'Pos Kota', 'Kompas' still on top

JAKARTA (JP): Pos Kota and Kompas remain the country's top dailies with 3.1 million adult readers each, according to a survey by marketing research company PT SRI Nielsen Indonesia (ACNielsen).

The survey, conducted during the first half of this year and revealed to the public on Wednesday, also shows that RCTI is still the country's top television channel, controlling 37 percent of the local TV market.

The survey further indicates that Sonora is Jakarta's favorite radio station for people aged above 15 years, with 1.7 million listeners.

Irawati Pratignyo of ACNeilson presented the survey's results, saying Kompas "recorded an increase in the number of readers due to its news of reforms."

Other large newspapers in terms of readership include Jawa Pos, Suara Pembaruan, Republika, Pikiran Rakyat, Harian Terbit, Media Indonesia, Surya and Waspada.

Women's tabloid Nova and sport's tabloid Bola rank as the country's first and second largest tabloids with 2.2 million and 2 million readers respectively.

Political tabloids Adil and Aksi, which started to hit newsstands earlier this year, have 337,000 and 654,000 readers respectively.

Women's magazine Femina, teen magazine Aneka and general magazine Gatra have about 500,000 readers each, making them the country's largest magazines.

Eleven publications ceased operating this year, but about the same number of new organizations plan to start publishing this year.

ACNielsen media research director Rita Dumais said the TV rankings below RCTI show that SCTV, Indosiar and TPI each enjoy a similar number of TV viewers. ANteve, however, is the least popular channel, attracting only 8 percent of TV viewers.

She noted that television was the only media form which booked an increase in consumption, saying it enjoyed a rise of 10 percent.

The survey notes people in Sumatra have more satellite discs than those in Java and other islands. Only 1.1 million out of the 30 million households in Java can access satellite discs, while in Sumatra 1.2 million of 9.8 million households enjoy satellite services and 1.1 million of 9.4 million households have access in other regions.

Only 5 percent of the households, however, watch foreign channels.

Irawati said television penetration in Jakarta, Surabaya in East Java, Bandung in West Java and Medan in North Sumatra rose 10 percent in the first half of the year over the same period of last year.

Other media forms, including newspapers, magazines, cinemas and radio, saw their penetration decline in the first half of the year with radio experiencing the largest drop at 9 percent.

The survey shows that two of five radio listeners in Greater Jakarta love Indonesian pop songs, while 32 percent like dangdut songs.

The survey also shows that advertisement expenditures in the print media and television dropped in the first half of the year due to the monetary crisis.

"Advertisements in the print media decreased 20 percent in the second quarter of the year, compared to the same period of last year," Rita said.

Televisions recorded an increase in advertisements from healthy drinks, cigarettes, analgesic and headache medicines, bath soap and premium phone lines.

The survey also indicated that sales volumes of various essential products decreased 37 percent in the first half of the year, whereas their prices increased 83 percent.

The increase in prices was factored by, among others, the closure of 81 supermarkets in 12 towns, including 51 supermarkets in Jakarta.

A decrease in purchasing power due to the crisis has forced households to change their consumption patterns, the survey says.

Ninety percent of households surveyed by the company said they would keep a budget for vegetables despite the crisis, but 57 percent said they would cut spending for meat, while 50 percent would lower or eliminate spending for secondary foods like chocolate, crackers and soft drinks.

An international survey made by ACNielsen notes that Indonesia has the lowest penetration into the Internet (1 percent) in Asia with Singapore having the highest penetration into the global computer network (23 percent). (jsk)