9-10, putting the total for that category at 31% (that’s 1.8-million listeners).
What’s more this figure shows a staggering growth of 158% in LSM 9-10, compared with just 60% among the grouping of similar independent stations.
“MG5 houses are some of the country’s top radio stations. An audience in excess of 6.6 million continue to tune into MetroFM (P7D). Of this 1.1 million LSM 9-10 audience (P7D) regularly tune into their station – this is bigger than some of our Jo’burg and Cape Town – based total competitor radio audiences. 5FM can be described as best in breed, always looking to break through the clutter and challenging the norm.GoodHope FM continues to make inroads in growing and retaining its audience base,” says Siphelele Sixaso, head of SABC Radio Marketing.
The majority of MG5 listeners are black (79%), male (57%) and single (66%). Their life stage means that 1.9-million (34%) still live at home, 17% have started a family, and 15% are young independent singles (Amps 2013 JD). Altogether 71% live in metropolitan areas, with 50% of listeners living in Gauteng. They are astute and shop around for the best prices, but also have enormous spending power. And they are buying cars – 515 000 (32%) drive hatchbacks and a further 20% drive a sedan (Amps 2013 JD).
“According to insights by Ask Afrika TGI SA 2013C they have a balanced outlook on life, with their home having become an increasingly important channel of expression and the place where their heart is. Financial awareness is key and they believe that nothing in life is free, which was not a prevalent attitude previously. As a result they have an increasingly voracious entrepreneurial appetite. They are extremely motivated and believe that education is important,” says Maria Petousis, TGI director at Ask Afrika.
MG5 stations reach 22% of all students and 18% of MG5 listeners have a technikon diploma or a university degree (Amps 2013 JD, Amps 2003 JD). “Quality resonates with this audience and looking after one’s health is very important. They shop around for the best prices, and are astute. This has implications from the quality of water (bottled) they drink to making provision for future healthcare,” says Petousis. (Ask Afrika TGI SA 2013C)
According to Amps the MG5 generation is open to online marketing and social networking. They download games (26%) and music (31%) and use their phones for instant messaging (54%). A large proportion use the internet to search for information (55%), 2.8-million (49%) are into social networking , 18% use internet banking on a computer, and 31% use cellphone banking.
They are technologically savvy, responsible for 43% of all smartphone usage in Mzansi. Forty-seven percent of all downloads are MG5’ers and 59% of all music downloads are by MG5’ers. Fifty-five percent of all smartphone app downloads are by MG5’ers and they download 59% of all podcasts. When it comes to radio 59% of all radio listeners online, via app or web are MG5’ers.
With its inclusive, youthful and on-trend mindset and ability to provide quality entertainment and relevant news and information the MG5 stations are perfectly positioned to take brands from the now into the future. The SABC delivers audiences, every channel has massive audiences. Social media audiences are growing and being monetised. No matter your target market, the SABC needs to be on your consideration set.
*Cybertorial is paid-for content.
About SABC The SABC’s core business is to deliver a variety of high quality programmes and services through television and radio that informs, educates, entertains and supports the public at large.
