Metro FM and SABC1 Named Favorite Media Brands In Ask Afrika's Icon Brands Survey

Ask Afrika has ranked South Africa's iconic media brands across channels and the following were selected as favourites across the board in its Icon Brands Survey; Metro FM (radio), SABC 1 (television), Sunday Times (Newspapers), Google (internet), and Facebook (social media).

The Media research revealed that Metro FM led radio polls and shows relevance across all demographics, with the exception of white listeners and Lesedi and Ukhozi FM also came up as strong radio brands.

The station,  with a listenership of 6.6 million, is the second highest in the country behind Ukhozi FM which boast over 7.5 million but it has a wider appeal across the board. That simply means listeners tune in regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity and socio-economic status. Whereas Ukhosi draws from a specific demographic of Isizulu listeners. Isizulu is most spoken language in South Africa.  

"Media is typically fine-tuned for specific audience footprints and mandates, these are brands that still earned a significant amount of affinity, the media we cannot live without," says Maria Petousis, TGI Director at Ask Afrika.

SABC 1 came first in the television category. The channel also showed relevance across all demographic groups, once again with the exception of white viewers and SABC 3 was also rated highly in the survey.

SABC1 which was traditionally seen as an Nguni channel, with shows catering for the isiXhosa, Isizulu and Isiswati apeaking South Africans has added some multi-lingual shows to their lineup of late, which has boosted its appeal across all the board. 

Shows like Intersexions and Skeem Saam have drew big numbers for the channel even though languages such as Sesotho, Sepedi and Setaswana featured prominently on these shows. 

The surprise is certainly SABC. The channel has a smaller coverage reach of all SABC channels. Its shows average around a mere 1 million compared to the 5 to 7 million enjoyed by its sister channels at the SABC. 

However, the survey looked at the appeal ACROSS THE BOARD. Which means, even with its low ratings SABC3 manages to attract viewers from different demographics.