Recent market commentary has raised questions about the timing of the RAMS data release. The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa says its position is straightforward: audience data will be released when it is statistically ready to serve as a credible industry currency.
“The industry has invested considerably in rebuilding radio audience measurement on a sound and sustainable footing. Our responsibility is to honour that investment by ensuring that the data we release is robust enough to support real trading and planning decisions. That standard is non-negotiable,” says Gary Whitaker, CEO of the BRC SA.
Whitaker says the BRC welcomes the opportunity to address those questions directly and adds that the review process currently under way is methodologically driven and is proceeding in line with the design principles on which RAMS was built.
The Radio Technical Sub-Committee and the Radio Research Committee (RRC) have both advised that RAMS data should be released only once the dataset demonstrates the stability required to serve as a credible and sustainable currency. The BRC is guided by that advice.
“We are not managing this process in isolation. Our technical committees exist precisely to provide independent oversight of these decisions, and their guidance has been clear,” says Whitaker.
Fieldwork progress
Wave 1 fieldwork concluded in mid-December 2025, with approximately 9,000 respondents interviewed across South Africa. The achieved sample met planned demographic quotas and represents roughly one quarter of the total intended RAMS sample.
Wave 2 fieldwork is currently in progress and tracking ahead of schedule. Completion is expected by the end of this month, March 2026, with data processing and analysis anticipated to conclude by the end of April 2026.
The BRC can confirm that the review process does not reflect concern about the health of radio listening in South Africa. The Wave 1 dataset provides an encouraging early view of the medium’s reach and relevance. The BRC’s approach to releasing that data is governed not by the direction of the results but by the statistical standard required to introduce a new currency to market.
Whitaker says, “Radio is in good shape. The early data reflects that; however, our job is not simply to publish numbers. It is to publish numbers that are statistically sound and the industry can rely on. We are close to that point, and we will say so clearly when we get there.”
How RAMS works
The BRC took the opportunity to reiterate how RAMS works. It has been designed as a cumulative measurement system. Audience estimates are not drawn from a single wave of fieldwork but built progressively as successive waves are incorporated into the dataset.
This approach is consistent with international best practice in radio audience measurement.
The cumulative model is designed to deliver:
- Improved weighting efficiency across demographic and geographic segments
- Reduction in estimate variance, particularly for smaller and regional stations
- Greater stability of audience estimates over time
- Enhanced responsiveness to changes in listening behaviour as sample size grows
Based on the statistical properties of the current dataset and advice from the BRC’s technical advisers and international best practice, an effective sample of approximately 36,000 respondents is required to produce audience estimates that are sufficiently robust for planning, trading and investment decisions.
This threshold is particularly significant for smaller and regional stations, where a partial sample may produce higher variance before the full cumulative dataset is in place.
Following the completion and processing of Wave 2 fieldwork, the BRC will undertake a further methodological review. At that stage, the committees will assess the viability of releasing Total Radio indicators, which may include:
- Total national radio reach
- Average time spent listening
- Weekday and weekend listening patterns (shape of day)
The release of individual station-level audience data will be considered only once the cumulative dataset has reached sufficient scale and stability to support that level of reporting with confidence.
The BRC will provide a further industry update following the completion of the Wave 2 review in April 2026. That update will confirm whether Total Radio indicators are ready for release and will outline potential timelines for subsequent reporting milestones, including the release of station-level data.
