Singapore’s SPH Radio maintained its strong showing across its radio, app, and web platforms, based on the results from independent surveys conducted in the last half of 2020. Kiss92 captured the highest exclusive listenership among all English stations while MONEY FM 89.3 doubled in listenership. Meanwhile, 96.3 Hao FM core audience had the highest growth in time spent listening, registering at 1 hour 56 minutes.
App and web streamers continue to be popular platforms for listeners to tune in. Data from Triton Digital showed that SPH Radio saw an overall digital streaming growth during this survey period, led by 96.3 Hao FM at 20% and MONEY FM 89.3 at 16%.
In the latest Nielsen Radio Diary Survey, Kiss92 emerged as the English station with the highest reach among audiences below 40 years old. It also saw an increase in overall listenership, attracting the highest number of loyal listeners with exclusive listenership of 160,000 weekly, and establishing the largest base of young audiences between 20 to 29 years old.
The findings also showed that ONE FM 91.3 has a strong appeal with the mass affluent, where its core audience has the highest median personal income at $6,694, compared to listeners of the other English radio stations in Singapore. It was also found that 90% of its core listeners are PMEBs, and 54% are private property dwellers.
Listenership for MONEY FM 89.3 doubled, with an emerging base of loyal listeners – a clear indication that audiences are turning to MONEY FM 89.3 as their trusted source for business and personal finance updates. The findings also showed that the station had the highest reach to car owners (60%) and grocery buyers (79%) in its core audience of PMEBs ages 35 to 54.
Chinese radio listeners continue to be highly engaged by SPH Radio, with UFM100.3 coming in second in its core audience time spent listening at 9 hours and 26 minutes weekly. Among Chinese radio stations, UFM100.3 listeners have the highest household and personal median incomes at $6,379 and $3,272 respectively.
In this survey period, 96.3 Hao FM saw a 13% increase in overall listenership. It also registered the highest growth in core audience time spent listening, with listeners tuning in 1 hour and 56 minutes longer each week.
In a separate survey with more than 2,000 respondents done in October by Milieu Insights, an independent Singapore-based consumer insights company, Kiss92 emerged as the most-liked station in Singapore, followed closely by UFM100.3 and ONE FM 91.3.
MONEY FM 89.3 continues to retain the top spot with its influence on purchase decisions at 65%, further strengthening the credibility of the station and its high listener engagement levels.
Both the Nielsen Radio Diary Survey and Milieu Insights survey show that radio remains a key media channel during the pandemic, in which Nielsen reported a 1.7% increase in audience share. The Milieu study showed an increase in radio listenership due to COVID-19, with 74% of the respondents agreeing that they had been listening to the radio more often after the COVID-19 situation escalated. Among these, 61% indicated that, as a result, they began listening to the radio an hour or 2 hours longer in a week.
In addition, podcasts continue to be a growing favourite audio format, with SPH Radio stations' podcast downloads up by almost two-fold during the period concerned, largely driven by MONEY FM 89.3 podcasts at 162% and 96.3 Hao FM podcasts at 106%.
To expand their on-demand audio content to reach a wider audience beyond radio listeners, SPH Radio launched 25 original podcast shows hosted by SPH Radio personalities since June 2020, with a healthy average monthly growth in downloads of 37%.
MONEY FM 89.3 Programme Director Loretta Lopez said she was delighted with the station's performance in the survey: “We are heartened by the results. This serves as a strong testament of the good work that the team continues to do on the station. It's also a nod of approval from our listeners for providing key financial insights to help them make informed decisions on business and personal finance.”
Sim Hong Huat, SPH Radio's General Manager, said: “We are encouraged by the findings that radio continues to enjoy a strong presence in the lives of consumers in Singapore during these difficult times, and we are pleased with the overall positive results across our radio network. We are very grateful for the support of our fans and partners, and will continue to work hard at delivering better consumer experiences, which include more interactive features in-app in the following months, designed with our listeners in mind for an engaging digital experience.”
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