MG5 radio portfolio accesses 7 million of youth audiences

The SABC's MG5 radio portfolio, made up of Metro FM, Good Hope FM and 5FM, offers advertisers a reach of 7 million into the 15 to 34-year-old market. This evolving and maturing 'now' generation is loving life, living in the present and is serious about finance, healthcare and education.

Drawing on world-class research insights from the All Media Product Survey (AMPS), Target Group Index (TGI) through Ask Afrika, and the Unilever Majority report it is clear that SABC radio audiences as a whole have evolved in terms of their spending power.

Detailed research

The MG5 audience, as measured by AMPS, shows a 7% increase in LSM 5-8 over the past 10 years, and an 18% increase in LSM 9-10, putting the total for that category at 31% (that is 1.8-million listeners). This figure shows a growth of 158% in LSM 9-10, compared with just 60% among the grouping of similar independent stations.

"MG5 houses some of the country's top radio stations. An audience in excess of 6.6 million continues to tune into Metro FM (P7D). Of this 1.1 million LSM 9-10 audience (P7D) regularly tune into the station - this is bigger than some of our Jo'burg and Cape Town - based total competitor radio audiences. 5FM can be described as best in breed, always looking to break through the clutter and challenging the norm. Good Hope FM continues to make inroads in growing and retaining its audience base," says Siphelele Sixaso, Head of SABC Radio Marketing.

The majority of MG5 listeners are black (79%), male (57%) and single (66%). Their life stage means that 1.9-million (34%) still live at home, 17% have started a family and 15% are young independent singles. (AMPS 2013 JD)

Altogether, 71% live in metropolitan areas, with 50% of listeners living in Gauteng. They are astute and shop around for the best prices, but also have enormous spending power. Moreover, they are buying cars - 515,000 (32%) drive hatchbacks and a further 20% drive a sedan. (AMPS 2013 JD)

Entrepreneurial attitudes

"According to insights by Ask Afrika TGI SA 2013C, they have a balanced outlook on life, with their home having become an increasingly important channel of expression and the place where their heart is. Financial awareness is key and they believe that nothing in life is free, which was not a prevalent attitude previously. As a result, they have an increasingly voracious entrepreneurial appetite. They are extremely motivated and believe that education is important," says Maria Petousis, TGI Director at Ask Afrika.

MG5 stations reach 22% of all students and 18% of MG5 listeners have a Technikon diploma or a university degree. (AMPS 2013 JD, AMPS 2003 JD)

"Quality resonates with this audience and looking after one's health is very important. They shop around for the best prices, and are astute. This has implications from the quality of water (bottled) they drink to making provision for future healthcare," says Petousis. (Ask Afrika TGI SA 2013C)

According to AMPS, the MG5 generation is open to online marketing and social networking. They download games (26%) and music (31%) and use their phones for instant messaging (54%). A large proportion use the internet to search for information (55%), 2,8-million (49%) are into social networking, 18% use internet banking on a computer, and 31% use cellphone banking.

They are technologically savvy, responsible for 43% of all smartphone usage in Mzansi. Forty-seven percent of all downloads and 59% of all music downloads are them. Fifty-five percent of all smartphone app downloads are by them and they download 59% of all podcasts. When it comes to radio, 59% of all radio listeners online, via app or web are in this group.