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Mainstream Media Continues To Lead Malaysia's Media Email this page
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Internet Penetration Doubles In Five Years
Nielsen
Michelle Liew
23 November 2008
+603 7626 3862
Kuala Lumpur

Mainstream media continues to dominate the Malaysia media scene w ith TV and radio
reaching over 90 percent of the population and new spapers 54 percent. Internet penetration
has also doubled in five years, now reaching tw o in 10 of the population, according to the
latest findings from Nielsen Media Index survey.

The Nielsen Media Index continuously tracks media consumption, product ow nership,
demographics and lifestyle information. The latest survey interview ed 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 w ill become a more integral part of the media mix w hile this medium
continues to grow in this market,” said Andrea Douglas, Executive Director for Nielsen Media
Research Malaysia.

New spapers
The overall daily readership of new spapers stands at 54 percent of the population aged 15
years and above in Peninsular Malaysia (see Table 1). The grow ing new spapers readership
over the last five years is driven primarily by Bahasa Malaysia dailies (28%). Harian Metro in
particular leads overall new spaper readership and the Bahasa Malaysia new spaper segment
at a reach of 15 percent (see Chart 1).

Follow ing 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 w ith eight percent readership. Both NST
and The Sun maintained their readership at tw o percent, and Malay Mail at less than one
percent (see Chart 2).

Sin Chew Daily continues to lead the Chinese dailies at eight percent, follow ed by China
Press at five percent. Guang Ming Daily and Nanyang’s readership stands at tw o percent
respectively (see Chart 3).

Among the Tamil dailies, Nanban stays ahead of Tamil Nesan w ith its tw o percent
readership.

“Malaysians are opting for online new s for faster and constant updates, as seen by the 35
percent grow th in online new spaper readership over a year, reaching one million readers”,
says Ms Douglas. “How ever, new s seekers have not abandoned the traditional medium as
nine in 10 readers still obtain their new s via a hard-copy”.

Internet
Increasing Internet penetration goes hand in hand w ith increased Internet usage. According to
the Nielsen Media Index, Past w eek (1) Internet users rose to 21 percent this year, w ith
almost four in 10 users spending betw een one to tw o 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%), follow ed by message/chat/blogging
(45%) and reading new spaper/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 w ith 28 percent reach, follow ed by hotfm at 26 percent. SINAR, THR Raaga/THR
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tops the list w ith 28 percent reach, follow ed 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, follow ed by Muzikfm, KELANTANfm, KEDAHfm and aifm.

Free-to-air (FTA) and Pay-TV

Total TV view ing remains popular at 94 percent view ership. Among the free-to-air channels,
TV3 continues to be in the lead by reaching 73 percent of the population, follow ed by RTM2
at 52 percent, RTM1 at 42 percent and NTV7 at 40 percent. TV9 and 8TV’s view ership are at
32 percent and 31 percent respectively.

As for Pay-TV Astro, its Family Package is still the most popular w ith seven in 10 subscribers
w atching channels w ithin this package. Meanw hile Yesterday (2) view ership for satellite
channels has grow n 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 , w ith an average
of 20 channels received at home compared to an average of 11 channels five years ago. The
average number of channels view ed per person has also more than a doubled during the
same period,” added Ms Douglas.

Pow erScreen
Pow erScreen reaches 41 percent of the population in market centres. It attracts PMEBs, other
w hite collar w orkers, those aged 20-29 years and w ith high monthly household income.

Posad
Sixty four percent of the population has visited an outlet w ith Posad media in the past four
w eeks. Posad media w ith the highest reach are Sound Ads and Trolley Ads, at 61 and 56
percent respectively.

Vision Four View ing Guide

Vision Four View ing Guide, reaching three percent of the population in the past three months,
is likely to attract PMEBs, those w ith high monthly household income, people w ho invests in
mutual fund/unit trusts, and air travelers.

Cinema
Past tw o-w eek cinema goers recorded a four percent reach. Cinema patrons are more likely
to be w hite collar w orkers and students.

About The Nielsen Com pany

The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company w ith leading market positions
in marketing information, media information, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade
show s and business publications (Billboard, The Hollyw ood Reporter, Adw eek). The privately
held company is active in more than 100 countries, w ith headquarters in New York, USA. For
more information, please visit, w w w .nielsen.com.

Table 1: Media Reach

(Base: people aged 15+ in Pen.

July'06-June '07 July'07-June '08 % Var
M’sia)
Media ('000) Reach % ('000) Reach %
TV (yesterday) 13,047 93 13,416 94 +1
Radio (past w eek)* 12,611 90 13,208 92 +2
PosAd (past month) 9,270 66 9,143 64 -2
New spapers (yesterday) 7,695 55 7,667 54 -1
Magazines (past month) 3,821 27 3,803 27 -
Pow erScreen( past month) 3,389 24 3,170 22 -2
Internet (past w eek) 2,554 18 2,937 21 +3
Cinema (past 2 w eeks) 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

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Chart 2

Chart 3

(1) Past w eek 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

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