admin
Herald, which still has almost twice as many readers as its nearest competitor, slipped the least according to the Zimbabwe All Media and Products Survey.
The Zamps survey for the final quarter of last year, published yesterday by the independent Zimbabwe Advertising Research Foundation, found The Herald’s readership dropped from 36 to 35 percent of all urban Zimbabweans aged over 15.
But its two main competitors dropped far more.
NewsDay dived from 29 percent to 26 percent, while Daily News plummeted from 26 percent to 21 percent.
While the survey did not draw any conclusions for the drops, it did give data on internet access.
Usage penetration by urban adults during the quarter grew from 31 percent to 34 percent.
A smaller percentage accessed through a fixed home link, with just 11 percent penetration now.
Internet cafes saw a small rise in penetration, from 4 percent to 5 percent.
But it was the dramatic rise in smartphone numbers, which mattered.
Cellphone browsing rose dramatically from 13 to 21 percent of the urban population.
All three “serious” dailies have well supported internet sites.
If trends in other countries are applicable to Zimbabwe then we have now people starting to switch to reading newspapers online rather than in printed form.
The Zamps survey showed The Herald’s continued dominance of national, urban and rural markets.
A total of 1 857 004 people read The Herald in the final quarter of last year, way above the 973 930 in second-placed NewsDay.
The Herald’s Harare tabloid stablemate, H-Metro roared into third place with 965 028 readers, less than one percent behind NewsDay.
Daily News slipped into fourth place with 926 640 readers and Chronicle, The Herald’s Bulawayo stablemate, was fifth with 612 710 readers.
The three Zimbabwe Newspaper titles had a total daily readership of more than 3,4 million people, compared to 1,9 million for the other two dailies.
Zamps has “double independence”.
The research foundation, whose board includes representatives from the media and advertising industries, is funded by a 1,5 percent surcharge on all advertising, so no media house or agency can call the shots. The foundation then hires an independent market research company to do the actual survey.
Major advertising agencies set up the system because they need to know how many read each newspaper, watch television, listen to radio or access the internet.
Online Reporter