The GfK Radio Audience Measurement Survey (RAM) Wave 1, 2022 reported a new high for Malaysian radio as listenership reached almost 96% of individuals in Peninsular Malaysia, equivalent to a high of 21.3 million weekly listeners, marking a phenomenal increase of 217,000 from the previous survey.

From this, Astro Radio grew its market share by 3% to 16.4 million weekly listeners, or 77.1% of 21.3 million available radio listeners, strengthening its leadership as the radio operator with the highest number of listeners in Malaysia.

Astro Radio’s increased reach in radio listenership is underpinned by 16.6 million average digital radio streams, 25.7 million social media followers, 359.6 million video views, and 146.1 million monthly average Facebook page reach.

Astro Radio brands continued to lead as No. 1 across all languages: HITZ, the No. 1 English brand; ERA, the No. 1 Malay brand; MY, the No. 1 Chinese brand; and RAAGA, the No. 1 Tamil brand. Astro Radio recorded a reach of 87.6% for English audiences, 71.9% for Malay audiences, 71.1% for Chinese audiences and 93.6% of Tamil audiences.

• With 2.6 million weekly listeners, HITZ also achieved the highest ‘Exclusive Audience’ for English brands at 257,000 listeners, the Highest Breakfast segment for English brands with 1.2 million listeners and the Highest Drive segment for English brands with 1.3 million listeners. HITZ also recorded an increase for Time Spent Listening to 5 hours and 24 minutes.
• MIX recorded 1.2 million weekly listeners, with the Breakfast segment increasing to 542,000 while the Drive segment garnered 489,000 listeners. MIX recorded an increase of more than 40% for its Exclusive Audience to 108,000.
• LITE charted 771,000 weekly listeners with Breakfast and Drive segments receiving 368,000 and 374,000 listeners respectively.
• ERA, also Malaysia’s No. 1 radio brand, increased its weekly listenership to 5.8 million, and continued to achieve Malaysia’s highest weekly reach on radio amongst young Malay listeners between the ages of 10 to 29, with 2.9 million listeners. The Breakfast show remained No. 1 with an increase of 3.1 million listeners, and the ERA Drive Show remained the highest with 2.7 million listeners. ERA also achieved the Highest Exclusive Audience amongst all radio brands with 866,000.
• SINAR, remained Malaysia’s second most-listened-to brand overall and the No. 2 Malay-language radio brand in Malaysia, with an increase in weekly listenership to 5.2 million weekly listeners. SINAR Breakfast and Drive segments increased to 2.6 million and 2.5 million weekly listeners respectively. SINAR also recorded an increase in Exclusive Audience to 679,000.
• GEGAR, Malaysia’s No. 1 radio brand in the East Coast, increased its reach to 2.6 million weekly listeners consisting of approximately 35% from Kelantan, 22% from Pahang, 26% from Terengganu and 16% from the West Coast.
• ZAYAN recorded weekly listenership of 340,000 with the Drive segment increasing to 185,000, while the Breakfast segment garnered 153,000 listeners.
• Weekly listenership on MY increased by 300,000 growing to 2.8 million with the Breakfast and Drive segments achieving the highest number of listeners across Chinese radio brands with 1.8 million and 1.6 million respectively.
• RAAGA, Malaysia’s No. 1 Tamil radio brand increased its weekly listeners to 1.8 million. This increase was also reflected in the Breakfast segment with a high of 1.1 million listeners, and an increase of more than 260,000 in the Drive segment to 1.2 million listeners. RAAGA also recorded an increase in Exclusive Audience by 131,000 to 753,000.

The survey was carried out over 6 weeks with a mix of traditional radio diaries (75%) and e-diaries (25%) distributed to 6,000 unique individuals across Peninsular Malaysia to capture their listening habits. 21 commercial radio brands subscribed to this wave and Astro Radio secured 6 positions in the Top 10 brands ranking.

Data source: GfK Radio Audience Measurement (RAM), Wave 1 2022 | Facebook Page Reach: Facebook Business Manager (Jan – Mar 2022) | Digital Streams: Radioactive (Jan – Mar 2022) | Website Unique Visitors/Page Views: Google Analytics (Jan – Mar 2022) | Video Views: Facebook Creator Studio, CrowdTangle, YouTube (Mar 2022) | Total Social Media Followers: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok (Mar 2022)